Job 32:22

A vital matter is at stake here. He must not show partiality to anyone. If he flattered anyone, he believed this would be cause for his Maker taking him away (vv.21-22). He must give the truth simply and clearly as from God, who shows no partiality.

Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones: I was weary of holding it back, and I could not (Jer. 20:9). So it is clear that Elihu, being given a message from God, was not allowed to hold it back. He would find relief only by speaking (v.20).

Accepting flattery is accepting falsehood. Flattery is deceit. It is not even honestly meant, and it is not sober, real fact. Satan is extremely skilled in such methods.

As we study Elihu's ministry, we find two great elements in it: "grace and truth." Both were essential in dealing with Job... He tells Job and his friends very distinctly that he does not know how to give flattering titles to man. Here the voice of "truth" falls with great clearness on the ear. Truth puts everyone in his right place. Just because it does so, it cannot hand out flattering titles to a poor guilty mortal, however much that mortal might enjoy them. Man must be brought to know himself, to see his true condition, to confess what he really is.

His silence had acknowledged what was due to "years," to the elders, to the older generation. He did not refuse their natural claims out of pride or a rebellious spirit. But he would not sacrifice the truth or the rights of the Spirit to anyone. If the elders did not speak according to truth, no one should heed them. The natural mind may be honoured by age, or by church position and authority. But if it does not find the path of understanding, Elihu will not give it flattering titles or bow before it.

Some may feel inclined to say it is a difficult lesson — a hard saying. But no. If we only live in the Lord's presence, with a settled sense of our own nothingness and of His all-sufficiency, we shall know the precious secret of all effective ministry. We shall know how to lean upon God alone, and so be independent of men, in the right sense.

If we bear this in mind, we shall of course avoid flattering words, the cloak of covetousness, and the seeking of glory from men... Whether men pursue possessions or glory, they find flattering words a useful weapon. With flattery they can often win favour with the influential. Paul utterly refused all these things. As a servant of God, with God for his Judge and God for his Witness, they were altogether beneath him.

It is surely out of place for followers of the rejected and crucified Saviour to bear flattering titles. We are rather to expect to receive abusive titles from the world as did our Lord.