God Will Not Do Wrong

Truly, God will not do wrong. The Almighty will not twist justice. [Job 34.12]

Not a truer statement has ever been made.

Elihu would not be a popular guy today. Let's back up and see a little deeper into what Elihu said about God:

For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death. “Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds, with ceaseless aching in their bones. They lose their appetite for even the most delicious food. Their flesh wastes away, and their bones stick out. They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for them. [Job 33.14-22]

Here we find two major things Elihu claims about God: God tries to warn us with dreams and visions in the night, or, God allows suffering (as He did with Job).

When we heed the warnings presented in dreams or visions in the night, we avert punishment. But when we do not, suffering ensues.

There is however something else very important that Elihu pointed out: 

“But if an angel from heaven appears—a special messenger to intercede for a person and declare that he is upright—he will be gracious and say, ‘Rescue him from the grave, for I have found a ransom for his life.’ [Job 33.23-24]

Here, Elihu rightly indicts Job's friends for failure to intercede. Oh to be sure, Job's friends largely agreed that Job's plight was resultant to sin. But, instead of going to God intercession for their friend, they accused Job as if all the responsibility was upon Job and they had no part except to accuse.

To back up a little, modern Christians are too 'intelligent and educated' nowadays to think dreams mean anything. And they are far too educated to think suffering is anything more than random physical malfunction or genetic disposition.

Unfortunately, like Job, far too many people who face difficulties, quickly and ignorantly claim their innocence thus invariably accusing God of wrongdoing or injustice for letting it happen. Likewise those around them (their friends) comfort them that they have done nothing wrong instead of going to their own private place and fervently interceding for them. In both instances, the following understanding is totally ignored:

“Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more’? Or ‘I don’t know what evil I have done—tell me. If I have done wrong, I will stop at once’? [Job 34.31-32]

The answer to the question above is: Pride.

Father, I have been so proud and I am faced with that pride today. Please forgive me for my blatant arrogance to ignore Your warnings in the night or to falsely accuse You instead of examining myself when I suffer. Likewise, forgive me for not being a more valuable friend to those who suffer by interceding for them.