Job 34:36, 37
“Job, you deserve the maximum penalty 
for the wicked way you have talked. 
For you have added rebellion to your sin; 
you show no respect, 
and you speak many angry words against God.” (NLT)

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Elihu, PhD candidate with a dissertation entitled, Evil and Suffering: A Treatise, schools those clinging to what passes for wisdom among common people like Job’s friends, and unrepentant sinners like Job himself. The truth is, rather than educate Job and his friends, he demonstrates one more way to shoot an arrow that hits the target and still misses the bullseye. 

There’s more than one way to be wrong. 

There’s more than one way to fail to arrive at the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

There’s more than one way to speak what passes for wisdom without compassion and apart from faithful love. 

Elihu makes quite a fine speech covering several chapters. It is indeed one of the most powerful harangues of all time. It’s noisy, pompous, and very nearly endless. The scribe who captured these speeches may well have cut short the full transcript. For that, we owe him thanks.

The best to be said for Candidate Elihu is that he proves the proverb that says, “It’s never too early to shut up.”

Poor Job. 

With friends like his, and with young Elihu who esteemed himself smarter than God, Job had to wish he had never made their acquaintance. They violated every rule regarding how to talk to hurting people, the first of which is, Don’t blame the victim for being a victim. 

The best thing Job’s three friends did for him was show up and sit in silence for a good, long time. (See Job 2:11-13.) In the face of unanswerable, unimaginable, and unbelievable suffering, the best thing to say is nothing at all. Heavy sighs and copious tears of shared loss say so much more than any words. 

Heartfelt hugs heal. Silent presence comforts. Simple service shares unbearable loads. 

Stop talking and let patient silence do its work. This is healing friendship. Blame is not. Correction is not. Judgment is not. 

This is a good time to go to God and apologize for speaking like one of Job’s friends. 

This is a good time to practice sitting in silence.

This is a good time to research simple services that minister mercy, comfort, and friendship to hurting hearts. 

Sooner or later, we will have a friend who experiences great loss. They need us to be great friends who are more concerned with being good friends and less concerned with making good points. 

Maybe someday, we will need a friend in a moment of great loss. We will need someone who feels our pain, who shares our loss, and who cares enough to sit or serve without lectures and with compassion.

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I will speak less, serve more, and share the load of a hurting heart as best I can.

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Our Father, please forgive me for being quick to judge, quick to correct, and far too fast to speak to those who experience deep loss. Empower me to treat others the way I would want to be treated at times like these. Use my presence and simple service to provide necessary comfort and encouragement. Keep my many words locked away. Amen.