SERIES: The Book of Job
Pain is God’s Megaphone
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: The Great Debate between the Patriarch Job and his three counselors is over. They have argued fiercely over the cause of the terrible suffering of this man of God. We, the readers, know that Job was suffering through no fault of his own; on the contrary, his suffering was due specifically to the fact that he was so righteous. But Job’s three friends didn’t know that, nor did Job. In keeping with the common theology of their day, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar assumed that “suffering is always attributable to sin in the sufferer’s life.” Therefore, Job must be a very wicked man, even though they couldn’t put their finger on any specific wickedness.
In each of the three rounds of this debate Job’s friends-turned-accusers became more caustic, leveling new charges and impugning his motives. Staunchly Job maintained his innocence and, in the process, vigorously complained about God’s treatment of him. Occasionally, as in chapter 28, which we examined in detail in our last message, Job seemed to have special insight into the fact that God is a wise God even when we can’t understand what He’s doing. But more often he retreated into an attitude of defensiveness, argumentativeness, and resignation. In fact, the last words of Job in chapter 31 are a thorough justification of himself with the clear implication being, “God, I have done nothing to deserve this treatment!” And a few verses later we read, “The words of Job are ended.”
Use your imagination for a moment. We’re at the garbage dump of the town of Uz where Job lives. He has been there for many weeks, perhaps even months. Everyone in the area is aware of Job’s predicaments, and the little boys have enjoyed taunting him, while the older ones have spat upon him. But when Job’s three counselors arrive, interest of a different sort is generated in the community. As the debate heated up, I suppose quite a crowd gathered and began to express their approval or disagreement with the points made by the various speakers.
Finally, according to Job 32:1, the three friends stop answering Job “because he was righteous in his own eyes”; i.e., they can’t get him to admit any fault. There is a deafening silence. Everyone is waiting for someone else to speak. Suddenly from the ring of bystanders which had formed around Job steps a young man named Elihu. For the next six chapters we hear the words of Elihu, during which time he accomplishes at least one thing without question—he demonstrates the truthfulness of his claim in verse 18, “I am full of words.”
But perhaps Elihu deserves more credit than that, for he takes a new approach to Job’s problems and offers a new answer. While he is every bit as ignorant as Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar regarding the immediate cause of Job’s suffering, he does seem to have more insight into the ultimate purposes of God in allowing pain and tragedy. He injects a new factor into the equation, suggesting that Job’s suffering might be more disciplinary than punitive, i.e., designed for improvement rather than punishment. In other words, to borrow a concept from C. S. Lewis, pain is sometimes a megaphone God uses to get our attention, not always a club to show us who’s boss. Whether or not this view adds any real insight into Job’s situation, I believe it does add insight into the suffering that many of us face. These are profitable words to consider. Let’s begin by introducing …
Elihu, an angry young man with a new approach. (32:1-22)
Three times in the first five verses the fact of his anger is mentioned.
He is angry at Job and his three friends. (1-5) He is very angry at Job for justifying himself rather than God. Of course, the reason Job is justifying himself is that his integrity and righteousness have been so vigorously attacked. He knows the accusations are false and feels compelled to say so. Elihu, however, apparently cannot believe anyone is can be as righteous as Job claims, so he gets angry.
But Elihu is not angry just at Job—he’s also angry at Job’s three friends “because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.” Elihu has at least enough of a sense of justice to see that it’s not proper to condemn a man until he’s proven guilty. And it’s obvious to him that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar have failed miserably to prove that Job’s behavior has earned this suffering. But he is also angry that the three men have given up the debate, according to verse 5. Several dozen chapters are apparently not enough for him; surely there is more to be said about suffering. Perhaps it’s time for him to speak, but he is young compared to Job and the other three. In a patriarchal society it took a lot of courage to speak in the presence of one’s elders, a problem the young don’t generally seem to have today.
He claims understanding despite his youth. (6-9) I like the words of verse 9, “It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.” I agree. Age is not the determining factor in wisdom—the key is to go to the right source. Your Bible probably has a footnote at verse 8 indicating that the phrase, “the spirit in a man gives him understanding,” may be a reference to the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the phrase, “the breath of the Almighty,” brings to mind 2 Tim. 3:16, where we are told that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” or literally, “all Scripture is God-breathed.” Elihu lived before the Bible was written, at a time when the source of wisdom was God’s Spirit speaking directly to his people, the young as well as the old. For us Scripture is the source of wisdom and understanding, and even a child who knows the Word of God is wiser than an old person who does not.
He offers new insight in place of tired old arguments. (10-22) He dismisses the arguments of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar by asserting, “not one of you has proved Job wrong; none of you has answered his arguments.” Instead, he will offer new insight which he claims the spirit within him compels him to offer: “Inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply.” (32:19) Would that all of us had that kind of compulsion to share the Gospel!
Now all of chapter 32 is setting the stage for Elihu’s first speech. He is indeed an angry young man with a new approach. But chapter 33 introduces …
Elihu, a confident young man with a new answer. (33:1-30)
If Elihu was somewhat tentative in chapter 32, he is more than confident as he begins his speech in chapter 33: “But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say. I am about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue. My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know.” Elihu then gets to his point in verse 8, as he begins with a summary of Job’s charges against God and particularly his complaint that God will not communicate with him. I’m reading from verse 8:
“But you have said in my hearing—I heard the very words—’I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt. Yet God has found fault with me; he considers me his enemy. He fastens my feet in shackles; he keeps close watch on all my paths.’ But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man. Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man’s words? For God does speak—now one way, now another—though man may not perceive it.”
Whereas Job’s three counselors had essentially agreed that God’s silence in the face of Job’s pleading was a judgment on Job for his sin and rebellion, Elihu argues that God has not been silent at all.
God is not silent, as Job has alleged. (8-14) It’s just that God is speaking in a way that Job does not perceive. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book entitled, He Is There and He Is Not Silent. It deals with the fact that God leaves His fingerprints all around, but unless we are trained to dust for them, we may not realize it. Well, how does God speak, if not audibly? One way is through dreams and visions. Look at verse 15: “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.”
Now it’s no coincidence that Elihu mentions dreams and visions here, for in 7:13 Job complained bitterly to God about the awful dreams and visions he was experiencing: “When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.” Elihu suggests to Job that God has a purpose behind these dreams if only Job is willing to listen. In fact, 3 specific purposes are offered in verses 17 & 18: to turn man a person from wrongdoing, to keep him from pride, and to preserve his life.
There is an interesting example of God using dreams for such purposes in the life of Abimelech in Gen. 20:3. This ancient king had taken Sarah to add her to his harem after Abraham had claimed she was his sister, in order to save his own life. But God came to Abimelech in a dream and said to him, “Behold you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for she is married.” Well, Abimelech didn’t like the sound of those words and he hastily returned Sarah to her husband. The dream turned him from wrongdoing, kept him from pride, and saved his life.
In Job’s day, of course, dreams were a primary means God used to reveal His will. In our day the Scriptures are the primary means, and dreams are used by God relatively infrequently, though I believe He still uses them on occasion. But the same purposes which were achieved through dreams and visions in those days are now achieved through written revelation, namely God’s Word. Consider some of the statements of Scripture to that effect:
Psalm 119:9: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”
Psalm 119:105: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”
God speaks not only through dreams, but also through pain and suffering. (15-30) Look back at verse 14: “For God does speak—now one way, now another—though man may not perceive it. In a dream … or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain.” (v. 19). One of the things God does through pain and suffering is that …
He brings a person to the end of his rope. (19-22) Listen to the description that begins in verse 19: “Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, so that his very being finds food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his bones, once hidden, now stick out. His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death.”
Friends, I have witnessed many people who have come to the end of their ropes due to pain and suffering and trial. It’s not pretty. Some manifest the symptoms described here—total loss of appetite and severe loss of weight. Others react quite differently and suffer deep depression, anger, and bitterness. Why does God allow such pain? Why does He bring people to the end of their ropes? What is He trying to say? In his incredible book, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis writes: “No doubt pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment.”[i]
Later Lewis adds:
“But what about good men (i.e., “good” unbelievers)? We are perplexed to see misfortune falling upon decent, inoffensive, worthy people—on capable, hardworking mothers of families, or diligent, thrifty little trades-people, on those who have worked so hard, and so honestly, for their modest stock of happiness and now seem to be entering on the enjoyment of it with the fullest right?… Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for the moment, that God, who made these deserving people, may really be right when He thinks that their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them blessed; that all this must fall from them in the end, and that if they have not learned to know Him they will be wretched. And therefore He troubles them….”[ii]
The sad fact is that there are some people who never turn to God until pain and suffering drive them to do so. In fact, there are a number listening to me this morning who came to personal faith in Christ through the megaphone of personal pain. One man who is sitting here this morning was quite contented enjoying a six-figure income, a beautiful new home, and all that goes with it when a rare form of cancer hit him, alcoholism reared its ugly head, legal troubles overwhelmed him, and he lost his home. Two weeks ago, he came to faith in Christ. What a joy to see new hope enter this family!
But sometimes the megaphone of pain is used on those who are neither rebellious, unrepentant sinners, nor “good” unbelievers. Instead, they are already God’s children. Of course, even God’s children can be disobedient and rebellious, so God may need to get their attention as well, to draw them back to Himself. But there are even a few like Job who are blameless and upright, who fear God and shun evil, and who yet suffer. Why is the megaphone of pain used on them?
I received a letter from someone in this church this week and I want to read it, with permission:
“Thank you for the series of lessons from Job this summer. The sale of our house has been a process fraught with complication, frustration, and irritation. At times I have wondered what I have done to merit the stress and anxiety I have experienced. I can see God’s hand in the resolution of several problems and have concluded that there is no reason for those problems other than a natural result of living in a sinful world full of people who make mistakes.
When I am caught in a situation that causes me a lot of anxiety, I tend to try to force a solution. If I cannot do so I become angry, and finally my actions are paralyzed, and it seems as if I can do nothing at all. The cycle continues. I think there are many, many other people like me.
This summer I have learned a few things about that wisdom that comes from experience, as was discussed a few weeks ago. Trusting God does not come easily, and I have often had to repeatedly turn my anxieties over to God. He wasn’t failing—I was. Sometimes I had to ask for help from others. But most importantly, I have learned to continue to put one foot in front of the other, step by step. Those steps take me further down the road where God is leading me.
I have not done that with any great confidence or happy, optimistic faith. Recently I played through the hymn “Trust and Obey,” (a favorite since I was little), and realized that I was expecting something of myself that is impossible.
“Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt nor a fear, not a sign nor a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey.”
Even with trust in God, there will be clouds in the sky, clerical mistakes, small irritations, and major heartbreaks in my life. I won’t be able to smile through it all, but I can keep on putting one foot in front of the other. That’s faith.
I agree. Sometimes the megaphone is simply calling us to a closer walk, a greater dependence upon God. One thing we can say for sure, however, is that once a person is on the ropes, God doesn’t leave him there permanently, dangling by himself.
2. He then provides a gracious solution, which is available if that person is willing to receive it. (23-28) These next six verses, 23-28, are incredible for their insight, especially coming as they do from this young philosopher-theologian, Elihu:
“Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him’—then his flesh is renewed like a child’s; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God’s face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.'”
God’s solution for a hurting person begins with a mediator, who is sent to instruct, intercede, and find a ransom. Elihu envisions God as having legions of angels ready to serve mankind in this way. This, of course, is true, for Heb. 1:14 says, “Are not these angels all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” Instruction is needed to remind us of God’s law; intercession is needed to spare us from either physical death or spiritual death. But most importantly, a ransom is needed to pay for human sin. In the OT that ransom was generally an animal sacrifice.
In verses 25 & 26 we see the result of the mediator’s work—it is restoration and reconciliation, which take place when a person gets rid of the burden of sin. It’s better than a face-lift by far! Have you ever studied faces in an airport or shopping center to determine, if you can, who might be a Christian? It’s certainly not foolproof, partly because there are a lot of defeated Christians gumming up the works, but every once in a while you can meet a total stranger and just tell by looking that the person is a Christian. They’ve been renewed and restored. They seem to have recaptured a bit of the innocence of youth. There’s joy in their expression. The reason, of course, is that reconciliation with God has taken place.
When I was little our church often had missionary speakers, who would show slides of some tribe in Africa or South America that had recently been evangelized. Among the images indelibly planted in my mind was the incredible difference between the natives who had become Christians and those that had not. The unbelievers had hard, exhausted looks on their faces, but the Christians had smiles and looks of peace and satisfaction.
The final step in God’s gracious solution is the need for confession and testimony before others. Confessing with the mouth is evidence of a believing and forgiven heart. Could there be a more honest testimony than this: “I sinned and didn’t get what I deserved”? (Verse 17). It’s so very easy for us to compare ourselves with others and determine that we are suffering more than someone who is not as righteous as we are. But how much better it would be for us to compare the suffering we are enduring with the suffering we deserve, in light of the many times we have violated God’s Law!
The final point Elihu makes is that when God speaks through the megaphone of pain,…
3. He doesn’t give up easily. (29) Verse 29 says, “God does all these things to a man—twice, even three times—to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him.” This is the picture of God throughout Scripture—”He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Elsewhere we are told, “He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) And again God asks, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Isaiah 30:18)
Furthermore, He is the One who seeks the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son (Luke 15). God will go to incredible lengths to make salvation available to unbelievers, but He will not force it down their throats. And He will bring only as much pain and suffering as is necessary to cement our dependence upon Him.
It’s amazing to me that many commentators can read this portion from verses 23-30 and not see even a veiled reference to the One Mediator whom God sent to deal finally with human sin, namely His Son, Jesus Christ. I am not suggesting that is what Elihu intended, nor even that Job understood it that way. But I do believe the Holy Spirit, who is the divine author of both the OT and the NT, intended for us to see in Elihu’s words a prophetic reference to the atoning work of Christ. He is the instructor par excellent, the One who continually intercedes for His children, the One who paid the perfect ransom with his own body on the cross.
Conclusion: Elihu has pleaded with us to view pain as God’s megaphone. Whereas Job’s three counselors saw suffering only as punitive, Elihu sees it as educational; whereas they saw it as penal, he sees it as moral; whereas they saw it as vindictive, he sees it as corrective; and whereas they saw its purpose as punishment, he sees it as improvement.
Suffering is not only the Judge’s rod but also the Shepherd’s goad. Could it be that rather than suffering because of his sinning, Job is sinning because of his suffering, in that he is accusing God falsely and despising God’s purposes?
Could it be that the Shepherd is reaching out to you today through the megaphone of pain, or tragedy, or trial? Do not reject Him. Do not let bitterness and rebellion creep into your heart. Rather surrender your will to His and allow Him to complete the good work He has begun in you.
DATE: August 15, 1993
Tags:
Pain
Suffering
[i] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 95.
[ii] Lewis, 97.