Job 38:1-16: a reflection

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, 2“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me! 4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? 6What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, 9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’? 12“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? 14It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment. 15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken. 16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

After chapters of Job's anguished questions and his friends' failed answers, God finally speaks, out of a whirlwind. But he does not explain Job's suffering. Instead he asks questions, a torrent of them: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who shut in the sea with doors? Have you commanded the morning? On and on, a tour of a creation Job did not make and cannot fathom. God answers Job's demand for explanations by revealing the vastness of his own wisdom and works.

Notice what this does to Job, and what it does not do. It does not give him the answer he wanted; God never explains why Job suffered. Instead it puts Job in his place, humbling him before a God whose wisdom and works are beyond his understanding. Job wanted answers; God gives him a fresh sight of God, and that turns out to be what Job most needed. He is humbled into trust, into recognizing that the God who governs all this can be trusted even where he does not explain.

But notice also the grace hidden in it: God answered. He did not leave Job in silence; the Maker of the foundations of the earth turned and spoke to one suffering man. That is grace. When we demand explanations from God and do not get them, we may be given something better, not answers, but God himself, drawing near, speaking, reminding us who he is. When you are tempted to demand that God explain your suffering, remember Job. You may not get the answer; you may get something greater, a fresh sight of the God who can be trusted even in the mystery. Let that humble you into trust.

Lord, when I demand that you explain my suffering, you may not give me answers but something greater, a fresh sight of who you are, the God whose wisdom laid the foundations of the earth. Humble me, as you humbled Job, into trusting you even where you do not explain. And thank you that you answer at all, drawing near and speaking. Let a fresh sight of you be enough.