Have you ever felt like no one would listen to you because you were the youngest person in the room? Like you would be dismissed simply because of the date stamped on your driver’s license? What if you actually had something truthful and of value to say? Should you stay silent and acquiesce to the aged?
In the first 31 chapters, Job is afflicted, his three friends come to comfort him (and do a good job of it until they open their mouths), then Job and his friends proceed to argue back and forth like a bunch of whiny high school kids. His friends insist that he must be unrighteous or else God wouldn’t have afflicted him, and Job insists that he hasn’t done anything wrong and has every right to complain. His friends have nothing of much substance to offer him in his affliction and have a skewed, at best, view of God’s mercy and sovereignty. They go round and round and round, until finally a refreshing new voice appears and smacks some sense into them. Enter Elihu, a younger contemporary, who begins to speak:
Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’ But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’ Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words.
“They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say. And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.” (Job 32:4–12, 15–20)
Sometimes as young people, we can relate to Elihu. We feel like we have so much to say about God’s truth that we might burst if we don’t get it out! But we may also think that no one will listen to us because we are chronologically young; they may infer that we must not have wisdom. Often we are silent because we don’t want people to think we are acting like “know-it-alls” or that we like hearing ourselves talk. But the disappointing flipside is that so often the “advice” we hear from older people is not solidly rooted in God’s Word. Why is this so?
In verses 8–9 of Job 32 (and other places in the Bible), it says that spiritual maturity and wisdom are not necessarily congruent with length of years; they are given by the Spirit.
“But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right” (Job 32:8–9).
Understanding must come from the Spirit. First, a person must be a believer to have true spiritual understanding. First Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” A lost person will not be able to offer any wisdom because true wisdom is only given by the Spirit. Without God’s Spirit in them (which comes at conversion), God’s ways are foolishness to them. They may offer worldly wisdom, but its end only leads to death (Proverbs 16:25).
But even amongst believers, there are varying degrees of wisdom and understanding. Since Scripture makes it clear that it is not those who are advanced in years who are necessarily wiser, then on what does it depend? The “X” factor here is sanctification, or growth in holiness. God promises that if he has made you his child (i.e., he has regenerated you by his Spirit and given you a new heart that caused you to repent and believe in Christ alone for your salvation from sin) that he will make you progressively and increasingly more like his Son as you walk with him (Rom. 8:29-30; Phil. 1:6; 2 Cor. 3:18). So in a true sense, everyone who is in Christ is growing. But the “Parable of the Sower” in Matthew 13 also tells us that believers grow at different rates.
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
All true believers in Christ will grow, but in the end, some will have matured more than others, which will be evidenced by their fruit. So is it possible for a believer who is younger chronologically to be more spiritually mature than a senior saint? Absolutely! Saints who are older chronologically, or even those who have been walking with the Lord longer, still may not be as spiritually mature as a younger-aged Christian. If they haven’t participated as much in the means of grace (Bible reading, prayer, Scripture memory, meditation, etc.) then they will not be producing a very big fold.
So should younger-yeared saints keep silent? Should older saints automatically dismiss them for their youth? Paul tells Timothy, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Just because someone is young in years, doesn’t mean they have nothing wise or truthful to say. Of course it is always important to respect your elders—or else be eaten by bears (2 Kings 2:23–24; Rom. 13:7; 1 Tim. 5:1–2), to never think more of yourself than others (Rom. 12:10; Phil. 2:3–4), and to never think yourself wise in your own eyes (Rom. 12:16). But if God has placed his Spirit inside of you and given you truth to speak from his Word, you do not have to be afraid to give counsel just because you are young! Remember:
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear” (Proverbs 25:11–12).
So speak up young people!
Parker Christian Editing 