I said, I will answer also my part, I also will show mine opinion. For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer. Job 32:17-20 KJV
These are the words of Elihu, a young man with the friends of Job. He had kept quiet for a long time but was about to make up for that. His choice of words is very revealing. He says he just had to add his part, to share his opinion, he could not hold himself back any longer, and was about to burst. We often feel like Elihu. But while we may feel refreshed to get it all out, rarely do our words provide refreshment under such circumstances. Normally, such words only vent our own emotions, they lack compassion toward the target of our vented words, and they are absent the temperance of the Spirit. Elihu would have done better to have waited just a little longer and let God speak for Himself. So would we.
Lord, too often I have felt like Elihu, and instead of exercising restraint, refreshed myself. I don’t think I have ever been better for doing so. Usually I have had to apologize afterward. Please touch my heart and my lips that when I do speak, they truly will be words of refreshment.
