July 20, 2025, Job 33:1-33

July 20, 2025, Job 33:1-33

Elihu Rebukes Job

33 “But now, hear my speech, O Job,
    and listen to all my words.
² Behold, I open my mouth;
    the tongue in my mouth speaks.
³ My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
    and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
⁴ The Spirit of God has made me,
    and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Answer me, if you can;
    set your words in order before me; take your stand.
⁶ Behold, I am toward God as you are;
    I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.
⁷ Behold, no fear of me need terrify you;
    my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

⁸ “Surely you have spoken in my ears,
    and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹ You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression;
    I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
¹⁰ Behold, he finds occasions against me,
    he counts me as his enemy,
¹¹ he puts my feet in the stocks
    and watches all my paths.’

¹² “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,
    for God is greater than man.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
    saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’?
¹⁴ For God speaks in one way,
    and in two, though man does not perceive it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on men,
    while they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶ then he opens the ears of men
    and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷ that he may turn man aside from his deed
    and conceal pride from a man;
¹⁸ he keeps back his soul from the pit,
    his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹ “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
    and with continual strife in his bones,
²⁰ so that his life loathes bread,
    and his appetite the choicest food.
²¹ His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
    and his bones that were not seen stick out.
²² His soul draws near the pit,
    and his life to those who bring death.
²³ If there be for him an angel,
    a mediator, one of the thousand,
    to declare to man what is right for him,
²⁴ and he is merciful to him, and says,
    ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
    I have found a ransom;
²⁵ let his flesh become fresh with youth;
    let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
²⁶ then man prays to God, and he accepts him;
    he sees his face with a shout of joy,
and he restores to man his righteousness.
²⁷     He sings before men and says:
‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
    and it was not repaid to me.
²⁸ He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
    and my life shall look upon the light.’

²⁹ “Behold, God does all these things,
    twice, three times, with a man,
³⁰ to bring back his soul from the pit,
    that he may be lighted with the light of life.
³¹ Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have any words, answer me;
    speak, for I desire to justify you.
³³ If not, listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Here's another struggle for me. Do you sometimes speak when you should be listening? I struggle with listening to God and for God to speak to me. Sometimes I find myself so busy laying out my troubles that I fail to take time to listen to God.

Debbie Walker