The School of Suffering
"Don't be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,
as though it was something strange to you."
—I Peter 4:12
What Elihu has described above is someone suffering so much that he is brought to the very gates of death. There are times when, in spite of fervent prayers, they pass through those gates. Yet, there are many who see those gates and are sent back to fulfill their ministry on earth—in the very light and glory of the One who conquered death. An acquaintance of mine freely shares the story of lying on the ground after an electrocution, then after hearing the voice of the Lord telling him his time was not through, began breathing and experienced extreme pain.
The person going through such a time of suffering needs to understand what is going on. He is in the midst of a tremendous trial and he just does not understand what the Lord is trying to say to him! He has known the voice and instruction of the Spirit before, but now it seems like everything is in turmoil and the Lord has left him. He needs an interpreter, Someone who holds the "thoughts, feelings and purposes of God." He needs someone who is taught by God to come and explain to him the lessons of the crucible.
An interpreter is an ambassador from the Lord. This interpreter is someone who knows how to hear from the Lord. They are chosen by Him to explain His message, and speak with authority in His Name and with His anointing.
Now, these interpreters are "one in a thousand" because very few of us are willing to undergo the training for the job. Now I am not talking about 2 or 4 years in
When I am in the midst of a battle, I do not want theory, I want the wisdom that my counselor has drawn out by applying God's Word in his own life. If he cannot do that, why should I listen to him? You have probably heard the saying, "Show me the money!" Well, "Show me the evidence!" I want to know that my advisor is speaking from experience.
Sure, Job's friends could "search out words" from their store of knowledge and reason with him, as they presumed, on God's behalf, but they could never understand Job's experiences from the past or his current situation. They certainly could not interpret the purposes of God in placing him in this time of suffering.
Only a true ambassador can show Job "what is right for him to do." Elihu has plainly shown Job what the right thing for him to do was: He must stop the attempts at clearing himself! He must repent of his misjudging of God that he was treating him like an enemy! He must cease from the writhing and fighting under His hand!
There is no hope of God responding or giving light to our paths until the struggling ends and we rest all of our confidence on God's faithfulness.
Without rambling on and on, Elihu simply interprets to him his position and gives a message of life and restoration.
God was without doubt leading Job into a deeper understanding of His nature, wisdom and character. He took away the very work he loved, so that He could save him from spiritual pride, that nothing in his life might end in corruption, or perish under the judgment of God.
Job had been removed from his place of honor and respect in order to learn about himself and how dependent on God he really is for every breath of life. Every breath you take is an act of grace, a gift from your Father. At every point of extremity, we should take the right attitude before the Lord. We need to cease from our own sufficiency and, just as Job had to learn, not to consider our own integrity and simply turn and cling to our Redeemer.
Accepting the Ransom
Elihu explains that although he had seen his Redeemer as the Living One who would vindicate him in the day of His coming, he now has to see Him as the Ransom, the One who would be gracious to him and deliver him from going down to the pit. Not on the grounds of Job's integrity but on the grounds of His own sacrifice for the redemption of all men.
God was trying to tell Job, "I have found your Ransom," the very message Paul preached "that is foolishness to those that are perishing but to us that are being saved . . . the power of God!"
Job was placed in a time of unparalleled suffering by the very will of God so that in the anguish of his suffering he would discover an aspect of his "life of self" that he had never seen before in his days of prosperity and power. The turning point of his deliverance must come to him by a fresh appropriation of the "Ransom," the death of the Son of God.
It is through this atoning sacrifice alone that we can receive grace, mercy, and peace. They will be poured out in abundance to anyone that finds himself stripped, in desperate need, and that has truly discovered his absolute weakness.
During this trial and the confrontation of his friends, he resented being charged with sin. "Tell me where I have erred" he cries; and "If I have sinned . . . why don't you pardon me" he pleads with God.
"My heart doesn't condemn me from anything I've done"; "Till I die, I will cling to my integrity; I will hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go."
At the beginning of this story, we saw Job to be intensely sensitive to even the possibility of grieving the Lord. With his whole heart he "shunned evil," and offered sacrifices to God even for the sins of ignorance of his children. That's why he can't understand what God is doing with him, and why he—of all people, the just and whole- hearted man that he was—would be placed in such a furnace of trial. Every once in a while he would get a glimmer of light and see himself like gold being placed in a fire for refining away of the dross. Although, his last words to his friends show that he is still assured of his integrity and he's determined to cling to that all the way to the end.
I am absolutely convinced that if Job had maintained his sensitivity to every possibility of sin when his friends first began their charges, instead of resting all of his confidence on his integrity and righteousness, the rest of the story would have been different. If he had just said "maybe there is something that I missed, even though my heart doesn't condemn me, Lord, I know that you are my judge, not myself, not my friends. Forgive me and cleanse me of unrighteousness."
Life Out of Death
Elihu explains that he won't argue and fight over Job's insistence of his integrity like the others did. He only tells him that if anyone will submit, and allow themselves to learn to know their true nature through the school of trial and adversity, and out of utter despair and helplessness call on the "Ransom," he will come out not only with "a new Spirit as a little child," a new freshness of life just like the "early days of youth," a new power in prayer so that he sees the Lord's face in joy, a new assurance of righteousness in union with God and its joys, but also with a new attitude about sin and an honest confession of sin to others.
With unspeakable relief you will be able to leave your life and character up to the Father to work out, and know that you don't have to put up some façade or uphold your "testimony" to his delivering power. You will not be afraid to be open and honest when you screw up and simply say, "Hey, I blew it! I sinned! I perverted that which is right --- and frankly, I didn't get what I deserved."
That man or woman who is finally delivered can "sing out to men" as he or she looks at God's mercy and grace. They can plainly see how they were redeemed from the pit of nothingness, despair, loneliness, pain, frustration, emptiness, and with glad new hope will shout "My life shall see the Light!"
God Keeps Working
So these times of trial, suffering and pressure God "works out twice even three times" in order to "bring back his life from the pit of destruction and allow the light of life to shine on him."
Hezekiah realized this truth when he said, "surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind me" (Isa. 38:17).
Job's integrity of heart is beyond question. He has known fellowship with God and the Spirit of God has given him wisdom and guidance. But during the most crucial point of his trial, his self-vindication was bringing to light the extent that the intertwining and mingling of his "soul-life" with his service for God had grown (see I Cor.
All the way through this chapter, Elihu is clearly under the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. He interpreted with clear insight and wisdom the ways and purposes of God, and he did it with great modesty and tenderness. Now, he appeals to Job to pay attention to what he was saying and earnestly encourages him to speak because he really does want to help him to understand what God was doing.
"But Job was silent . . . "
