Young Elihu Has Something to Say

While Job and his three friends were talking and arguing, there was another man there listening. His name was Elihu, and he was younger than the others.

Elihu had been sitting quietly, listening to everything. He was getting more and more frustrated! Finally, he couldn't stay quiet anymore.

'I waited to speak because you're all older than me,' Elihu said. 'I thought older people would be wiser. But just because someone is old doesn't mean they're always right! You three friends are wrong!'

Elihu turned to Job's friends. 'You keep saying Job must have sinned terribly. But you can't prove it! You don't have good answers!'

Then he turned to Job. 'But Job, you're not completely right either. You keep demanding that God explain Himself to you. You keep insisting that you deserve answers. But God doesn't HAVE to explain everything to us!'

Elihu had a different idea about why people suffer. 'Sometimes God lets hard things happen to help us grow,' he said. 'Sometimes God is teaching us something. Sometimes He's protecting us from getting too proud. God loves us, and sometimes He uses hard times to help us become better people.'

Then Elihu started talking about how amazing God is. 'Look at the storm clouds!' he said. 'God controls them! Listen to the thunder! God made it! Think about lightning and snow and rain and wind. God is in control of ALL of it!'

'God is SO great and SO powerful that we can't fully understand Him,' Elihu continued. 'We should respect Him and trust Him, even when we don't understand what He's doing.'

Elihu was getting Job ready for something important. While Elihu was talking about storms and clouds and thunder, a real storm was starting to form in the sky. Dark clouds were gathering. Wind was starting to blow.

Something BIG was about to happen. God Himself was about to speak!