Young Wisdom | Can you trust the advice from a younger person? (Job 29-35)…
Wise beyond his years. A common phrase often offered in respect after a younger person has given good advice or presented a deep thought. Basically, it is young wisdom. While it can be surprising coming from someone younger than you, does that mean it should be automatically discredited? Does that mean it should be treated as Godly wisdom?
Job is wrestling with his understanding of who God is. He struggles with what he knew about Him, what he has witnessed on earth, and who he is as a person.
Then enters Elihu, after Job has been called out by his friends as a liar, hypocrite, and wicked.
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Elihu steps in…
Elihu sat quiet (wise) while listening to the older men speak. Up to this point, we did not even know he was there. When they stopped, he stepped in after noticing a vacancy in their dialogue. The sovereignty of God was lacking for all when grasping the reality of Job’s situation.
Elihu rightly tried to point Job to God. His power, might, creation, love, and more! He was wise to bring the conversation around to where it ought to be.
When giving his discourse, Elihu focuses on Job’s words, not his life prior to the trials. The other three focused on pointing out Job’s prior life must have been different than what was claimed because of the consequences he surely was facing now because of it.
Rather, Elihu takes Job’s own words and tries to point them to God.
Elihu’s approach…
Elihu walks through the sovereignty of God. He also walks out Job’s errors, as he perceives them.
Job’s monologue turns directly to God for a legal decision: that he is innocent of the charges his counselors have leveled against him. Elihu’s monologue–another human perspective on why people suffer–rebukes Job but moves beyond the punishment theme to the value of divine chastening and God’s redemptive purpose in it.
NIV Study Bible
Reading the book of Job, it can be hard to remember this was Job’s life. He lived this and suffered through this alone (his wife wanted him to curse God, his kids had all perished, his 3 older friends accused him of hidden wickedness, and now a younger lad was calling him out.
Because we have the benefit of written wisdom, we have what Job did not. He and his friends had an orthodox that boxed in their belief about prosperity. We have the whole Bible to understand that Job was correct when he stated sometimes the wicked reap worldly blessings.
Challenging advice…
Will we ever truly understand God? The enigma Job wrestled with presents differently for us today. We have the opportunity to search the Scriptures though.
Full wisdom can never be obtained or bought, but are we even seeking wisdom? Delving into the Words God gifted us?
When advice is given, whether from an aged advisor or one wiser than their years, it is our Christian duty to ensure we follow Biblical advice.
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Acts 17:10-11
The Bereans confirmed Paul’s words against the truth of the Scriptures. They daily examined them. Can the same be said of you?
Was Elihu right?
Elihu was incorrect in some of his assumptions and perceptions about Job, but was right to point Job to God’s sovereignty and divine purposes. We know Job does not reply to his speech, and in the chapters immediately following, God addresses Job directly.
Following that, God directly rebukes Eliphaz and his two friends with the requirement that Job pray for them to be right with God. Elihu is not called out.
He did not give 100% correct advice, but neither was he chastised by God. Young wisdom may be the culprit here as his life experiences were limited.
Young Wisdom…
The wisdom Elihu gave can often represent a symbolic picture of us as Christians. We all have a varying form of young wisdom, in comparison to the wisdom of God. There are things we will never know or understand on this earth.
When we offer advice, we best check it first against the Bible. So too, we should expect a listening ear to challenge it against the Bible.
It isn’t personal, it’s holy.
God is to be number one, and His wisdom, might, sovereignty, and power are so vast that we will never 100% understand. THIS is the God we serve! Anything else that takes the place of our allegiance is a false idol and impurifies our gold. Do you treat a gold ring with honor or do you drop it in the dirt and grind it in with your heel?
How much more so should we cherish something that is worth far more than gold? Not even God’s wisdom can be bought with all the gold in the world.
Anchored Abode
Can you trust the advice from a younger person?
If you face this situation, you may be asking yourself a lot of questions.
- Maybe you knew this person before and you question his authenticity,
- perhaps you are confused that he could possibly possess suck knowledge,
- your jealousy of his understanding might taint your acceptance of Truth, or
- it may seem as though most of what he says seems correct but some is tainted.
It might help to rephrase the question, can you trust anyone’s advice? Yes, once it is challenged against the truths of the Bible.
We have the benefit of seeing Elihu’s errors through the validity of the Bible. We also have the same opportunity in front of us with advice.
How often do we neglect our Bibles for an easy answer? It can be much easier to read about the Bible, instead of searching it out.
If nothing else, Elihu should remind us to be like the Berean, and seek the truth. Find if there is Truth in any advice you’re given or don’t follow it!
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I am taking away lessons on 2 levels here, Becca.
I want to always be welcoming and positive toward the young women with whom I serve. AND I am grateful for the forbearance of God toward my own weak words, when they sound like wisdom to me but have actually missed the mark by a mile!