I will answer you and all your friends, too. (Job 35:4)Job was in distress, his family was gone, his possessions and his position in the community were all gone and he had a bunch of “friends” come to him to tell him what was wrong with his life. After everybody has spoken about all of the inadequacies of Job’s life and the reasons God is punishing him, then Elihu, the youngest, speaks up.
He is going to give Job and his friends that definitive answer, the ultimate response. After he is through, generations will marvel at his brilliance.
It is interesting that when Elihu finishes with his brilliant reply, God speaks. He and Job and all the others completely ignore Elihu and what he said.
I hate it when someone, man or woman, comes up with “the answer.” Everyone is supposed to listen to it, receive it and be glad to share in this person’s wisdom. It is a curious arrogance.
Sometimes it is good, sometimes not, but the bearer of the “great intellect” is always under the impression that he or she will answer you and all your friends, as Elihu was certain he would do.
I remember a woman, a couple of years back, who would do this. After she had solved all our problems for us, she stood one day telling me what a burden it was to always be the smartest person in the room. Needless to say, she turned out not to be.
On Facebook, there is always one who will interject a comment that is designed to answer the question and give the ultimate answer. If someone comes on with something after the great person has spoken, they are irritated that their answer wasn’t accepted as the final solution.
The problem is, however, only God has the final answers. Ours may be good – and every once in a while I come up with a good one – he still is the only one who can truly answer a question definitively.
And the problem is, sometimes he decides not to. In Job’s case, in spite of the blathering of these four men and Elihu’s assertion that he had the ultimate answer, God never told them what the answer was.
Sometimes there is no answer.
In Bible class one night, we were talking about something that was a tough theological question. Finally one man looked at me and said, okay, tell us the answer. I said, no, that is not my job. My job is to help you find he answers, not give you all the answers. He got irritated and ended up leaving.
But the reason I do not give the answers are primarily because of two things. First, sometimes I am wrong or do not know. I have known pastors who couldn’t stand to not know the answers and felt the need to say something, anything, just to reassert their knowledge and position. I am not like that.
And second, a pastor who tells everybody what all the answers are every time they feel the need, breeds lazy and ignorant people. They have never had to look for something themselves and begin to feel the Christian life is full of easy answers.
It isn’t. I wish it were, because there are some things that have plagued me for years and I would like to know why.
But in spite of having ultra-smart friends and acquaintances who are more than willing to answer me and all my friends, I still look for the answers.
And I probably will until I die.
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