Today in God's Word—July 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
July 3, Job 38
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?"
- God, Job 38:4-5
Sometimes our children ask us questions that we cannot answer because the gap between their knowledge, experience and ability and ours is just too great. It's not that we don't know the answer. There's just no way to communicate it to a little child in a meaningful, understandable way. That's one example of a gap that is too wide for us to bridge when the questioner asks. Just so, the brilliant scientist, with a string of advanced degrees and decades of research and breakthrough discoveries, cannot really communicate the "why” and “how” of certain processes to kindergarten students he visits to explain what he does on a career day. The gap is just too wide. It's not that he doesn't know or can't tell. The kids just can't process and understand what he could tell them.
Those illustrations are inadequate to express the gap between God and humans. Job had questions. He wanted to talk to God. He cried out, "Let the Almighty answer me!" When God answered that prayer request, the Lord did not answer Job's questions or explain his reasons. Instead, he asked Job a battery of questions that Job could not begin to answer. Job needed a firm yet gentle reminder of his own place in relation to the majesty of God. The questions were not cruel attacks on Job. Rather, the fact that God replied at all was an affirmation and demonstration of Job's favor with God. The others who spoke at length were wrong about Job and God. He dismissed Elihu's wordy ramble as “words without knowledge that darken counsel" without even mentioning the young man's name.
This is not the only theophany (appearance of God) described in Scripture. There were strangers who came to Abraham and Sarah to reveal that the long-awaited child they wanted
would be born within a year. God appeared in a burning bush to Moses in the wilderness. He appeared as the Captain of the Lord of hosts to Joshua before the battle of Jericho. Here, God spoke out of a whirlwind. Job wanted God to answer, and he did. But it was not at all how Job imagined it would be.
God asked Job to explain the origin and design of the world. From the patterns of global weather to the tiniest intricacies of the water molecule, God showed Job that he could not explain the big picture or the smallest details of creation. Our own brains are mysteries that thousands of years of learning since the days of Job still cannot comprehend. The author of all species imprinted their brains with instincts for survival. He showed Job that the majesty and genius of divine design was far beyond human ability to comprehend or understand. He showed Job that he did not know the answers, and was in no place to demand answers or explanations from God.
Could Job grasp how God did what he did? No, and neither can we. Did God owe Job or us an explanation of why he did what he did, or how he did it? No. God questioned Job to remind him of his place (which also happens to be ours) in the great cosmos of all that is. No, Job could not make it rain. Job could not stop the seasons from changing. God was not unkind to ask these questions that showed Job he was inquiring about matters that were far above his security clearance and pay grade.
Let's kneel beside Job in mute awe of our great God. Let's wonder that he is aware of our existence, and that he knows us and loves us personally. The author of the amazing creation is also the author of our wondrous salvation. Our job is not to understand it all, but to trust and submit to our great and awesome God.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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