Day 33 – Chapter 34

“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong. For He pays a man according to his work, and makes him find it according to His way. Surely God will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world? If He should determine to do so, if He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (34:10-15).

How do we describe God’s justice? It is just as thorny an issue in our day as in Job’s day. There is a strong sentiment today that God is all loving and kind and therefore cannot do anything evil. This is precisely Elihu’s contention; the Almighty can do no wrong! Is that the proper and correct understanding? Time and space does not allow for a full and complete discussion on this question, particularly since whole volumes have been written on the subject, so permit me to make a couple of observations that seem to be critical.

First, the assumption that God is too good to allow, permit, or even orchestrate bad things happening to good people is a distorted view. God is the ultimate parent and as such He knows exactly what it takes to bring His people to whatever place He desires them to be. He knows what to permit and what to orchestrate to get the attention of His people, including punishment.

Second, God is not a grand puppeteer who pulls the strings on everything that happens in our lives. Life is full of choices and every choice has a consequence. Now in Job’s case we know that he has made no choice and so his suffering cannot be credited to them, but Elihu does not know that. He thinks Job is guilty of some unseen sin he has not confessed. He thinks that Job is simply experiencing the justice of God for whatever horrible thing he has done.

Third, there is a growing sentiment among many believers, most of whom may be little more than marginal in their faith, that God is a god of love and therefore incapable of wrath. But God is the same today as He was yesterday and He will be the same forever. If He was a God of wrath in the old covenant He is still a God of wrath in the new. If He is a God of love in the new covenant then He is and was a God of love in the old.

Ultimately, God’s justice defies much of our limited human understanding. When we begin to make determinations for God we tend to do so according to what we know and understand, but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. God is sovereign and therefore absolutely other. Someone once said, and I agree, that we will be surprised who we see in Heaven and who we do not. Why? It is because of God’s justice.

Dear Almighty God, when we think of our limitations we rejoice at Your boundless power and majesty. Thank You for being our sovereign Lord and King and thank You for not allowing our feeble wisdom to be the final arbiter of our destiny. Thank You for confounding and shaming the wise and dealing with us according to Your justice. Thank You that we are safe in Your arms of love. Amen.