Insight for Living Daily Broadcast - Another Long-Winded Monologue, Part 1

0:00Have you ever sat with someone who talks and talks and yet somehow never gets to the point? Someone convinced they hold the final word on everything. Jokes already endured three friends who said far too much and helped far too little. And now a fourth voice chimes in. Burning with things he simply must say. Buried in all his words lies a truth worth waiting for. One about who gets to have the last word in life and who doesn't. Today on Insight for Living, Jutswindol continues his comprehensive teaching series on Job. Well, we're still in Job. We're going to be in Job till Jesus comes back. Out of this rate, I'm taking six chapters today, baby. We're going to get through this thing.

1:01That's why you call it a long-winded monologue. Job chapter 32 is the place we'll start reading a few of these verses and then I'll just skip toward 37. Ellie who was being introduced to us, he's the fourth friend of Job. Would that we all had friends like that, huh? 32, one, then these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. But the anger of Ellie who, the son of Barrel, the boozeite of the family of Ram burned against Job, his anger burned because he justified himself before God. And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. Now Ellie who had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he.

2:03And when Ellie who saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, his anger burned. So Ellie who, the son of Barrel, the boozeite spoke out, said, I'm young and years and you were old. Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think I thought age should speak and increased years should teach wisdom. But it is a spirited man and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. The abundant in years may not be wise, nor may elders understand justice. So I say listen to me. I too will tell what I think. I think at verse 18 and smile for I am full of words. So let's go to chapter 34. Amazing. 34 then Ellie who continued and said, hear my words you wise men and listen to me.

3:07You who know for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. Let us choose for ourselves what is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. Verse 7. What man is like Job who drinks up derision like water, who goes in company with the workers of iniquity and walks with wicked men. For he has said, it profits a man nothing when he is pleased with God. Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness and from the Almighty to do wrong. Chapter 37. You wish you could do that in a sermon. Just jump right to the end and you have come to the end of 37.

4:1014. Listen to this, so Job stand and consider the wonders of God. Do you know how God establishes them and makes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge. Verse 21. Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind has passed and cleared them out of the north comes golden splendor around God is awesome majesty. The Almighty, we cannot find Him. He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness. Therefore men fear Him.

5:14He does not regard any who are wise of heart. We are listening to InSight for Living. To dig deeper into Job's story, be sure to purchase a copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to InSight.org slash offer. Chuck title today's message, another long-winded monologue. Well if you ask me, I think it's pretty gutsy for a pastor to put as his sermon title, another long-winded monologue. You who are visiting with us don't know this, but the rest of us do that we have monitors, little television monitors out in the hallway wrapped around this worship center and somebody decided to put my picture on there when the sermon title appears.

6:17And I want you to know I don't appreciate all the comments I heard when I, one man said to his wife, long-winded monologue. So what else is new? Teenage kids said to his mother, oh no, not again. In a day of 10 to 15 minute sermons, which by the way are for Christian it. I believe my 40, 50 minute messages are probably a little outdated and tedious at times. One through the years people have fussed about long sermons. I was interested in reading a comment made by an older woman years ago when the Welsh preacher John Owen went on and on and on and on. She made the comment that he was so long setting the table in his introduction she lost her appetite for the meal. Ronald Reagan, the great communicator while president, loved to tell the story of the

7:19young country preacher who had never before preached a message. And he came to this country church and he walked in and to his amazement there was one rancher present. The place was empty except for this one man sitting about halfway back on the hard bench and young preacher walked back there and he said, well, what do you think I ought to do? And the rancher said, well, I don't rightly know, son. I'm just a cowpoke but if I went out in the field and found only one steer, I'd feed it. That's all the young preacher needed to hear and so he climbed up in the pulpit and he delivered a fiery sermon and it went on and on and on and on. And on. When he finally ended it he walked back to the fill in the pew and he said, well, what do you think? Well, I don't rightly know, son. I'll tell you this, if I went out in the field and found only had one steer, I wouldn't

8:20feed in the whole load. Frankly, I'm encouraged that I'm in pretty good company when it comes to long-winded preachers. If you'll turn to Acts 20, you knew I'd find a text for this, didn't you? Acts chapter 20 verse 7. Please take note of a man named Uticus. Only time he's mentioned in the Scriptures, Acts 20 verse 7. On the first day of the week, when we were gathered, Luke's writing, so it includes him, he was there. When we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day and he prolonged his message until midnight. I put in the margin of my Bible, bless his heart. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together and there was

9:22a young man named Uticus. You know what his name means? It means fortunate. Now, keep reading. Uticus was sitting on the windowsill, thinking into a deep sleep. Isn't that great the way it reads? He's just sinking into deep. I've seen that so many times in my... It's when they start to drool that you have to get worried about him. So dear Uticus is sinking into a deep sleep and as Paul kept on talking, Uticus was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. I love this story. But Paul went down and fell upon him and after embracing him, he said, do not be troubled for his life as in him.

10:25When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with him along while until daybreak and then left. Dear man, he just couldn't stay with it and he finally sinks into sleep and falls backwards down three floors. The apostle raises him up. Spurgeon said, remember if we go to sleep during the sermon and die today, there are no apostles to restore us. Be warned. Having said all of that about preaching too long, you'll be relieved to know that the title has nothing to do with my message. It has everything to do with Elihu's long-winded monologue when you turn back to Job chapter 32. On top of Elihu's message to Job are three other friends who have taken far too long

11:31to say much too little to Job who could have taught him all. Then Elihu on the heels of everyone else, Elephaz three times, Bill Dad three times, so far, twice, and Job answering each one, you'll remember along the way. Elihu was waited and then finally when he talks, you wonder why? Honestly, six chapters. Are you ready for this? The length of these chapters, longer than twelve other Old Testament books and seventeen of the twenty-seven New Testament books are letters, longer than those. So this is a, he gave him the whole load, I guess we could say. Rather than getting bogged down into needless detail, let's sort of slide our way along with Elihu with apologies.

12:34Here's my take on what he has to say. Let me give you several observations. First, he delivers four speeches, four of them. Two of them, I should say two chapters cover the first speech, 32 and 33. The second speech is in 34, third speech is in 35, then the fourth speech is in 36 and 37. So two, one, one, two. Frankly, he's more effective at the beginning and the ending than he is in the middle. It gets a little dull and boring when he goes on and on on this subject. Let me say secondly, his message contains two very fine points. First, God disciplines a person to turn him from the era of his way.

13:36Second, God governs justly. He's fair. And the major theme of all that Elihu has to say is a good theme. God is suffering. He is not only good all the time, he is in control all the time. All the time. Even when I'm even when I'm even when I can't even when you can't. Even at times like even at times like God is never shocked, God is never surprised, God is never out of control. And furthermore, God doesn't feel obligated to explain himself. I think if he tried, most of us wouldn't get it anyway because he is so profound. And I don't mean that as an escape hatch, I really mean it.

14:38He is sovereign and he doesn't explain himself nor should he feel obligated to. Third, neither Job nor his counselors answer Elihu at any point. These chapters run uninterrupted. There's no question and answer. There's no response. There's no dialogue. It's all a monologue. It's a long-winded monologue. Interestingly about Elihu, unlike the others, it says four times at the beginning of his talk that he's angry. In fact, it says that he's burning with anger. Did you catch that when I read that earlier? Verse two, the anger of Elihu burned. Against Job, his anger burned. Three, verse three, his anger burned against his three friends. Verse five, his anger burned as he spoke.

15:42Remember when you spoke and you were angry, all of us can remember. Almost without exception, we said things we wish we hadn't said. We said more than we wish we would have said. We regret things that fell from our lips, especially if we were burning with anger. It's kind of a momentary out of control, verbal condition. And that's Elihu. We're told a little of his background. You can check it for yourself. In verse two and verse six, we're told where he's from and what family he's come from. And we're told he's younger. Did you get that? Verse six, I am young and years, you were old. Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.

16:42Ever been in that situation? Sure, most of us have. You are around those who are wiser, those who have more years on you. And we all have learned over the years that we need to respect those who are older. I think his words speak of intimidation. He's reluctant to speak. He's even, as he says, fearful. But he does make a good comment. Because he's listened to those other greyheads. And he says in verse nine, 32, 9, the abundant in years may not be wise. No may elders understand justice. True. In other words, years may cause you to listen closely, but you may not necessarily hear great wisdom just because a person is older. Person can be old and foolish. Person can be much older than you and no less than you in wisdom.

17:48So years or no guarantee of wisdom. David Atkinson writes, Elhu is an enigma. He blusters on the stage as an angry young man, full of his own importance, offering to clarify the situation for Job and his friends, angry with the muddle they have got themselves into. In one respect, it's rather like a comic turn for he manages to spend a lot of time not saying very much. I don't answer about loud, but have you ever been around a person who did that? And you had your hopes up that you were going to really get an insight on something and you listen. And you keep listening, thinking, okay, he's going to make his point here in just a minute if I'm just willing to wait or she'll make sense if I just hear her out on this, but

18:53they don't. That's Elhu. That's why I like the verse 18 of chapter 32. I'm full of words. He's also full of himself when you get to reading what he has to say. He's younger, he's rash. Let me suggest that he made four very real mistakes when he decided to talk. First he took too long getting started. You know how we'll say to someone we know real well, like somebody in our family, get to the point. You know how you'll do that. Or what is it you're trying to say? Every person who has ever been an assistant of mine has heard me do that. I'm kind of notorious for what's the point? Or get to the bottom line. What is it? You want to say that to Elhu. Just about six verses into chapter 32.

19:53What is it? Say it. And then when he does you go, sorry I hurried you. Second he comes across his pompous. He comes across as pompous. How do we come across as pompous? He leaves little room for response. He states his opinion with too much dogmatism. He sees himself as the final authority he preaches. Let me give you a tip. It's helpful if you just leave the preaching to me. Let me take the hits. If it's one on one or one on a few, don't preach. If it's with your kids, don't preach. If it's with your partner in life, don't preach. If it's with your boss or somebody who works for it, don't preach. Preaching isn't appropriate in small group settings. And he forgets that.

20:55The third thing he states, what Job already knew, he brought nothing new out. That's why Job never responds. And fourth mistake he never acknowledges that he doesn't know for sure. There's something refreshing about someone who has the floor who's willing to say, I really don't know all that I should know about this. But it's wonderful when you're around someone who has a wealth of knowledge, but you hear them say, I'm not the final word. Let me give you an example of that. A man who made a great deal to me and means a great deal to me to this day, one of my mentors is Bruce Walke. Dr. Walke is fine a student of the Hebrew Bible as I have ever been around. Ever. It was my privilege to study under him two of my four years at Dallas Seminary and it was

21:57a splendid experience. I'll remember taking an early course in Hebrew one summer before we began the course that fall and I remember seeing him sitting on a stool up front. And he would cradle his Old Testament, he would cradle his kiddle Hebrew Bible and was reading from it and kind of rock and sometimes he would tear up, he would weep. I tried that and I wept for other reasons. Looked like a rag rug sort of and I was trying to do it now to read, oh it's upside down. He, I'm having a little fun about this but he was truly brilliant and not only knew the text, knew the foot noting, knew the textural apparatus, knew arguments for the interpretation at just every place we turned it seemed. Well I was pastoring a church near the seminary at the time and I was in Proverbs 22 and I

23:01was doing something on the family, rearing children and I came up with an interpretation that was a little bit of a maverick approach to rearing children but I became increasingly more convinced of it. I thought I need to run this by walkie. I mean I don't want to be out there on the limb and be way off base so I made an appointment with him and came as an alumnus back to the school and he was gracious to see me. Try, how are you fine Dr. walkie? Sit down, puts on your mind. I said well I'm doing some work in Proverbs 22, oh one of my favorite deeds so he turns to it in a Hebrew Bible, I'm trying to find in my English so. And I said you know I've done some work in the text and I want to be sure I'm not off base and he listened, it didn't interrupt and I spent maybe 15, 20 minutes going over why I was teaching that and where I was going to go with it. And when I looked up he was like this on his desk looking at me and he said I'll never

24:08forget this. And he said Chuck, there are no popes in the body of Christ. I'm not the final word on that. Looks fine to me, that's what the Lord's shown you, that's what you got to preach. I'm telling you I could have flown out of there because life is just crick. I probably walked out and he goes oh man but he did, I'll never know you know I left and I will never forget the comment there are no popes in the body of Christ. I do not care what authority you are, how long you've studied in the field, how many initials are after your name, what degrees you have earned and worked hard for, you are not the final word, you are still a learner. The most intelligent are the most teachable.

25:09There's freedom in those words, isn't there? You are still a learner, none of us has arrived, none of us holds the final word. And the wisest among us are simply the ones still willing to listen, still willing to grow. Take a moment and sit with that today. Where might God be inviting you to stay teachable? While here at Insight for Living we'd love to help you learn more. In fact Chuck's Windall and his team have prepared some wonderful study tools for you. At the top of the list is a book Chuck's written that ties in powerfully with his study on Job. It's called Finding God when the world's on fire. Here's what Chuck wants you to know, your story is not unlike Job's story. Your heart breaks are real heart breaks, they can't be dismissed as no big deal. But here's the best part, the God who met Job at the lowest points of his life is the same God who is present in yours. And that's the message Chuck reinforces in his book Finding God when the world's on fire. We'd love to send you a copy today with our thanks when you include a contribution to

26:12support the ministry of Insight for Living. You can address your contribution and requests for the book to Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5,000 Frisco, Texas 75034. That's Post Office Box 5,000 Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call us at 800-772-8888 or go to Insight.org-donate. And then if you have a little extra time this weekend we invite you to sit down and watch a riveting conversation between Chuck Swindall and media personality Dave Ramsey. In this lively exchange Dave and Chuck talk about stewardship over ego, the freedom of debt-free living, and the threat of redemption that God weaves through every season. Even the ones were sure will ruin us. To watch the interview between Chuck and Dave Ramsey, stop by Insight.org-slash-conversations.

27:17I'm Bill Meyer. Join us again when Chuck Swindall continues his comprehensive study on the life of Job, Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, another long-winded monologue, was copyrighted in 2002, 2004 and 2025. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.