Job

Job 32: The Almighty gives understanding

Begin in prayer

Before Elihu begins his answer, please ask God for understanding and a willingness to test our own words.

Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.

1 Kings 3:7

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Give us teachable hearts that value truth above confident speech. Help us recognize Your wisdom in Christ crucified. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The friends stop answering Job, and Elihu is angry at Job’s self-justification and their condemnation without an answer. He has waited because they are older, but now says the Almighty gives understanding. Age alone does not ensure wisdom or justice. He says he listened carefully and will answer differently from the friends. His words press within him like wine with no vent in skins ready to burst. He refuses partiality and flattering titles, saying his Maker would soon take him away if he used them.

As you read Job 32, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God gives understanding, so age and confident speech cannot make human judgment wise by themselves.

The narrator says the friends stop answering while Job remains righteous in his own eyes. Elihu is new to the story, younger than the others, and God does not name him in chapter 42. Elihu is angry because Job justifies himself rather than God and because the friends condemn him without an answer. Having waited for the older men, he now challenges the thought that age alone ensures wisdom. Understanding comes from the Almighty, so a younger speaker may also be heard. That truth does not make every opinion Elihu offers God’s own verdict. His image of unvented wine explains the pressure he feels to speak, not proof that his words cannot be mistaken. He ends by refusing partiality and flattering titles before his Maker. We should test human words before God rather than accepting them because of age, confidence or the speaker’s claims.

How does Job 32 show us that God gives understanding, so age and confident speech cannot make human judgment wise by themselves?

The Almighty gives the understanding people need.

Elihu first waited because the others were older. He then says the Almighty’s breath gives understanding and age does not guarantee justice. Wisdom depends on God rather than a person’s years alone.

Confident speech still needs to be tested.

Elihu has heard the friends fail to answer Job and promises a different reply. He feels like wine shut inside a skin ready to burst. His strong desire to speak does not itself prove his answer right.

Our Maker deserves truthful and impartial words.

Elihu refuses to favor a person or give flattering titles. He names his Maker’s judgment as the reason. Respect for God should keep our speech from becoming an attempt to please powerful people.

Memorise

But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Job 32:8

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, where do I need Jesus to replace proud confidence with a teachable heart?

Elihu rightly says that understanding comes from the Almighty. Older people can be mistaken, and younger people can speak with confidence without being right. We need God’s wisdom more than a persuasive voice.

Colossians 2 verse 3 says all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. He bore His people’s sins and died in their place. His completed offering is fully sufficient to reconcile them to God. The Father raised Him from the dead.

Turn from self-trust and sin, and believe in Jesus. Those who seek Him receive forgiveness. Ask Him to teach you through His Word and give you humility when another person corrects you.

Parent's note

Tell your children that understanding comes from God, and neither age nor a confident claim makes every human opinion right. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for giving understanding that human confidence cannot supply, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Father, thank You for giving the understanding we need. Forgive our proud confidence and our desire to flatter people. Please lead us to faith in Jesus, Your wisdom revealed in the crucified Savior. Help us receive correction and speak truthfully before You this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.