READ Job 32:16–20
And am I to wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? I also will give my answer; I also will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst. I must speak, so that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.
MEDITATE
Job’s brash, young companion, Elihu, is furious (Job 32:2–5). One hundred percent unmitigated miffed. He’s peeved at Job’s self-justification. (Is anybody that righteous?) He’s angry at the old geezers who stand around and blame Job. You remember them, right? They scratch their heads at Job’s predicament, rub their chins, shuffle their feet—and talk. They talk and talk and talk, blathering on, trying to figure this out: If Job is righteous, why is he suffering?
Elihu has decided to wait before saying a word because they are older and supposedly wiser. But now he can’t hold it in a moment longer. Deference be damned!
Elihu has listened and learned that age doesn’t necessarily make one wise. We know he’s right. We’ve seen old people who are downright ornery and selfish, and we vow never to become like them. So Elihu lays it right out there:
But I see I was wrong—it’s God’s Spirit in a person,
the breath of the Almighty One, that makes wise human insight possible.
The experts have no corner on wisdom;
getting old doesn’t guarantee good sense. (Job 32:8–9, THE MESSAGE)
Elihu is right about two things. First, the Spirit is a life-giving presence in us. “Spirit” and “breath” go hand in hand. We can call this core of God’s vitality in us Spirit at one moment, breath at another. In every moment, Spirit-breath is God’s life in us. Elihu is right about something else, too. This Spirit-breath, not age, brings wisdom. A piling up of years doesn’t transform us into sages; the steady cultivation of God’s Spirit-breath throughout a lifetime of virtue and learning does.
But Elihu is only half-right. He mistakenly believes that he has wisdom because he has lost control, because he can’t hold his tongue. What does he gather from this lack of control? That it must be the Spirit-breath that engorges his mouth.
The word constrain, describing the work of the Spirit in our passage today (Job 32:16–20), more often than not means “lay siege-works against.” A siege could be so devastating that the Israelites, it was predicted, would eat their own children to stay alive (Deuteronomy 28:53–57). The word constrain is used of Delilah’s relentless nagging of Samson to let her know the mystery of his superhuman strength (Judges 16:16). Like Samson, Elihu can’t resist—or so he thinks—the Spirit-breath travelling up his throat, over his tongue, and out of his mouth in a torrent of words. The Spirit-breath of God, in short, lays siege-works against his self-control, prompting his self-claimed wisdom to echo on the ash heap where Job sits.
He’s wrong. Just plain wrong. Being overwhelmed isn’t a sign of the Spirit. Losing control isn’t the hallmark of inspiration. We know this because Elihu’s words come down like a hammer on a disconsolate Job. Elihu’s is a petty compassion. “See, before God I am as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay” (33:6). Really? A strong young man full of energy claiming to be like a defeated old man on an ash heap. They both started with dust (Genesis 2:7)—true enough—but they are decades, diseases, and devastating losses apart.
Elihu has yet to learn that a few words, held back cautiously, then spoken carefully is inspiration. A lesson hard learned, held deep within, then divulged in a whisper—this too is the sound of Spirit-breath.
REFLECT
BREATHE 
PRAY
Holy Spirit, prompt me to wait
to pause
to hear my own breath
Holy Spirit, teach me to listen
to deliberate
to consider your own breath
Holy Spirit, prod me to speak
in hushed tones
in wisdom whispered
Amen