Elihu does not picture God as an angry judge when he contemplates the pain of the righteous.

He pictures God as a redeemer, a savior, a rescuer.

The pain he causes is like a surgeon's knife, not an executioner's

sword. It really matters how you think of God when you're suffering. If you see him as a judge,

your pain feels like a sentence.

But what if he's more like a surgeon?

I'm Dan Kroover.

In this episode of Light and Truth, from our series holding fast to God in the dark,

John Piper turns to the book of Job once again to show us the hope that comes when we remember who God really is.

This message was originally delivered at the Cove in Asheville, North Carolina on July 15, 2000.

Let's open our Bibles now to chapter 32 of Job.

Job 32.

We're going to be looking at the chapters 32 through 37.

From chapter 4 until 31, Job conversed with Elifaz, Bildad, and Zofar about the meaning of suffering.

And he won the argument, but he didn't come up with an answer.

The principle that he defeated was the simple principle of retributive justice that says in the world, God is a God of justice,

and this expresses itself through the righteous prospering and the wicked suffering.

And when there's lots of righteousness, there'll be lots of prosperity.

And when there's lots of wickedness, there will be lots of suffering.

And it didn't hold.

It couldn't be made to stand against the witness and the integrity of the person Job, who was

suffering a lot and his life did not correlate with a lot of evil.

...