Today we reach the conclusion of Job. The last five chapters (38-42) contain God’s response to all that has been said before. Just like He hears our every word and thought, God has been listening to Job’s complaints and the attempt of his friends to give answers. In His wisdom, He steps into the conversation at exactly the right moment, when Job has exhausted his own words and sits mourning the lack of wisdom from his friends.
The Lord speaks to Job “out of the storm.” I get the idea that God doesn’t meekly tap Job on the shoulder and ask if He can have a word with him! No, God comes on the scene powerfully, with authority and His first words are a challenge: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” He turns Job’s words on themselves and shows him the foolishness of questioning God.
For four long chapters, God declares His power and sovereignty over all things with one example after another. At one point He gives Job an opportunity to speak, but all he can do is put his hand over his mouth and literally shake his head: “I am unworthy…I will say no more” (40:3-5). God continues until He has shattered any illusions that might remain of a man’s need or right to question what His hand determines to do. At the end of it all, Job is humbled and repentant. What was his sin?
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. … Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. … My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (see 42:1-6) Job’s attitude that he deserved to know the WHY dissolved in humility; in light of WHO God is, the WHY didn’t matter. Held up to the power and authority and creativity and mastery and glory of God, a small window of suffering was insignificant. God had wisdom that he could not even fathom. God’s purposes and ideas were so far beyond his thinking. God had pulled back the curtain of human understanding and given him a glimpse of Himself. All Job could do was fall on his knees and repent.
Really, truly knowing who God is changes everything. Not just having an “idea” of who God is (hearing about Him), but personally meeting Him and recognizing who He is (seeing Him). If your life seems overwhelming, if your suffering seems unmanageable, if your world seems chaotic and out control, if your assignment seems too big to handle, step back and take a good look at Him. When you see how powerful and glorious our God is, life gets a lot simpler. I encourage you to read Job 38-42 today. This is the God we serve, the God who created us because He delighted and longed to reveal Himself to us. Let us be like Job, with a changed perspective and a new view of life, because our eyes have seen Him.
“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
The Way Of The Word 