For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
It is those who mock others who generate the insults and quarrels in a group. Get rid of them and the hostilities within the group will vanish.
It is not by strength of arms that a nation arises, rather it is by the will of God. We will not gain victory through our own efforts. Success only comes about through the hand of God. If God does not give us victory over our enemies, we will go down to defeat. I will trust in God, not in my own ability.
Paul makes an important point here. It is counterproductive to attempt to spread the Gospel with deceptive methods, or to distort the message so as to avoid unpleasant truths (or to distort it for any other reason). If some people are going to misunderstand, or fail to get a clear understanding of, the Gospel let it be because they allowed the spirits of this age, the mavens of “modern” culture, to blind them to the truth. Paul teaches us to make it clear that the Gospel is not about how wonderful we are. Rather it is about how wonderful God is. The truth of the matter, which we must constantly strive to communicate, is that we are flawed and broken vessels conveying the light and truth of God. The Gospel message is not about how much better we are than others, it is about how God can use even someone as flawed as myself. The power and joy of the Gospel comes not from us, but from God.
I struggle with Elihu’s monologue because while he was not rebuked by God he echoes some of the things said by Job’s other friends (at least, as I read it), who were. However, there are several points which Elihu makes which I do not struggle with:
- God does not sin. He can do no wrong.
- God loves justice and hates injustice.
- God sees everything we do. Nothing can hide our acts, wicked or good, from God.
- God hears the cries of the needy.
- Our sins do not affect God. Our good deeds do not benefit Him.
- That does not mean that He does not care.
- God will bring justice, if we are patient and wait for His time.
- God is greater than we can understand.
There is more in this passage of which it is worth taking note, but you can read it for yourself. I do not need to copy it all out here.