This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text,

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Out of nowhere, Elihu, an
angry young man, speaks up.

He’s been waiting for the older men to
have their say before offering his opinion.

He’s angry because Job is more interested in defending
his own innocence than defending God’s character.

He accuses Job of self-righteousness at the expense of God’s
justice. God will eventually say the same thing about Job.

Elihu is also angry at Job’s friends because they’ve condemned Job
as guilty without evidence and then failed to meet Job’s challenges.

In response to Job, Elihu offers
a defense of God’s justice.

And then in response to Job’s friends, Elihu
offers a different explanation for Job’s suffering.

Job, according to Elihu, is not suffering for something
he has done, but for his attitude of self-righteousness.

Job’s suffering isn’t punishment
so much as discipline.

Elihu defends God’s justice by explaining that
suffering is God’s way of teaching Job humility.

Suffering isn’t God responding to
past sins, but preventing future ones.

Job defends his innocence, and his friends defend
their understanding of moral cause and effect.

Yet Elihu is the only character in the book of Job
who attempts to defend God’s justice
in light of Job’s innocent suffering.

And Elihu is right to do so.
God is not accountable to us.

God’s justice cannot be questioned.

We can’t do his job better
or evaluate his actions.

Elihu is right about God’s character and power, but his
attempt to solve the puzzle of innocent suffering and God’s
justice is just as inadequate as Job’s other friends.

The explanation that suffering is a tool to encourage
humility and prevent future evil doesn’t fit every circumstance.

Think of children who die in the womb.

Elihu’s speech at the end of the book of Job reveals
that all human explanations are ultimately deficient.

God is the only one who can
explain why the innocent suffer.

We are on the verge of God finally responding to Job’s
requests for an audience and an explanation for his suffering.

While Elihu offers the most nuanced picture of how God’s
justice and human suffering might work, it’s incomplete.

Again, we are nudged into trusting God’s wisdom and character
more than our rationalizations or explanations of his actions.

While logical arguments defending God are useful, they
ultimately fail to explain the complexity of God or
dignify the depth of human suffering and pain.

While accusing God of mishandling our lives
can feel satisfying, it’s ultimately naive

and prideful to assume our limited human knowledge
can judge God’s decisions—or do better if given the chance.

When it comes to suffering,
explanations are always insufficient.

Blaming God is a dead end.

More than anything, innocent
sufferers need God to speak.

And God does more than speak; he comes. God’s answer
to suffering is to become human in the person of Jesus.

God doesn’t shout angry explanations from
the heavens for his actions like Elihu.

Jesus doesn’t accuse us of deserving
our suffering like Job’s friends.

Jesus doesn’t seek to prove his own
innocence and end his suffering like Job does.

Instead, God speaks gently
to those who are suffering.

Jesus offers his own body as
a defense of his love towards us.

Jesus did not come to defend
or enact his justice, but his mercy.

And when we trust that Jesus and his cross are
God’s final word about our innocent suffering

and when we refuse to cling to our inadequate explanations or prideful
blame, the cross always speaks comfort to those of you who are suffering.

So, may the Holy Spirit open your
eyes to see the God who speaks.

And may you see Jesus as God’s final word of
comfort to those of you who are suffering innocently.