Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1403
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, March 17, 1878
“Suffer me a little and I will show you that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.” Job 36:2.
ELIHU was sufficiently severe with Job, but as this arose from his honest conviction that Job had spoken amiss, we cannot blame him. The style of his address is, in some points, highly commendable. We admire the courtesy which moved him to say, “Suffer me a little.” It shows some little consideration for his audience. It is to be feared that under our preaching our people suffer greatly and we do not sympathize with their sense of weariness—otherwise we might often apologize in the terms of Elihu, saying, “Suffer me a little.” I admire Elihu’s attempt at brevity. I call it an attempt, for I am not quite sure that he succeeded, for he filled two more chapters! Yet he said, “Suffer me a little” and thereby promised to make his oration as short as he could.
Some lengthy Divines, with their many divisions, their, “Finallies,” and “Lastlies,” and concluding observations, spin and spin and cause their congregations to suffer—and that not a little, but exceedingly much. It is well, when we have anything good to say, to use as few words as possible, for if brevity is not the garment of Divine Grace, it is the soul of wit, and all our wits should be set to work to put Gospel teaching into such a form that it will be the better received. Assuredly, short and pointed addresses are more likely to reach the heart than long and dreary sermons. If our preaching is so poor that the people suffer, it is better that they suffer little rather than much! And if our ministry is very rich and satisfying, it is better to send the people home longing than loathing.
We may also admire the prudence of Elihu in dividing his discourse into four or five portions. If you turn to the book of Job you will see that he has been speaking ever since the 32nd chapter and he has made at least three pauses. It may be that these filled up considerable intervals. His talk would have reached an unbearable length had he continued to speak on and on without a parenthesis of silence. But he stopped and gave his hearers space to breathe. Doubtless four sermonettes were better than one long discourse. Teachers and all those who seek to win the hearts of others, should imitate Elihu in this and not say too much at one time, for the spirit of the hearer may be willing, but his flesh is weak. Be wise and do not attempt to say everything at once!
Remember that there is such a thing as undoing by overdoing. Many of those whom we try to teach are like bottles with narrow necks—we must pour gently with a slender stream or we shall spill the Truth of God rather than convey it. Hungry children cannot eat a whole field of wheat! We must prepare the food and give them a loaf and even that will often be better if it is cut into slices and handed out a little at a time. Little and often in spiritual feeding is far better than much at long intervals. “Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little” is the way in which Wisdom teaches her disciples. Often let the preacher or teacher pause, as Elihu did, and say to himself, if not to his hearers, “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”
It is admirable in Elihu, also, that he knew what he was doing when he spoke. He says, “I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.” He has a definite objective before him! His subject has been considered and his drift has been determined. “I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.” Elihu felt the necessity of doing so. He had kept silent for a while, but after what he had heard spoken by the Patriarch’s three friends, he came to the conclusion that, “Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.” The speeches of Job also had stirred his soul, for in his judgment, Job drank up scorning like water (Job 34:7). He felt that he must speak.
His swelling heart impelled him—woe was upon him if he kept silent and, therefore, he burst forth with the exclamation, “I am full of matter, the spirit within me compels me. Behold, my belly is as wine which has no vent! It is ready to burst like new bottles.” He was forced to speak. Duty called him and impulse compelled him. There is nothing like emptying out your heart when it is full. It is wretched work to hear the noise of an empty barrel. It is good speaking
when you say what must be said and give forth utterances which you cannot restrain. He who speaks from conscious necessity will speak with earnestness, readiness and power.
I suppose, too, that Elihu felt that he must continue to speak because he had once begun. “I have yet to speak,” says he, “on God’s behalf.” He had started and could not come to a standstill all of a sudden. The theme which he had chosen, when once adopted, keeps its grip upon the soul—it holds the speaker spell-bound. Forgive us if we sometimes transgress the usual limits of time, for when we reach the height of our great argument we long to linger and are drawn on and drawn out beyond our first intentions, feeling that we have yet to speak on God’s behalf. He who once begins to speak concerning his God feels that his heart intends a good matter and his tongue is as the pen of a ready writer. On such a theme, “Naphtali is a hind let loose—he gives goodly words.”