Job 38:17-32: a reflection

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all. 19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, 20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? 21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! 22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? 25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm, 26to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man, 27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow? 28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? 29Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky? 30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen. 31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? 32Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

God answers Job out of the whirlwind, not with explanations, but with questions, a great sweep of questions about the natural world that Job cannot answer. Have you seen the gates of death? Do you know where light dwells? Have you entered the storehouses of snow? Can you bind the Pleiades, or guide the constellations in their seasons? Question after question displays God's greatness in creation, and Job's inability to comprehend even the works of nature, let alone the ways of God.

Notice the effect of God's questions: to humble Job before the vastness of what he cannot comprehend. Job had questioned God's ways; and God responds by displaying the immensity of creation, the works of his hands that Job cannot begin to understand or control. If Job cannot comprehend the storehouses of snow or bind the stars, how can he presume to judge the ways of God? The questions are not cruel, but humbling, meant to bring Job to a right sense of his own smallness before the greatness of God.

That humbling is one we often need, for we, like Job, can presume to judge God's ways, to demand explanations, as though we could comprehend what he does. But God is greater than we can comprehend, and his works, even in nature, exceed our understanding. When you are tempted to judge God's ways, to demand that he explain himself, remember God's questions to Job, and the vastness of what you cannot comprehend. Humble yourself before the greatness of God, whose works even in creation exceed your understanding, and whose ways are higher still. The proper response to the greatness of God is not to demand explanations, but humble awe. Let the immensity of what you cannot comprehend, in creation and in God, bring you, as it brought Job, to humble awe before the God whose greatness is beyond your fathoming, rather than presuming to judge the ways of the One you cannot begin to comprehend.

Lord, you answered Job out of the whirlwind not with explanations but with questions about the natural world he could not answer: the gates of death, the dwelling of light, the storehouses of snow, the binding of the stars; question after question displaying your greatness and Job's inability to comprehend even nature, let alone your ways. Give me the humbling those questions worked in Job, for I, like him, can presume to judge your ways, to demand explanations, as though I could comprehend what you do. But you are greater than I can comprehend, and your works, even in nature, exceed my understanding. When I am tempted to judge your ways, to demand that you explain yourself, help me remember your questions to Job, and the vastness of what I cannot comprehend. Help me humble myself before your greatness, whose works even in creation exceed my understanding, and whose ways are higher still. The proper response to your greatness is not to demand explanations, but humble awe. Let the immensity of what I cannot comprehend, in creation and in you, bring me, as it brought Job, to humble awe before you, Lord, whose greatness is beyond my fathoming, rather than presuming to judge the ways of the One I cannot begin to comprehend.