Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Job 35: The Immovable Object

What happens when an irresistible force hits an immovable object?  According to Elihu in chapter 35, the immovable object (in this case, God) remains immune.  He promises that God is like the sky and will not respond to anything that Job does, doesn't do, says, or doesn't say.  Elihu believes that God is so wholly other, transcendent, and impassive that Job is just wasting his breath with his "empty talk" and hot air about God's character (vs. 16).  Even with the irresistible emotional force of Job's argument about injustice and wrongful suffering, his situation is irrelevant to God.  Or so Elihu says.

In my opinion, however, I think that Job does matter to God.  Although it may be impossible to tell it yet because God has remained silent in the face of Job's suffering and outcry, we the readers have been clued in from the first two chapters that God has indeed noticed Job, is interested in him, and is, in fact, backing him in His wager with Satan.  God has bet on Job!  Though it appears that Job's words are going nowhere, we know that they really do matter a great deal in this cosmic battle between Satan and God about the heart of human beings and the quality of their worship.

God may be immovable, but only when He wants to be.  For He also allows Himself at times to be moved by prayer and petition and intercession and calls for justice and mercy.  Much to Elihu's surprise and Job's satisfaction, God will show that He is not so immovable after all when He shows up in dramatic fashion to answer Job's charges...in just another couple of chapters!

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