Righteousness of Pain
Job 37
 19 “Tell us what we should say to him;
      we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. 20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
      Would any man ask to be swallowed up? 21 Now no one can look at the sun,
      bright as it is in the skies
      after the wind has swept them clean. 22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
      God comes in awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
      in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. 24 Therefore, men revere him,
      for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?
This is the end of Job’s friend, Elihu’s, speech. We looked at part of it yesterday, and saw that he was speaking out of self-righteousness, not righteousness. In fact, here we see him speaking of God’s righteousness, and here he shows his hand… I believe Elihu was a deist, or at least something close to one.
we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
In other words, man cannot talk to God, lest God swallow him up! … yet we know we can talk to him. Especially those who believe and obey Him… that is if you’re righteoussness… and remember that as we’ve been seeing, true righteousness comes from God’s grace, not because we’re exemplary samples of humanity… only Jesus could boast of that, and He didn’t.
And then, in his foolishness, Elihu purports to understand God’s righteousness, saying in essence that we cannot talk to God, and that God is too high and mighty to cause us pain. And yet, God is the very one who gave us our ability to feel pain, and to no more a degree than He does. Yet, we know He caused the flood, sent consuming fire from the sky when the Israelites were unfaithful, and let the devil afflict Job with quite a bit of pain. Surely, Elihu would reply, “Well, what kind of God would inflict pain?” Well, what kind of father would? A loving one, that’s for sure. Because discipline and punishment are not, if done properly, are not for pain’s sake. Non-abusive Pain (getting a splinter out, saying no to more dessert, burning ourselves when we get too close to a fire, grieving the loss of a loved one) has a purpose , as does all of our experience in this world, as did Jesus’ pain. Pain prepares and shapes us for righteousness in this life and for our life in Heaven which is to come. I cannot say for sure how pain in these bodies helps prepare our spirit for when our bodies are shed, but I know that I’ll find out. Elihu, I’m sad to say will not.