Job 38:1-4 - Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
It was the Lord’s turn to speak. His voice came out of a mighty whirlwind…the pure force of his majesty thundering as the words took form in human sound. He began a long series of questions …directed straight at Job….beginning with why he was using his ignorance to deny God’s providence.
It was a long list….the ultimate who…where….why….what list prepared by the master teacher. God thundered them off as they all sat in silence....their eyes and ears overloaded with God’s poetic description of the world’s complexity…so intricate that only the God who created it could explain it.
God’s questions to Job included a few “can you’s” too. Each one intended to force Job and his friends to admit that none of them had all the answers…or any power….except God. God knew that Job would be overwhelmed…completely drained of any more complaints or questions of his own. He used Job’s ignorance of Earth’s order to help him understand his need to accept that God’s moral order was truly incomprehensible without a touch of God’s great love and grace.
God knew that Job would not be able to answer any of them. Job failed the test with a big fat goose egg…but his inadequate silence allowed him to hear every word that God spoke. It had to have been one of those rare retrospective moments for Job…where the epiphany that emerges in our brain…comes at the exact moment our heart is overwhelmed that God even takes the time to bother with our disobedient…selfish …and prideful hearts.
Maybe it is just me….but I think that it is so ironic that God uses questions to begin to answer Job’s many questions. God’s questions humble Job…and do a sort of housecleaning in his mind and heart. God empty’s Job of all human understanding…so he can begin to fill it up with the pure knowledge of God….so Job can begin to see the purpose for the long days of pain and suffering he was asked to endure. What a great comfort to know that God can even use my ignorance of his ways…to begin to help me understand the perfect pathway he has chosen for me in life.
Father…thank you for this reminder that only you understand the complete workings of the world that you made. Help me to be silent more often…so that I can hear you question me as you did Job. Confirm for me my ignorance of the world you made …and build a humility in my heart that keeps me from questioning why you have allowed pain in my life…so that you can teach me how to use it to understand who you truly are. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment