So I was thinking about this as I was reading again through this section last night because I wanted to, you know, just sort of. I always like to have it fresh in my mind. I always try to, the night before we get together, I always try to spend a couple hours, you know, a few minutes, but sometimes a few hours going through just sort of the verses again and kind of what we're going to cover and so forth. And I was thinking about last night that the whole concept that Job was patient is messing with me. been messing with me for a long time. And it really, really has been messing with me here recently. Because the more that I really understand this book, and I think I've gotten a better understanding of this book through this study than I've ever had previous to this, is I don't believe Job is necessarily patient. I don't know that that's the P word I would have picked. The P word I would have picked is perplexed. That's the P word I would have picked. I think he was perplexed. I think he was like sitting here going, you know, I just got hit by a tidal wave and I don't have any idea where it came from. I don't know why it came. I don't know where it came from. All I know is I got hit by this thing. It wiped us out. And I got no idea what's going on. And then he gets these three guys, basically come in there, and they basically start laying into him about, well, obviously if this happened to you, Job, you must have a serious problem in your life. And this just then brings up another perplexing thing to Job, and that is, well, did I deserve this? And this whole question of deserve becomes an interesting question. Do I deserve this? The thing that Elihu brings out, which I think is so cool in these five or six chapters, is that you don't get it, Job, because you don't understand how God works. You just don't understand how God works. He doesn't work the way you work, because God works in a big-picture kind of fashion, and you work in the little-picture kind of fashion. It's that old idea of you can't see the forest because you're looking at all these trees. The tile and the mosaic. Yeah, exactly. The tile and the mosaic, which I thought was a great analogy that we used a couple weeks ago. LU comes in here now and we see this guy, and one of the things that I had never thought about before reading this book was that there could have been a multitude of people there. I had never thought about that before. And all the time I've read the book of Job, I never thought about the fact that there might have been more than just the four of these dudes. The other thing I never really thought about, I guess I always sort of knew it, but it never really dawned on me until we were going through it, was Elihu was there the whole entire time and just never said anything, and that was a long time. I mean, we're talking about, you know, there was a week that none of them said anything, right? And then it doesn't necessarily, you know, imply that this all happened in a matter of a couple of minutes, that this is possibly over, you know, several day period time or some kind of a period of time. And he remained silent during that whole entire time, and that's hard to do, especially if you are excited, angry, whatever word you want to use, because the word that is in the Bible that in most Bibles it's translated angry is actually an even more strong word in Hebrew. It's like, you know, ready to punch somebody in the face kind of thing. I mean, it's really upset, you know, to that point. So you've got this guy that's extremely upset, young, and he's able to keep his tongue for days, if not weeks at a time. It's just a pretty impressive situation. But I wanted to end or begin, I should say, I want to begin with where 31 ended. And there was a verse in 31 at the end, which I think is missed oftentimes. And it says, the words of Job are ended. The words of Job are ended. It's a Bible verse that I've circled. You'll also notice that if you're thinking about this, that it just is just there. It's just kind of like a, you know, all this happened and then just this statement, the words of Job ended. And it's interesting because once the words of Job end, That's when this book actually starts talking about something that you can actually study. That's when this book starts talking about something that you can go, well, I need to quote Joe Buttz about bop, right? I mean, because I'm going to tell you something, prior to 30 to 40 or whatever that verse is, There's only a handful of places that you actually think of in the early part of Job of actually saying, well, that's something, man, I could put that on the wall. There's those verses you put on the wall. You know what I'm talking about. We got them in here. We got verses that we put on the wall. That's not one I would imagine putting on the wall. No, you're probably not going to put the words of Job ended on the wall. Just saying. But maybe we should. No, maybe we should. That's my point. Maybe we should. Maybe that is the verse that we should put on the wall. Because that's when Job starts to listen. And what's interesting about these five or six chapters that we've read for this week, 32 through 37, whatever that is, that's six chapters actually, is the amount of times that Elihu says, listen or hear. You hear, I mean, it's really interesting. Listen to me. You know, I'm young in years. I get it. And I waited and I didn't say anything for a long time, but I just listened to what I'm about to say. Well, he was a good listener. Oh, he was a great listener. Yeah. And so when he opened his mouth, he just instructed them to listen. And here's what's really cool about it. Job listened. He was one of the Patients. Yeah, exactly. This is the Patients of Elihu. So my point in all of this is that Elihu is such an interesting character. Now there were four things that he brought out in the book which I do want to bring out, that I do want to read, and I think they're really important. Even though God ultimately rebukes Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, you read that, I think it's in 42, He does not rebuke Elihu. That's a really interesting point, something I had never really thought about before reading the book. He does not rebuke Elihu. Now, I didn't even think about the fact that he might have, actually, prior to this, but at the end of the day, this whole idea that Elihu is just sort of repeating what the three guys said, but just in a nicer way, is not really true. Elihu is basically saying, look, and this brings up the second thing, it's the Spirit of God that has given me this message. He has a message by revelation. And I think that's really important. So Elihu is compelled to speak by revelation. Now, keep in mind, back in those days, they didn't have a Bible, so revelation is how God spoke. So here he has this thing, he's saying, look, I'm speaking to you because God has revealed this to me. And then the third thing is, is that the message that Elihu is saying, beyond the fact that it's of revelation, it's more than that. He's actually saying that he is speaking by the spirit that is within him. literally because of the spirit that's within him. And that's a really big deal. The other thing that I think is less important, but is still relatively important, is from the beginning of 32 to the end of 37, that whole entire section are the words of Elihu. It is the longest section of scripture that I've been able to find, and I looked. I was looking last night trying to figure out where I could find a place in scripture where someone said, you know, literally just talked, and the Bible recorded it, about one person speaking for, in this case, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven pages in my Bible. I want you to think about that. We don't even see quotes from Jesus that are that long. We don't see quotes from any of the prophets that are anywhere near that long. It's unprecedented. Before you rolled over something, I just had a question. right. Um, and you know, in the New Testament and the enlightenment of the spirit. And so obviously there's some enlightenment there and he's, well, that's not the takeaway from, he's very learned guy. He's obviously a great listener. He's very well scripted. He's very, very knowledgeable. But I just didn't want to roll over that because, you know, the spirit wasn't present. No, we're not suggesting that he's filled with the spirit as we're talking about charismatically. That's a different, that's a New Testament concept and so forth that did not occur until Jesus actually left. And he said, you know, I got to leave because if I don't, you don't receive the comforter. That's not what we're talking about here. But there are loads of places in the Old Testament where it says, and the Spirit of God came and rested upon somebody and did something incredible and filled that person with knowledge and so forth. This is not a one-off kind of situation by any stretch of the imagination. Is there a difference between God's spirit and the Holy Spirit? No. It's the same spirit. Same spirit, yeah. So the word spirit in Hebrew is the word ruach, and ruach means breath. That's what it means. It means breath. So it means the breath that you see. It's the it's what keeps you alive. OK. And so in the in the Old Testament, it talks about the the the Ark of Koresh, which which means the Holy Spirit. That's that is the Holy Spirit. But the idea there is it's the breath of God. It's the breath of holiness. It's that understanding that it is God that is putting this word within you. Which is different from what Jesus said when he said, I have to leave here and I'm going to give you this comforter who's going to actually indwell within you. That's kind of a different It is different. Oh yeah, it's a different concept in the sense that the Spirit of God stays with you. It's the same Spirit, the difference is that now we have the Spirit staying with us, whereas in the Old Testament the Spirit would come and He would go, and there would be a time when you would have the breath of God, and then there would be a time when you didn't necessarily have the breath of God, and so forth. And so that's kind of what we see here. One's permanent, one's temporary. Exactly. And so LEU is in a very unique position because he's this young guy, which is an interesting thought even in and of itself that he brings out in the book, which I think is awesome, which is you should not just... I don't want to use the word reject because that's not the right word. But you don't want to say, well, just because somebody's young, they don't know what they're talking about. Amen to that. Right? I mean, just because somebody's just because or just because somebody's old, they do know what they're talking about. Yeah, which is interesting because he used the example in the book that Ray Cohen used to use all the time. He says, you know, I'd much rather be around somebody who is a three-year-old believer who really has three years of experience than a person who's been a believer for 30 years one year over and over and over. And that's kind of where we see it. And we do see that all the time, by the way, not just in this, but in a lot of things. I mean, we see it in business all the time. I see people in business that they're neophytes and then they can remain neophytes and they die neophytes. Well, no, the Peter Principle is different because Larry Peter, when he wrote his book, talked about this idea of elevating people to their degree of incompetence. That's what the Peter Principle is all about. That's different. No, what we're talking about is the person who comes into a job and never gets any better than a private. He can't do anything more or she can't do anything more than what an entry-level person can do. Because he or she has never taken that to expand it and grow it and so forth. And so, I think about the fact that I've been a believer now for, it'll be 50, it's unbelievable. It'll be 50 years, November 23rd, I'll be a believer now. And I- It's interesting though, Don, that you know, when you think about what wasn't available to him, I mean like, honor thy father, thy mother, Proverbs wasn't around. Right, nothing. You know, and he's like, he's very knowledgeable about, well, it's very clear in the scriptures here that he's honoring, you know, those that are, that have walked before him, that have to a certain degree. And so it's like, where is that coming from? Right. But the message that Elihu gives, which I think is so powerful, the overriding message is you do not deserve anything. That faith does not come by works. Oh, yeah. The blessing of God does not come by works. And I think this is interesting because that is considered a New Testament principle. That's considered a New Testament concept. That for by grace are you saved through faith and it is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. That's a New Testament concept. Well, it's not. That is a concept that goes back to the earliest times of scripture, which, of course, Job is. And that is that you don't deserve this. So Job is perplexed. And the reason why I'm saying he's perplexed is because his theology is similar to a lot of people's theology, which is, if I do enough good stuff, I should get blessed. And if I do enough bad stuff, well, then maybe I should get cursed. But at the end of the day, I shouldn't be getting hammered on if I'm a good person. In 31, he basically says that, why are my deeds not enough? It's just, you know, I did this, I did that, if I, you know. Right. In 31, that's basically what he's saying, why are my deeds not enough? Yeah, and the truth is that, Steve, this is a theological problem that has, persisted for 4,000 years. Yeah. Verse two in chapter 32, I think is key right there. Yeah. Talking about Elihu. Absolutely. Anger. He became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. Yeah. And that's exactly what we're saying. Right. Right. You know, we try to justify ourselves. Hey, I've done this, dot, dot, dot. Yeah. But what is God doing? Looking from his perspective rather than ours. Right. That's what Elihu does. I was looking at something. To me, Elihu got more of that spiritual insight than all of us. Oh, combined. All of them combined. Including Joe, by the way. Yeah. But his insight of God, for me, was amazing. And I'm like, for him not to have no Bible, He knew all these things that God was doing with me and told me. And he was speaking, he said, the spirit of God made me. I mean, look at this, in 32, he was speaking about some things that Job should have known, but this young kid, and from my perspective, has some type of relationship with God. And so, and then, you know, when you think about it, the things that he's saying, I'm like, Well, where does young man get this wisdom? Well, look at chapter 33, verse 4. That's a great verse. Look at that. Someone read it. It's so powerful. The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. I mean, that's what it's all about. I mean, he's sitting here going, look. I'm just, y'all missed this. You guys are thinking about yourself and you're missing the fact that God wants you to have his spirit. He wants you to listen to him. He wants you to have his breath in him. He wants you to think about those kinds of things. You know, to me, it's just, you know, the spirit of God made the words that he spoke sincere. real and that's and and the fact is the words were given to him and that's the whole point of this section is that Job doesn't understand that God does not work by works He works by giving he it's by grace. It's always been by grace I can't tell you how much God has shown this to me in the last 10 or 12 years in particular, but the year recently, especially, as we've been studying Isaiah, for example, the one thing that it's just so impressed of, you know, God has impressed upon me in Isaiah is that God always has worked via grace. He has never blessed people based upon their deeds. He just doesn't work that way. So this whole concept, and you know, we talk about it all the time in Isaiah where it talks about that your thoughts are not my thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, says God. or as I love to say, as the King James says, sayeth the Lord. I think that's the way you gotta say it, sayeth the Lord. I mean, at the end of the day, we have this misconception that somehow we deserve what we've got. Well, in some ways we do deserve it. But at the end of the day, this mixed up confession, which is that God is going to take care of me because I've done the right thing. And God is not going to take care of me if I don't do the right thing. I suggest God's going to take care of you whether you do the right thing or you don't do the right thing. Don't get in the way. Yeah, exactly. God is at work whether you like it or not. And sometimes he's going to do stuff to get your attention. Sometimes he's gonna do stuff to teach, whatever. The fact is, but Elijah says some stuff which I just wanna kinda go through him here a little bit. I think a great, before I do that, I think a great example of God's thoughts and our thoughts is brought out by, we're gonna do this on Tuesday here shortly, is brought out in Romans 9, 10, 11. And in Romans 9, 10, 11, because he's just gone through this whole entire soliloquy about how God works by grace and then, you know, gives us the spirit and so forth and so on, you know, reaches us by adoption in chapter eight. He says there's nothing can separate us from God. And then he starts off and he gets into chapter nine and he says, now, what shall we say about Israel? What shall we say about Israel? Now, that's a really important question. and he gets into this whole entire thing is, y'all are like, and what I wrote in my notes here was, Romans 9, 10, and 11 are a great example. I need my glasses, I can't read what I wrote, okay? Man thinks since Jesus came and the Jewish people on whole have ignored him, God must be through with Israel. But no. The gifts and the callings of God, according to Paul in that section, are what? Without repentance. And repentance in Greek means to change your mind. God doesn't change his mind. You see, here's the problem that we don't get about God. It comes back to this whole thing, his thoughts or not. God doesn't change his mind. We change our mind all the time. You know, I mean, I'll give you a good example, give you a really good example. We have a football game and we immediately think about this football game, we go, well, this team is gonna definitely win this game because they're so much better than this other team and so forth and so on. And then we watch the game and something bad happens and we change our mind and we go, oh my goodness, that team is so horrible. Can you believe those people? I mean, they're just so horrible, you know? I was watching this game last night. I don't know if you guys watched the game last night. It was a game last night between Detroit and Green Bay. Now, Green Bay last week was this just came back work. The quarterback looked like he was a Greek deity or something. I mean, just incredible. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers, you know, came back to life, okay? Takes this team from down, I don't know, like 18 to 3, I think it was, or something like that, and he scores like 20 points and they win the game, okay? Alright, whatever. And he's like, wow, this is the second coming of, you know, of Aaron Rodgers. And then last night, he goes out there and just lays it in. Whatever, I mean, you know, he got completely killed. In his own, in his own stadium too, right? I mean, you know, so, so at any rate, the point is that, so now, and the, and the commentators are on this thing, whoa, these guys are so horrible. They, you know, same guys who were just talking about at the beginning of the game about, my goodness, this guy is such a... That's the way we are as people. You know, do you understand where I'm coming from? Look, I'm not picking on any of those people. Look, they're doing their job. I got no problem. I couldn't care less about the game. It was just on. It was on when I was going to bed. That was all it was. And I was cracking up. But you know, we see this. And so the one thing that you hear throughout the whole entire early part of this book is Job going, well, God ain't talking to me. God ain't talking to me. God ain't talking to me. Why ain't God talking to me? God didn't tell me anything, so forth. And Eliud comes in here and says, Job, he's been talking to you the whole entire time. You just ain't been listening. Well, you speak once. Right. Twice. So he says, well, how's it been? Well, and then he says, well, so sometimes God speaks to you through dreams. And think about all the places in Scripture where God spoke to people in dreams. Look at the picture of where Jacob gets his name changed to Israel. That was in a dream, when he fought with the Lord and so forth. There's all sorts of places where we see this, where God works. And then he also says something which I had never thought about before, and that was, God speaks to us in our pain. Yesterday I got a text from my buddy John Jancy. I got to read it to you if I can ever get to it here So John sends me this text yesterday. And by the way, I This is a little long for a text, but I understood where he was coming from and Because John's in pain right now. I don't know if you guys can appreciate it. I mean, he's in pain. His wife is suffering from a terminal disease. He's, you know, he's had to leave this place that he loves and go back up home and, you know, up to Pennsylvania to be close to his family. Just a lot of Job type stuff happening in this man's life. So he sends me this yesterday. And I don't know if he sent this to you, Clark, but I'll send it out. It's an assessment. Yeah. And so he sent this out and, you know, he's already given me permission to read all this stuff to you. So I want you to know that this is not breaking any confidence. Okay. He says this, he says, he says, I desire to be a man of integrity, compassion, wisdom. Inquisitiveness, loving, and steadfastness. A husband who loves, cherishes, encourages, and empowers my wife. I desire to be a continual learner who seeks God's wisdom on all facets of knowledge. Let the Holy Spirit teach me on how to become an intercessor, a good listener, and how to healthily befriend and walk with others. I wish God to continually search my heart and transform my thinking. I will actively seek how I can actively deploy the armor of God in my life. I desire to be a godly mentor, father of my four children and my grandchildren. to be present and listen to their dreams and invest in their lives. I desire to let God transform my life so I can humbly serve others. I wish to never compromise God's principles and will, by faith, believe God's word as true. I will seek daily for opportunities to touch humanity with kindness, compassion, truth, and revelation of Jesus. I will be obedient to the Holy Spirit's promptings of who needs a touch of God's love. I will seek God's prompting on how to avoid unhealthy competition. needing to be right, but instead allow humility to guide my interactions with others. I will seek opportunities where I can serve others, maybe a smile, asking if I can pray for them, showing kindness and sharing about Jesus. I will be a lifelong learner enjoying great music, nature, sports, physical activity, travel, fishing, mission trips. I will daily ask God to search my heart, to not give an opportunity for pride to take root. And above all, above all, is I want to be where God is leading me. Isn't that great? Where I am off base, I want to humbly submit to his feedback. John. Tell me that's not powerful. We will send that. Yeah, I'm sure he will. Yeah, yeah, good point. Here's the deal. LU, I believe, was sent by God in the same way that every one of us gets somebody sent to us. We just don't know. That's why it says in the book of Hebrews where it says, and sometimes people entertain angels unaware. I am convinced that when you are in your deepest pain, God sends you somebody and you just oftentimes don't know it. It's like that old story of the guy who's praying for God to relieve him from the the horrible tragedy of this flood that's flooding his house. And so God sends this guy in a boat and says, hey, dude, come on. No, no, I'm waiting for God. And then he sends somebody in a helicopter. No, I'm waiting for God. You know that old story. And then, of course, I think there's actually three different examples. But the point is that he comes, he dies, he goes to heaven. He says, well, God, how come you didn't answer my prayers? Well, I sent three. I sent you a boat. I sent you the other guy. Yeah, I even sent you an helicopter and you didn't listen, okay? Look, we miss sometimes the fact that God brings Elihu's into our lives. He really does. And he brings them in to help us through that. Because one of the things he said in the book was just, I mean, there was so much good in this section. That Jehovah is the Lord of our suffering. I want you to think about that. He is the Lord of our suffering. You know, we talk about He's the Lord God. We have all these names, and we went through all the names of God a few months back, and all these incredible names, the Lord our provider, the Lord of righteousness. But we didn't have the Lord of our suffering. Never heard that. But that's what He is. He is the Lord of our suffering. In other words, He understands our suffering when we're going through it. And so He is the Lord of our suffering. And so instead of us doing a Job thing of, I ain't done nothing wrong, what you doing this to me for? I love where John's at, where he's saying, OK, I'm going through this, but how can I learn? from the Lord. How can I make this real? How can I be that person that you really want me to be? How can I do that? Because God is not unjust. He is not unjust. And that's one of the things Elihu brings out that's so powerful. He is not unjust. I love what he says in Job 34 in verse nine. Go over to there. Job 34 in verse nine, listen to what it says. He says, for he has said, it profits a man nothing when he is pleased with God. I love that verse. I love that verse. I'm gonna read it again. For he has said, it profits a man nothing when he is pleased with God. Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding, far be it from God to do wickedness. God doesn't do wickedness. He says, and from the Almighty to do wrong. The Lord doesn't do things wrong. So you're sitting here saying, as though God did something wrong. God didn't do anything wrong. You see, we just don't understand the ways of God. And the truth of the matter is, is that it's almost like what Paul talks about also in the book of Romans. I mean, we come back to Romans a lot today, but in Romans chapter five, he talks about this idea of the fact that we're focused on the trespass, God's focused on the grace. We're, you know, we're, you know, God's focused on grace. That's where God's at. God's at, you know, I want to give you some, I want to give this to you. I want to give you this gift. I want to, you know, it's, and he says, so it's not about the gift. He says, it's about the gift, not the trespass. Romans 5, 12. It's, it's not about the, you know, it's not about the, the, the parapetoma, which is that, that curse word. It's not about that. That's what you do, but that's not what God does. with God, it's about the gift. So that leads to the logical question of Romans 6.1, which says, so then what shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace might abound? In other words, let's just keep doing trespasses because, gee, that's where we find grace. Is that really where we're going here? And of course, everyone understands that's rhetorical. Everyone understands the answer to that question is, well, of course not. except obviously the person that's just nuts. Okay. Well then that's fine. You can't deal with that. I mean, you know, but at the end of the day, God does not owe us anything. I want you to think about that statement. God doesn't owe us anything. We don't do enough to where God says, oh yeah, well he did so much for us. Because at what point do you draw the line? At what point have you done enough? Or at what point have you done anything that's worth God saying you deserve this? Or you deserve something? And that to me is one of the things that is so confusing to most folks, even to this day. Yeah. I think it's important to note that too, that God, that he loves Job. He loves him. And he's not, you know, we often look through the lens of obedience and I guess other things as guys, especially, you know, there's often a lack of empathy for situations and emotions, but like, God loves Job. He's not callous to Job's pain at all. He's not, he's not callous to our pain or emotions either. He's not, go ahead, go ahead, Red. Yeah. Well, the confusion comes in verse 11. Of? Joe, what we just read. No, chapter, what chapter? 34. 34. We just read 9 and 10. Yeah. 11 says, he repays people according to their deeds. He treats people as they deserve. Right? So we draw a complete theology from that often. Yeah. Right? When that's true, ultimately. Right? So from God's perspective, ultimately that comes to bear. Right. For everybody. And I do wonder if a lot of these verses such as that are more applicable to God's people versus the world. Yeah. Yeah. To the believer. To read the Old Testament through, that is what happens over and over and over. Right. He repays people according to their deeds. He treats people as they deserve. So as the believer, as the called of God, there is a lot of truth in that, I think, here and now, right? That when we claim Christ, but don't walk accordingly, there's often suffering, and there is often, I mean, I guess there could be exceptions where there's this, but yet does not live a life on any level that you would know that, and yet they are incredibly blessed here and now in their life. But isn't that conflicting? According to your deeds? I mean, it's what you do that garners his, you know, his love? No, no, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is that ultimately, we're gonna be rewarded based upon where we are in what we've done for other people and the care that we've made for other people and so forth. However, but that does not put us in a position where we deserve anything from God. In other words, there's no quid pro quo. And that's the problem that folks have with this philosophy is that there's quid pro quo. There is no quid pro quo. It's just, whatever it is. At the end of the day, another thing that is so powerful that Elihu brings out here is that pain is not punishment. We do equate the two. It can be. Oh, it can be. But it is not necessarily. But who is the one to determine it? God. See, that's the point. And when John, he said something that for me was profound. He said, God loves you because God is the one that tells Satan, do what you want with him. God was the one that said he is perfect. Yep. He is upright. I'm thinking more of the person who goes and cheats on their wife as a believer. I get it. Gets caught and their life falls apart. Here's the point of that. Even in that, God is still doing what he does because the Bible teaches us that he let the sun shine on the evil and the good and he sent rain on the just as well as the unjust. That's what God does. And then God said in the scripture, he said, where sin abound, grace do much more abound. So even in all of that, what you said about Israel also made a good point because yes, Israel, but God still was so patient with Israel. He never cast them aside, even in their sins. There's always a remnant. Not only is there a remnant, but he always had the extension of his hand saying, yeah, I'm going to send you into captivity, but I'm going to also bring you out. Always. You get what I'm saying? So therefore, even though they were absolutely worshipping idols and doing all this other stuff, and God being so patient, He constantly sent the prophets to them, saying, repent. And they never repented. God said, okay, because you repent, you're going to go over here. But still, I'm going to extend my grace. But I'm still there. Yes. I'm still with you. That's the point. God's being patient with Satan. Amen. Well, Ellie, you said something here, and it's also in this chapter 34. And he says, starting in verse 16, he says, but if you have understanding, hear this, listen to the sound of my words, shall one who hates justice rule? The answer to that is, yeah, happens all the time. A whole lot of people out there that rule, that hate justice, that are some of those unjust persons that have ever lived have been leaders. And so he says, shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn a righteous mighty one? Now that's interesting because we do that all the time too. And then it says, who says to a king, worthless one, you are worthless. Who says that to a king? I mean, we don't say that to a king. I mean, you wouldn't even think of doing that. Not if you value your, yeah, exactly. And the fact of the matter is is that we don't say that. We don't say to noble people, you're wicked, even though they might be. We just don't do that. That's just not, not if you wanna save your head. So at the end of the day, listen to what he says. He says, who shows no partiality to a prince? Everybody shows partiality to a prince. I had, this is interesting. Early in my life, when I was probably around my early 30s, I met Prince Charles. He stayed at my brother's wife's father's house. He was, yeah, so my brother's wife, his father-in-law, he stayed at his father-in-law's house. early in his life, relatively speaking. He's a little older than me, obviously, so he was probably 40 at the time. And we were there. We were invited to go down, and he wanted to meet the family. It was just that kind of thing, and so we got invited. So I get to meet the prince, Prince Charles. Now, I don't know this man from Adam, seriously. I mean, I didn't know much about him even. I didn't know a whole lot about the monarchy at that time. I really didn't know anything about this before he was married. Okay, so anyhow, long story short, I meet this man and I have to tell you, I showed partiality. I did. I mean, I felt honored, I still do. I still feel like I was honored to have been invited to this, you know, to this, it wasn't a dinner necessarily, it was just sort of an event, you know, kind of like a little cocktail party for all intents and purposes that my father-in-law, or excuse me, that Mr. Shribling did for the Prince. And I have to tell you, it was pretty incredible. I mean, it really was. But I showed partiality. I'm sorry, I did. Okay, I mean, that's just, that's a natural event. I don't think anybody else would have done anything different. I'll give you another good example. Back in 1980, I was down at the war memorial. I was 24 years old. I was down at the war memorial in Fort Lauderdale. And I was there with a buddy of mine by the name of, well actually it was Ray Cohen's son, Ronnie. Ronnie and I were there, and there was this event that was gonna go on, and we got, young guy, they grabbed the two of us because we were both wearing suits. We were wearing suits because we had just come from work, and back in those days you had to wear a suit every day at work, and that was just the way it was. So we're wearing suits, we're both in our 20s, These two guys come up to us, or however many guys came up to us, they come up to us and say, hey, would y'all mind helping us? We need two people to be at the stage, at the front of the stage, just to be there, just to make sure nobody, if people see you in a suit, They'll think you're somebody, okay? Just would you stay? I'm serious. So we're like, sure, whatever, you know, okay. So we go up to the side of the stage and we're kind of standing there, you know, like looking like we know what we're doing, right? Two young guys in suits, pretty good shape at the time. And so, you know, that's where we're at. And all of a sudden Ronald Reagan comes walking in. I had no idea that's what was going to happen. Ronald Reagan comes walking in, he comes over to Ronnie and me, sticks his hand out, says, hey gentlemen, thank you guys for being here, appreciate it. My name is Ronald Reagan. And he did say Ronald, which I always thought was kind of interesting. And so he said, my name is Ronald Reagan, and I just wanted to introduce myself to you. He's a big old dude, too. I mean, he was like six, three, or four. He was big. I mean, he had big old shoulders. I was completely impressed. I'm like, oh. And I got to meet the guy who was ultimately going to become president in another year. This is beginning of 1980, somewhere in that range. Beginning of 81, he became president of the United States. Got to meet the future president of the United States. Got to meet the future king of England. I'm sitting here going, who the heck am I, right? And I'm sitting right in front of you. And you're sitting right in front of me. And that in 25 cents will still not get you a cup of coffee. I'm out. I mean, that's not going to happen. Look, at the end of the day, we give partiality to princes. Okay, we give regard to the rich above the poor. That's just a fact. I don't care what anybody says, we do. We just do. And that's not, it doesn't make it right, but that's what happens. And so he says, for they all, look at this, he says, for they all are the work of his hands. God put Ronald Reagan in that position. I'm sorry, I believe that. I believe that God put Donald Trump in the position he put him in. I don't have any idea why, but he did. God did all these different things. God has always manipulated and worked the chess pieces a lot better than I've ever worked them, and God does what he does for the reasons in which he does it, and I don't get it 95% of the time. Occasionally, I'm fortunate enough to where I get it, but not very often, really. I don't understand why God does what he does. I really don't. But I do know this. I do know this. That the gift is better than the trespass. The gift is better than the trespass. And that's what I care about. I care about the fact that God has given me that gift. And that, to me, is what this is all about. This is really what Elihu brings out. The other thing that's really interesting that he brings out in this, too, is that Elihu does this thing where he prophesies about a messianic coming, which is fascinating to me. You know, this whole idea that there's going to be this mediator and so forth. He prophesies about that. Well, Job had asked for it, right? He says, I know that my Redeemer liveth. And that He'll be there at the end of the day. Job 19. One of the only Bible verses in the whole entire first part of Job that I would put up on the wall, okay? But again, we have this insane picture of where they're thinking God is remaining silent. And the truth is, God's yelling, you just don't hear him. You don't realize he's yelling. He's yelling through your dreams. He's yelling through your pain. He's yelling, he's, he's, he's, yelling is the wrong word. You know, he's, he's, he's, well, maybe, yeah. Okay. He's speaking. He's speaking. And the fact is, is that we think he's silent. Now, I will say, you have to ask this question, does God remain silent sometimes? And the answer is yes, of course he does. Okay. And the why is the real, you know, Simon Sinek wrote this great book about, you know, always ask about why, which if you haven't read it, you should read this book. It's a fascinating book. Always ask the question, why? We're making, or we're looking, excuse me, often times for the wrong answer. We ask a prayer, we pray a certain prayer expecting some kind of an answer from God, so I can give you that answer, so I ain't saying nothing. You don't have anything good to say, don't say anything. Don't say anything at all, or don't open your mouth because then they'll realize you really are the fool you think you are. Can I open my mouth and risk being the fool? Absolutely. So go for it. In chapter 34, when I get to verses 35 and 36, it seems to me that Job is this good man. He does everything right. He offers sacrifices in case his sons have sinned. He's like the do good guy. Yeah, he is. But he still has lacking insight about God. And that's why God has selected Job. because there's a lesson in there that he wants Job to learn. And I think Elihu brings it out in verse 35 and 36. And he says that, he says that God is a just, God cannot be unjust. So questioning why God is doing something to me, even though I didn't deserve it, is a lack of insight that God cannot be unjust. God cannot be silent. God cannot leave you. And Elihu is saying that Job lacks this insight about God, and that's, you know, that's why Job is being tested, because he needs to learn. Apparently Elihu knows something about that God's character that Job doesn't know, and that's why he's trying to say to him, you're lacking the insight, and I'm trying to help you, so you can see that your test is not because you were unjust. Your test is so that you learn, did not question, how God's character really is, and that is that he doesn't do the wrong thing to the right person. Well, and isn't it true, Kenny, that what he says here is so true for most of us? It says Job speaks without knowledge. Job speaks without knowledge. In other words, it's not that Job is stupid. He's just ignorant. He's ignorant. And what I mean by ignorance, I don't mean that in a negative sense. I really don't. I mean that in the sense that he just don't know. Randy, when you hire a new guy to come in and start digging at your job site, you assume he knows nothing. Right? You assume that. You have to assume that. Because as you've told me, the richest real estate in the world is 20 feet under the ground in Florida. So at the end of the day, you have to assume anybody you bring in knows nothing, even though he may think he knows everything. But the truth is, you have to assume he knows nothing. And when you assume that he knows nothing, it's easy to teach him the right thing. But unfortunately, some of these guys come in there thinking that they do know something, And so they start, I don't know if rebel is the wrong word maybe, but they start rejecting the instruction. They operate in their wisdom. Exactly. The most dangerous man is the man who doesn't know what he doesn't know. Right. It really is. Can I say something? It is. He said something that really, I don't know if y'all caught it, but he said something. Job did not know the character of God. And I think we missed that. Because we think scripture, instead of learning his character. And what I love about, and he said that, and I'm like, did he really say that? Because it's not so much as knowing the word, it's knowing his character. the character of God. He did. He did. And that's the most important thing. When you get to know God's character, you really get to know God. Yeah. And he knew, so in chapters 36 and 37, he talks about the fact that, look, God is always right. God is always right. He is always good. He is always faithful. He is always there. But most importantly, God operates out of a love for you, Job. Not because he wants to persecute you, not because he wants to hurt you, because he wants you to... And so what God had to do with Job, and this is the conclusion I came to, and we're gonna end on this. The conclusion I came to is that the reason God allowed Satan to go after Job and so forth is because he loved Job. He wanted Job to understand his character. He wanted Job to understand that, Job, you don't deserve anything. I love you regardless of your faults. I love you regardless of your idiocy. I love you regardless of your pride. I love you, period. And it's not because you're this incredibly good person, although you are. What's really interesting is you never see anybody, even when we get into, wait until we get into 38, 39, this is so cool, next week. God doesn't condemn Job for the stuff he did. It's very interesting. He doesn't condemn him for anything that he did. Because it wasn't that he did anything. He just didn't understand where it was all coming from. That was the point. The point was that God wanted to get his attention. And to get his attention, he had to allow Satan to just go for it. And he got his attention, didn't he? That's what you said. What you said. So he could know his character. Exactly. If you know God's character truly, then you can fully trust God. So what I wrote here was this. Elihu is telling Job, God is calling you out of this affliction to a place of comfort. a place of favor, a place of blessing, not because of your goodness, but because it is love for you. But most of all, God is showing him that he is in control, meaning God. He is exalted. He is glorious. Because God is 100% just. God is 100% righteous. Though he could rule like a tyrant, he chooses to rule us in love. And even though we have nothing to offer him, he still loves us enough to look out for our best interest always. Always. And so that's kind of the summary that I really wanted to kind of come to as we bring this to a halt. I can't wait to get into next week. Can I say one? Yeah, go for it. He said testing. I mean, Job was being tested and Job looked at it as punishment versus being tested. Because looking at it from an earthly, you know, he took this away from me. I mean, it was an earthly possession kind of thing when in the big picture he was being tested. Exactly. He was not only was he being tested by great word, by the way, but he was also being instructed. He was being taught. which he had never experienced before. And that's why he says here, God speaks, or excuse me, Job speaks without knowledge. The truth of the matter is, is that he does. He did speak without knowledge. He didn't know who God was, and now he knows. And that's why, by the way, when we get into 42 and we see how God restores Job, that's a pretty incredible statement in and of itself, because God says, you know what, Job? I didn't take this stuff away from you, because I wanted to necessarily inflict you with harm. It wasn't punishment. That's the point. It was just to get his attention. and God will do whatever it takes. Yeah, I mean God will do whatever it takes to get your attention. So anyhow, let's get going and we'll pray and we'll get out of here. Hey God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Job. We thank you for the understanding of this and we bless you for all that you do for us and through us as we thank you for Jesus and we pray in his name. Amen.