October 19, 2025
El Shaddai
Job 36:5-6
Have you ever suffered from tunnel vision? Have you ever been so hyper-focused upon a particular thing that you missed the more important things that were happening around you? It has happened to all of us, but this week I read a couple of stories that amplify this issue. One story was about an older Romanian woman who was in need of a doorstop, so she went down to the river, looked among the rocks, and picked out one. She carried her brand-new 10 lb. doorstop back to her home and found out that it did a wonderful job at the only thing she thought it was good for — it held her interior doors open perfectly for years. When the lady passed, her children were going through her things and had used that same doorstop to hold open the front door while they took some things outside to their vehicle. While they were sorting through the lady’s possessions, a man happened to be walking through the town and noticed the doorstop. He stopped to speak with the family and asked them where they got such a wonderful specimen and why they were using it for a doorstop. It turns out this doorstop was the largest piece of rare amber ever discovered, and the family was able to sell it for around one million dollars. The grandmother was so focused on holding the door open that she missed the treasure she actually had. It took someone on the outside to help others see the bigger picture and realize what they had. This wasn’t the only story I read about doorstops this week either — there was another doorstop incident in Europe. In a small town in Scotland, townspeople had been using a large piece of what they described as an ugly stone to prop open a shed next to the city’s community soccer field for years. Someone noticed that it was more than just an ugly piece of stone (after seeing the pictures, I’m not sure why they thought it was ugly in the first place), but instead, it was a missing marble sculpture from a famous 18th-century French sculptor that ended up selling for over three million dollars. I share these stories not to make you run home and check all of your and your grandma’s doorstops, but to understand that we can all be too focused on one thing and miss the bigger picture. We see people have this same problem during Jesus’ ministry as well. In Luke 10:38, we are told of a time that Jesus went to the house of Mary and Martha. When Jesus arrived, we are told that Martha was busy making a meal for everyone, and Mary just sat and listened at the feet of Jesus. Martha was upset that her sister wasn’t focused on helping her, and she went to Jesus to complain about it. Jesus responded to her complaint by saying, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Martha was so narrowly focused and busy with one thing that she missed out on the big picture and the blessing of being in the presence of Jesus. We might think we are not tunnel-visioned, but how often are we like Martha? I sadly find myself in her place quite often. I tend to erroneously find my self-worth in being busy for the Lord, but I wonder if I’ve missed opportunities to sit in the presence of Jesus and learn while I was “busy for the Lord.” These are just a few examples of how someone can miss priceless moments because we are too focused on other things. This is the situation in which we find Job this morning. In the book of Job, we have seen him suffer unimaginable losses. We have seen his wife, one of the only family members he had left, encourage him to curse God and die. We have seen his so-called friends come and persistently attack him verbally, trying to get him to embrace a false theology, all the while cutting him deeply with their accusations that all of this suffering was his own fault. These things had caused Job to have tunnel vision. He was focused on his condition, he was focused on the “why” of his crisis, and he was focused on defending himself against harmful and false accusations. This was his world and all he could see until a young man named Elihu stepped in to help him see the bigger picture. This young man had been listening to Job and his friends go on and on, and when they were done, he had to speak up. While there were some things he said that were very prideful and arrogant, there were some other things that needed to be shared to help bring Job out of his tunnel vision and see the bigger picture of who God truly is. Elihu starts his address by rebuking Job’s friends for not having a shred of evidence for their accusations but still condemning Job anyway. He even rebukes Job for saying he doesn’t have any sin and that God doesn’t listen. Then he begins to address many of Job’s specific complaints, but one of the most powerful statements that Elihu makes to Job is found in Job 36, where he breaks down and reminds Job of the most-used name of God in the book of Job — El Shaddai, or Almighty God. He wants to remind Job of all the ways God is mighty in the midst of our troubles and help him see the bigger picture in his circumstance.
God is Mighty in Love. – Job 36:5a
God is mighty, but He does not despise anyone!
In his tunnel vision, Job seemed to think God had forgotten about him — that God had abandoned him — and maybe that God was too big to even worry about his suffering at all. Elihu confronts this lie directly, starting with the declaration that God is almighty. This was a reminder to Job that there is no one greater than God. But sometimes this type of declaration can make God seem like a huge and scary being — powerful but distant. But that’s not the God that is revealed in the Bible, so Elihu wanted to be a little more specific in what God was almighty in so that Job would know a truth that would be written years later in the book of Psalms: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed” (Psalm 34:18). Elihu starts by telling Job that God does not despise anyone. This was in direct conflict with what Job felt, but remember — our feelings will often deceive us, and we must stand upon truth. This is a wonderful truth—that God Almighty does not despise but loves and cares for everyone personally. Even at our worst, when we let others down, when we let ourselves down, when we are stuck in sin, God still loves and cares for us and does not and will not ever despise us. We see this wonderful truth all throughout Scripture. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” When we were still His enemies, Christ died for us. How can you despise someone you came to die for? He does not despise anyone and wants all to be saved and come to know the truth that is only found in Jesus Christ. We see Jesus speak of this as well in Luke 12:6–7 when He says, “What is the price of five sparrows — two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” Not only does God not despise anyone, but He is near and intimately concerned and involved in all of our lives. Job needed to hear this truth because he didn’t need to keep looking at his situation through his human eyes and see brokenness, but needed to look at it through God’s eyes to see God’s love for him. He was greatly loved and had never been forgotten. The same goes for you this morning — you might feel God has forgotten or abandoned you, but even in the midst of your struggles, God still loves you, and that never changes. Nothing you can do in your life will make Him love you any more, and nothing you do can make Him love you any less. God loves you right now, but He loves you too much to leave you in the state you are in. He does not want you to remain in your sin and brokenness. That’s why Jesus came — to offer us the free gift of salvation with the promise of being forgiven of our sins and healed from our brokenness. The Bible tells us that “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We are saved by His grace through faith in Jesus and not by our works, so no one can brag about how they got into heaven — but we can all point to and worship Jesus for what He did to bring us there. When we experience salvation, we are now His — adopted into His family — and everything changes. There is a whole new life to live, and we live it in the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s a new life that is lived in the love of Christ, and God’s Word shows us many ways in which those who are born again will experience this love. There is one that really resonates with me, found in Zephaniah 3:17. It says, “The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah was speaking a prophecy specifically for the children of Israel, but as a child of God, I can’t help but think this is true for us as well. I say this because when you are saved, Jesus is your Lord, and He is always with you and will never leave you nor forsake you. Why this verse really resonates with me is because of what the phrase “rejoice over you with singing” means in Hebrew. While God rejoicing over you with singing is exciting in and of itself, this phrase is synonymous with the phrase “God shouts for joy because of you.” This makes my mind go back to when I played high school sports. I remember when we played football at home and had a massive home-field advantage. It was an advantage because everyone would be cheering for you, and that was incredible encouragement both in the good times in the game as well as the tough parts. As a child of God, I know that God is always with me, and I can just imagine my Heavenly Father doing the same for me as my earthly parents did on Friday nights under the lights. Wherever I go and whatever my circumstances, He is shouting for joy over me. He is cheering me on and encouraging me to be holy because He is holy. He is shouting to encourage me to carry out my calling — for my good and for His glory — and to make disciples everywhere I go. This simple phrase Elihu used to speak to Job contains so much truth and encouragement for those who belong to Christ, and it’s with these words that Job was starting to see a little clearer and have a wider view of his situation. There is no greater love than the love of God.
God is Mighty in Understanding. – Job 36:5b
He is mighty in both power and understanding.
After telling Job that God does not despise him, he reassures him once again that God is almighty — specifically that He is almighty in His power and also almighty in His understanding and wisdom. The latter is important because Job was still looking at his circumstances very narrow-mindedly, using his earthly eyes, and needed to be reminded that God's ways are higher than ours; His wisdom is unmatched, and there is no wisdom that is greater. Many times in our struggles we look around and ask “Why?” This happened in Job’s life, this happens in our lives, and we see it happen in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. These men had left everything to follow Jesus for three years. They listened to His teachings, saw His miracles, and thought they had His purpose figured out. Then Jesus was crucified, and all their expectations of what they thought was supposed to happen came crashing down. Through the world’s eyes, everything looked like it had failed and they were in a crisis, but through God’s eyes, His plan for redeeming the world was coming together perfectly, like it always does. Job would soon see and be reminded that God did indeed have a plan and was indeed almighty in His wisdom. Sometimes we struggle, but in those moments, we must cling not to our feelings, frustrations, or confusion, but we have to trust in God and the truth in Romans 8:28 that “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” While we might only see chaos here on earth, we must understand that from heaven’s perspective, God’s perfect plan is always perfectly unfolding.
God is Mighty in Justice – Job 36:6
He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.
Elihu's reminder that God is almighty in His wisdom is accompanied by some direct references to Job’s struggles that were verbalized in his previous conversations with his friends. The first specific example is concerning justice — Job was struggling with doubt, doubting that God was truly just. Elihu addresses this as a major theme in the five chapters that he speaks to Job. It’s here in verse 6 that Elihu is telling Job not to worry about God being just, because He is perfectly just. What does perfect justice look like? God is perfect in His wisdom used to judge, just like we discussed, and as we’re told in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!” He is perfect in His fairness, just like it says in Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!” He is perfect in His consistency, as we’re told in Malachi 3:6: “I am the Lord, and I do not change.” Most importantly for Job, God is perfect in the timing of His justice—2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.” Aren’t you glad that there is perfect justice found in God? The idea of true, perfect, and ultimate justice is an idea that many atheists struggle with. Think about the implications of that — if there is no perfectly just God, then those who harmed others greatly, and those who have harmed you and thought they “got away with it,” really did, because there will be no consequences for their actions either here on earth or in eternity. The truth is, we don’t have to worry about that because we do have a perfectly just God, and we can know that justice will always be done—and done perfectly. This will happen at one of two places: it will happen at the Great White Throne Judgment when all those not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be judged for everything they have done, or it was done on Calvary, where those who have trusted Jesus and have been saved had their sins nailed to the cross and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s justice is almighty, but we always have to remember, just as Job did, it’s in God’s timing, not ours.
Elihu continues on by describing more ways in which God is almighty and what that means to Job. God uses this discourse to set the stage for my favorite part of Job. However, Job had to have his perspective changed to understand that with God, there is always a bigger picture; with God, there is always more to the story; with God, there is always a reason. Things do not happen by accident with God — He is always in control and wants what is best. We must trust the Almighty and watch as His perfect plan is played out for our good, but more importantly, for His glory.
