“For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it” (Job 33:14 ESV).
Elihu spoke after Job and his three friends had exhausted their arguments. Elihu said that God spoke in ways people did not always recognize. He described two ways. First, God could speak through warning, using dreams and visions to turn a person from sin and pride and preserve him from destruction (vv. 15–18). Second, God could speak through affliction, using pain to discipline, humble, and rescue a person from destruction (vv. 19–30).
This second possibility directly addressed Job’s suffering and differed substantially from the explanation offered by his three friends. They reasoned backward: You are suffering, therefore you must have committed serious sin, so repent. Elihu reasoned more prospectively: You are suffering, perhaps God is using the suffering to speak, correct, humble, preserve, and restore you.
The distinction between cause and purpose was crucial. Elihu did not know the heavenly events described in Job 1–2, so he could not explain why Job’s suffering had begun. Yet he challenged Job to consider what God might be accomplishing through it.
There is an intriguing gospel resonance within Elihu’s speech. He imagined a “mediator” who intervenes and God saying: “Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24).
Job had longed for an arbiter between himself and God (9:33). The gospel reveals the One who ultimately fulfills that longing: Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man, who gave Himself as a ransom for us (1 Tim. 2:5–6).
For the Christian, suffering is not merely something God uses to “teach us a lesson.” Rather, our suffering is now experienced in union with Christ. The One who suffered for us is with us in our suffering, and He is using even painful circumstances to conform us to His image.
When suffering enters our lives, our first question is often, “Why is this happening?” Sometimes we may discover an answer, but often we will not. Job reminds us that we cannot always see the hidden causes of our pain. The gospel reminds us that suffering is not necessarily evidence of God’s punishment. Jesus was perfectly righteous, yet He suffered more deeply than anyone, bearing at the cross the judgment our sins deserved.
So perhaps we can learn to ask a different question: “Lord, what are You doing through this?” God may use suffering to expose our pride, deepen our dependence, strengthen our faith, redirect our steps, or conform us more fully to the image of Christ. We may never understand why a particular trial came, but we can trust the One who entered our suffering, died for our sins, and rose again.
When we cannot trace God’s hand, we can still trust His heart. Wrestling with the problem of pain ultimately leads us to the cross, where we see that God can bring His greatest redemptive purposes out of our deepest suffering.
PRAYER: Dear Father, when suffering comes, keep us from assuming we understand all its causes. Give us ears to hear what You may be teaching us through adversity. Use our pain to humble us, strengthen our faith, and make us more like Christ. When answers do not come, help us look to the cross and trust Your goodness and redemptive purposes. In Jesus’ name, amen.