He Also Was Made of Clay

I also am formed out of the clay.

Job 33:6

Read Job 32 and 33. Focus on 32:6 through 9 and 33:4 through 7. Elihu enters after the older men stop answering Job. He is angry with Job and with the friends. He has waited because of their age, then argues that age alone does not ensure understanding. He believes he has something necessary to say. As he begins addressing Job, he identifies their shared creatureliness. The Spirit of God has made him too. He is formed from clay, and he says that his terror will not frighten Job or his hand become heavy upon him. Elihu's speeches have been evaluated differently by readers. He is not explicitly included in God's rebuke of the three friends, but neither should every claim he makes be treated as God's direct explanation of Job's suffering. We can examine his words carefully without appointing him the unquestionable solution to the debate. The acknowledgment of shared clay is worth considering on its own. A person offering counsel remains human. Their voice, learning, age, or confidence does not move them into another order of being. They are addressing someone whose life also comes from God. That should affect the atmosphere of advice. Does the person receiving it have room to answer? Can they say that an explanation does not fit? Can they ask what the adviser means without being accused of resisting help? Advice becomes heavy when its recipient must submit before the matter has even been understood. The adviser may speak kindly while making every disagreement evidence that more correction is needed. A conversation that was supposed to help becomes a place where the listener cannot safely remain a thinking person. Shared humanity offers another posture. You can be clear about what you know and remain aware of what you have not lived. You can offer an observation and ask whether it fits. You can recognize a real wrong without claiming authority over every part of the person's inner life. If you are seeking counsel, choose someone whose knowledge is joined to appropriate modesty. Confidence is useful when it is accountable to evidence, limits, and the reality of the person being helped. If you are giving counsel, let your manner say what Elihu says about clay. The other person should not need to become smaller for your advice to become credible. We may occupy different roles, but every adviser enters the conversation as a fellow creature whose own understanding also needs God's light. Put It into Practice When offering counsel, ask whether your summary fits before recommending a response. If the person corrects it, revise your understanding instead of treating the correction as resistance.

What happens to the atmosphere when someone receiving your advice says, “I do not think that describes it”?

Maker of us both, keep me human in the way I offer counsel. Give my knowledge humility and my words room for an answer. Lead me toward advisers who can help without making their own voice impossible to question. Amen.