I Am Full of Words

Elihu reminds me a lot of this generation.

We’ve come to a shift in the book of Job. To this point, most of what we’ve read has been from Job and his initial three friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Today, a fourth friend, Elihu, shows up.

Elihu is a bit different. He is younger and he quite clearly states he’s speaking both in response to Job and to the other three, older friends. He shifts the locus of Job’s suffering from sin to the instruction of God. This is pretty significant and also a common understanding of suffering. I want to leave it aside for today.

Because I can’t help but see Job’s four friends in today’s terms. The older generation of three friends talked around and around, often at Job rather than with him. His suffering is certainly the result of his sin. Elihu, representing a younger generation - not afraid of saying how wrong the older generation is - goes on and on (six chapters!). We’ll read more of him Monday and Tuesday. While he’s a bit more understanding of Job’s suffering (and defends him slightly against the older generation’s arrows), he is still not quite…there.

Jesus describes how people receive the things of God through this well-known and powerful parable of the sower and the seeds. First off, I always want to point out that the things of God are extravagantly and abundantly thrown all over the place. It would seem wasteful to most anyone. There’s no worry of not enough seeds or that some will be wasted. The sower throws into all situations, four of which Jesus describes: the path, the rocks, the thorns, and good soil.

Some receive it better than others. The book of Job contains a lot of what seems to be both rocky and thorny ground. There is a desire to interact with what God has offered, but it’s so distracted by the other things.

It’s not just about what is said about God, but how it is received. Job’s friends, whether old or young, are full of words of assumption, full of explanations, full of confidence. But the question Jesus leaves us with is simpler and deeper: what kind of soil are we? Are we listening in a way that allows truth to take root and isn’t afraid of the time it takes to grow things that last? Or are our assumptions, distractions, and certainties choking it out? Wisdom, it seems, is not found in having the most to say or being the quickest to say it, but in being the kind of person who can actually receive what God is saying.

Luke 8:1-15

Soon afterward, Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. The Twelve were with him, along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Among them were Mary Magdalene (from whom seven demons had been thrown out), Joanna (the wife of Herod’s servant Chuza), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

When a great crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one city after another, he spoke to them in a parable: “A farmer went out to scatter his seed. As he was scattering it, some fell on the path where it was crushed, and the birds in the sky came and ate it. Other seed fell on rock. As it grew, it dried up because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorns grew with the plants and choked them. Still other seed landed on good soil. When it grew, it produced one hundred times more grain than was scattered.” As he said this, he called out, “Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand.

“The parable means this: The seed is God’s word. The seed on the path are those who hear, but then the devil comes and steals the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved. The seed on the rock are those who receive the word joyfully when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while but fall away when they are tempted. As for the seed that fell among thorny plants, these are the ones who, as they go about their lives, are choked by the concerns, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit never matures. The seed that fell on good soil are those who hear the word and commit themselves to it with a good and upright heart. Through their resolve, they bear fruit.

Job 32-33

These three men stopped answering Job because he thought he was righteous. Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the clan of Ram was angry, angry with Job because he considered himself more righteous than God. He was also angry with his three friends because they hadn’t found an answer but nevertheless thought Job wicked. Elihu had waited while Job spoke, for they were older than he. When Elihu saw that there had been no response in the speeches of the three men, he became very angry.

Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite said:
I’m young and you’re old,
so I held back, afraid to express my opinion to you.
I thought, Let days speak;
let multiple years make wisdom known.
But the spirit in a person,
the Almighty’s breath, gives understanding.
The advanced in days aren’t wise;
the old don’t understand what’s right.
Therefore, I say: “Listen to me;
I’ll state my view, even I.”
Look, I waited while you spoke,
listened while you reasoned,
while you searched for words.
I was attentive to you,
but you offered no rebuke to Job,
no answer from you for his words.
Be careful you don’t say, “We’ve found wisdom;
God, not a person, will defeat him.”

Now Job hasn’t addressed me,
and I won’t quote you to him.
They are troubled, no longer answer;
words now escape them.
I waited, but they didn’t speak,
for they stood but answered no more.
I will answer. Indeed, I will state my piece;
I too will declare my view,
for I’m full of words.
The spirit in my belly compels me.
Look, my belly is like unopened wine;
like new wineskins it will burst.
I will speak and get relief;
I will open my lips and respond.
I won’t be partial to anyone,
won’t flatter a person;
for I don’t know flattery;
otherwise my maker would quickly whisk me away.

But now, listen to me, Job;
pay attention to all my words.
Notice that I am opening my mouth;
my tongue is speaking in my mouth.
My words come from a virtuous heart;
my lips speak knowledge clearly.
God’s spirit made me;
the Almighty’s breath enlivens me.
If you are able, answer me;
lay out your case before me and take a stand.
Notice that I’m just like you to God;
I also was pinched from clay.
Surely fear of me shouldn’t scare you;
my pressure on you shouldn’t be heavy.

You certainly said in my hearing;
I heard the sound of your words:
“I’m pure, without sin;
I’m innocent, without offense.
Notice that he invents arguments against me;
he considers me his enemy,
ties up my feet,
watches all my paths.”
Now you’re wrong about this; I’ll answer you,
for God is greater than anybody.
Why do you contend with him,
saying that he doesn’t answer all your words?
God speaks in one way,
in two ways, but no one perceives it.
In the dream, a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls upon humans,
during their slumber on a bed,
then he opens people’s ears,
scares them with warnings,
to turn them from a deed
and to smother human pride.
He keeps one from the pit,
a life from perishing by the sword.
Or a person may be disciplined by pain
while in bed, bones ever aching
until a person loathes food,
an appetite rejects a delicacy;
the flesh wastes away, no longer visible;
the bones, once hidden, protrude.
A life approaches the pit;
its very being draws near the death dealers.
Surely there’s a messenger for this person,
a mediator, one out of a thousand
to declare one’s integrity to another
so that God has compassion on that person and says,
“Rescue this one from going down to the pit;
I have found a ransom.”
That person’s flesh is renewed like a child’s;
they regain their youth.
They pray to God, and God is pleased with them;
they behold God’s presence
with a joyful shout.
God rewards a person’s righteousness.
They sing before people and say:
“I have sinned, perverted justice,
but didn’t experience the consequences.
He ransomed me from crossing into the pit;
my life beholds light.”
Look, God does all this,
twice, three times with persons
to bring them back from the pit,
to shine with life’s light.
Listen, Job; hear me;
be quiet, and I will speak.
If you have words, answer me;
speak, for I want to be innocent.
If not, you must hear me;
be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.

Prayer

God,

Thank you for another new day. For breath, for food, for the company of nature and/or people. Thank you for your Spirit all along, in each of these things and so much more.

I’d like to do well with today.: some time with my wife, my kids, some friends. Some time preparing for tomorrow’s day of worship. The meals I’ll eat, the words I’ll think and say and type.

I love you.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.