“Songs in the Night”

1. Read: Job 35:9-13

2. About the Text:

1) Elihu is speaking to Job in this context.

2) He is rebuking Job for claiming to be more righteous than God (verse 2).

3) In the course of this rebuke, he addresses men who criticize God because of perceived oppression (verse 9).

4) Men, he says, know how to cry out to God when they are being hurt!

5) What Elihu doesn’t hear, however, is what he states in verses 10-11. “Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?”

6) These are not words of criticism of God, but rather, words of praise.

7) To paraphrase Elihu, everyone knows how to call upon God in time of trouble, but no one calls upon Him to praise Him; they don’t ask, “Where is God who gives us songs in the night.”

8) The four stanza of “Redeemed” by Fanny Crosby in 1882 states, “I know I shall see in His beauty. The King in whose law I delight; Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps, And giveth me songs in the night.”

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. We have great physical blessing in our country.

1) Houses to live in.

2) Cars to drive.

3) Food to eat.

4) Consider Psalm 121 in this regard.

2. God is the one who makes these things even possible.

1) The wood for our houses comes from the forests.

2) The cars we drive come from the iron in the earth.

3) Our food comes from our nations farms.

4) “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17).

5) In Acts 17:28 Paul said, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being….”

3. The very pillow under our head at night testifies to the great physical blessings we enjoy.

4. Here is “a song in the night.”

1. We encounter all kinds of people daily.

1) Family, Friends

2) Co-workers

3) Acquaintances, Strangers

2. Each one of them is important, valuable, and special in their own unique way.

1) Some of them are a blessing to us; some of them need a blessing from us.

2) They are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

3) They are all to be honored uniquely (1 Peter 2:17 “honor all men.”)

4) Either way, they should be valuable to us because they are valuable to God (Matthew 16:26). Each one is worth the whole world.

3. The people that we contact every day are a song in the night.

1. We recognize also the spiritual blessings from God’s hand in life.

1) The blessing of God’s word to guide us (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

2) The blessing of the church (1 Timothy 3:15).

3) The blessing of the Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

2. The provisions of a benevolent God is a song in the night.

1. We enjoy the blessings of . . .

1) The Pillow under our head.

2) The People we come in contact with every day.

3) The Provisions of a benevolent God.

2. These are our songs in the night.

3. Invitation