“WHERE IS GOD MY MAKER?”

Job 35:1-16 / Keywords 35:10

But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,

35:1 Then Elihu said:

2 “Do you think this is just?

    You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’

3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]

    and what do I gain by not sinning?’

4 “I would like to reply to you

    and to your friends with you.

5 Look up at the heavens and see;

    gaze at the clouds so high above you.

6 If you sin, how does that affect him?

    If your sins are many, what does that do to him?

7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,

    or what does he receive from your hand?

8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,

    and your righteousness only other people.

9 “People cry out under a load of oppression;

    they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.

10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

    who gives songs in the night,

11 who teaches us more than he teaches[b] the beasts of the earth

    and makes us wiser than[c] the birds in the sky?’

12 He does not answer when people cry out

    because of the arrogance of the wicked.

13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;

    the Almighty pays no attention to it.

14 How much less, then, will he listen

    when you say that you do not see him,

that your case is before him

    and you must wait for him,

15 and further, that his anger never punishes

    and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[d]

16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;

    without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Footnotes

a. Job 35:3 Or you

b. Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by

c. Job 35:11 Or us wise by

d. Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

 

1. Elihu's third speech is addressed to Job. Certainly, Job was in great misery in many ways, but there is no reason why God should listen to Job or to anyone else. God is God. The world has a self-centered view that is essentially godless. We think about what we can gain, but we don’t consider God. Elihu reminded Job and his friends that human sins and human righteousness only affect other humans like ourselves. We don’t consider how sin affects God or what our sins do to him. Only the gospel guides us to this truth, since Jesus bore our sins on the cross.

2. People in this world are concerned about oppression but seek relief in the world. No one says, “Where is God my Maker?” It is God alone who gives relief where there is injustice and oppression. God does not answer the demands of the arrogant. He pays no attention to those who do not seek him. However, when we seek him, he teaches us and gives us songs in the night.

 

Prayer Lord, this world is always subject to oppression. Thank you for calling us to seek you and meet you in that place. Teach me your wisdom.

One Word God gives songs in the night