Seeing Beyond the Question Marks (Job 40:1-14)

In his book “How To Have A Creative Crisis, H. Norman Wright, states, “The three questions most often asked in crisis are: ‘Why God, why?’, ‘When God, when?’ and, ‘Will I survive God?’ And of those three, the most common question of all is, ‘Why God, why?’” 

There are 3,157 question marks in the King James Version of the Bible.  And the book that contains the most?  You guessed it…it’s this story of Job. There are 325 question marks in these chapters – far more than any other book (Jeremiah is second with 195).

Just a handful of those questions:

3:11 Why did I not die at birth?  

3:20 Why is light given to him who suffers?

7:20 Why hast thou set me as Thy target?

7:21 Why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?

13:24 Why dost Thou hide Thy face and consider me Thine enemy?

19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God does?

21:7 Why do the wicked still live?

Robert L. Wise, in his book “When There Is No Miracle,” states, “…the dilemmas loom so large that we find it difficult to see beyond the question marks…”

40:1-2 “Then the LORD said to Job, 2 ‘Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.’”

Even though God was much more proficient at verbal combat than Job, God was in no way trying to brow beat Job into submission.  Job had finally come to the realization that, in the presence of the Divine Storm, all of his arguments evaporated as the morning mist.    

It’s interesting to me that God’s first words to Job in chapter 38 are, “Who is he that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”  And here He asks, “Will the faultfinder contend…?  Throughout these last few chapters there is not the slightest acknowledgment by God of Job’s sufferings (In fact God almost seems to be overly stern and gruff with Job).  And yet we know that God loved Job passionately and zealously defended him in the presence of Satan in the heavenly courtroom.

Are you a faultfinder?  Do you continually grouse about the treatment you have been receiving from God (thinking it’s either inhumane or at the very least unfair)?  Determine to thank God for the little (and big) irritations that come your way.  Nothing happens by happenstance in the life of a Christian.   

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40:3-5 “Then Job answered the LORD and said, 4 ‘Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth.  5 Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even twice, and I will add nothing more.’"

The famous Sheik of Uz is now “Mr. Insignificant.”  In His severe love God continued to deal with Job, and Job's response seems to be humble and subdued (“I will add nothing more”).  And yet he still does not retract any of his statements (which he finally does in chapter 42) and there still doesn't seem to be a sense of complete surrender on the part of Job. (Although, on the other hand, neither does there seem to be a sense of defiance.) Matthew Henry writes, “Job was greatly humbled by what God had already said, but not sufficiently; he was brought low, but not low enough.” 

Matthew Henry goes on to say, “Those who are truly convinced of sin and penitent for it, yet have need to be more thoroughly convinced and to be made more deeply penitent. Those who are under convictions, who have their sins set in order before their eyes and their hearts broken for them, must learn from this instance not to catch at comfort too soon; it will be everlasting when it comes, and therefore it is necessary that we be prepared for it by deep humiliation, that the wound be searched to the bottom…”

One of the greatest gifts we can receive (and one which we should continually strive for) is that of a broken and contrite heart.  That alone far outweighs any treasures we can gain from this world.

40:6-7 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said, 7 ‘Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct me. 

Verse 7 is identical to verse 3 in chapter 38, “Now gird up your loins like a man…”  God never lets us sit around and feel sorry for ourselves – no matter how dire the circumstances.  He has GREAT compassion for us, but He will not allow for even the smallest pity party.  In our trials we may just need to determine to “put our pants on” and get on with life.

Note the words, “…out of the storm…” In chapter one a storm destroyed; at the end of the book it’s a storm that brings healing. The full weight of the test (“Can a person love and trust a God that seems to have abandoned them?”) crushed Job for 37 chapters.  But now “out of the storm…” God speaks.   

40:8 Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?

Prior to chapter 32 Job had been the questioner, but now God is the One Who is giving the final exam.

Concerning verse 8 of this chapter Poole writes, “Every word in verse 8 is emphatic.”  Note how the version called The Message puts this verse, “Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?”  In his commentary Trapp paraphrases, “Are you going to ruin My justice to establish your innocence?” 

There seems to be a little Job in most of us.  We complain to God about our circumstances (“I hate my house, I hate my spouse…), but in so doing we set ourselves up as wiser and more omniscient than God. We murmur, “Jeepers God, if I were you, I certainly wouldn’t treat me like that!”  And in our minds we downsize the Creator to a God of manageable size.  We may not have a silver idol sitting in a prominent place in our home, yet the God that occupies our thinking may not be much bigger than a loaf of bread.

Our grumblings could also be an indication that we have concluded that God is inept!  One commentator has written, “Some of His providences are not so easily reconciled to His promises.”  And David Guzik writes, “We might say that Job fell into the trap of thinking that, because he couldn’t figure God out, perhaps God wasn’t fair.”  Even the slightest doubt in the absolute goodness of God can grow and fester into a joy destroying cancer. 

What should be written in bold font over every page of this story is this, “His ways are not our ways!  His thoughts are not our thoughts!”  A couple of lines in a song that Jason Upton sings go like this,

“No mind can comprehend

The love that has no end.”

God’s dealings with us are framed out of the His highest wisdom for our highest good.  Robert l. Wise writes, “My personal experiences have not led me to understand every mystery in God’s hidden strategy.  But I have learned a very important truth:  the empty times can bring a profound depth of insight and understanding that can be found nowhere else.”

40:9 Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His?’”

Perhaps Job thought at one time (in the same vein as Marlon Brando), “I could have been a contender!”  But his arms were simply too short to box with God.

And maybe Job thought he had a voice like that of E.F. Hutton.  Do you remember those commercials?  Someone in the multitude of people gathered would say, “My financial advisor is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says….”  And then the crowd would become totally silent and bend their ears to hear what E.F. Hutton had to say. 

But compared to God’s voice, Job’s sounded like the teeny tiny shriek from a teeny tiny mouse.

40:10  "Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity, and clothe yourself with honor and majesty.  11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.  12 Look on everyone who is proud, {and} humble him, and tread down the wicked where they stand.  13 Hide them in the dust together; bind them in the hidden {place.}  14 Then I will also confess to you, that your own right hand can save you.”

Listen to how the Amplified version renders verse 10, “Since you question the manner of the Almighty’s rule, deck yourself now with the excellency and dignity of the Supreme Ruler, and yourself undertake the government of the world if you are so wise, and array yourself with honor and majesty.”

A glimpse of the awful majesty of God will help us “see beyond the question marks.”

In the closing chapters it’s a portrait of two “Monsters” that will bring Job to a sense of absolute repentance  and restoration.    

Field Trip! (Flying Camels, Necks of Thunder, and Stars on a Leash) Job 38-39

Sometimes, when it seems that our outlook has gotten a little sour and a  little out of whack, we may just need to play with a puppy. It is widely felt that frolicking with a little canine companion has certain healing virtues.   I realize I am just speculating here, but maybe that’s why “God” spelled backwards is “Dog!”

The following links to a couple of brief YouTube videos show the amazing power of dogs to transform perspectives (and lives).  In the first one, a veteran suffering from PTSD named Blade found a reason to live after meeting DD (Pets for Vets).  In the second one, Tonka, a 150 lb Mastiff/Great Dane mix brought smiles to some very young patients at Cardon Children’s Medical Center (Tonka's Visit to Young Patients).

Maybe this is why God took Job on this field trip in chapters 38-41.  I realize God had several goals in mind during this ecological and cosmological field trip (conveying the majesty of God being one of them), but perhaps part of it was just to help Job get his mind off from his circumstances and misery.

And maybe, just maybe, God wanted to help him smile and laugh.

In the last edition of “Conversations from the Ash Heap” (I’m thinking of changing the title of this to something more uplifting…like “A Moment with Maggots and Misery!”) I mentioned the very unexpected way that God manifested Himself to the little congregation gathered at the local landfill and also the very unexpected way that God introduced Himself to Job (“Put your pants on!  And stand up!”).  (We should note that Job is rebuked but is never derided or ridiculed by God.)

The final chapters of this wonderful book lead us on a field trip through some of earth’s botanical gardens, the zoo and the planetarium (with a short stopover at the Weather Channel).  It is as if the National Geographic Channel has come to Uz! 

Like a torrent, God peppers Job again and again with question after question about His wonderful creation.  Lets take a 30,000 foot view of chapters 38-39, and while we are doing that, ask ourselves, “Why this line of questioning? And why no explanation for Job’s unwarranted suffering?”  This devotional is little different than the others – most of the verses are tacked on at the very end.

Moffat translates 38:2 this way, “Who darkens my design with a cloud of thoughtless words?” I like that translation.  God continues in verse 4, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth.” And He ends this chapter with a very simple, yet biting question, “Who feeds the ravens?  You???”

After briefly asking about the footings of the earth, Jehovah then asks Job about the origins of the oceans (38:8-11) and likens their creation to that of child birth.  The Message puts verse 9 this way, “That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds, and tucked it in safely at night.”

Verses 12-15 recount the marvels of the dawn.  In his commentary Poole puts verse 12 this way, “Have you ever in your life told Dawn to get to his post?”   Hartley writes, “Every morning, just as a maid vigorously shakes the crumbs from a huge table cloth, the rays of dawn reach out and grasp the mountains, the corners of the earth's tablecloth, and shake the wicked off the earth's surface…Job had been concerned that the wicked prospered seemingly unchecked -- but God counters by saying that, just as the ocean rushes up against the shore/bank, so the ‘light’ gives boundaries to the onslaught of the wicked.”

In verse 16-18 it’s a quiz about the springs of the sea; in verses 19-21 its questions about the home of light and darkness.  Poole writes, “The challenge is sarcastically put to Job to direct light and darkness to their respective homes.”   Job had often spoken of wanting to go to the abode of “death.”  But God asks him in verse 17, “Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?” (NLT)

In verses 22-24 we are introduced to the storehouses of snow and hail.  FI Andersen writes, “The Lord thinks about snow the way a man thinks about gold.”

Hartley gives us this outline for the rest of chapters 38-39:

·         God asks Job about his ability to direct the inanimate world (38:25-38)

·         And to care for the animate world (38:39-39:30)

In verses 25-30 note the amazing array of the structure of the simple compound of water. Water astonishes us in the many forms it can take.  Several years ago, the wind had piled up huge blocks of ice on the western tip of Lake Superior.  The vivid array of various shades of blue spoke loudly of the incredible beauty of God’s creation.

Verse 26 reads this way in the NIV, “To water a land where no man lives, a desert with no-one in it…”  Why is the Creator concerned about watering a land where not a single solitary soul lives?  Maybe it is simply that God enjoys seeing such beauty and enjoys clothing the ground with flowers – irrespective of whether or not we are around to behold it!

We next move from the forms of water to the forms of the heavenly bodies.  Verses 31-33 read, “Can you direct the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?”  Do you see the word “binding” in the first part of those verses?  It’s the same word that is used in 39:10 of “binding an ox.”  Leading the star cluster Pleiades around the Universe is easier for God than a farmer trying to tame the wild ox and hitch it to a plow!

After a brief five-verse stop over at the Weather Channel (in which God asks Job, “Does the lightning report to you in the same fashion as a private presents himself to a general?),  we move from the structure of the world to the creatures living in that world.

In verses 38:39-41 we transition swiftly from the majestic lion to the lowly raven.  In chapter 39 Job is bombarded with question after question about a vast array of animals:

            In verses 1-4 it’s the mountain goat and the deer

            In verses 5-8 it’s the wild donkey

            In verses 9-12 it’s the wild ox

            In verses 13-18 it’s the ostrich

The ostrich? Also known as “The Screamer” (from the Hebrew), the Giant Sparrow or the Flying Camel, it is a comical looking bird whose stupidity is only exceeded by its rapidity.   Reaching at times 9 feet tall and approximately 400 pounds, this flightless bird can run for long distances at 40 mph and some conjecture that it can reach speeds of close to 60 mph for short bursts!  With the largest eyes of any land vertebrate and eggs equaling the size of 2 dozen chicken eggs, it is a creature seemingly in desperate need of even an ounce of wisdom.  Poole writes, “Certainly the ostrich is a remarkable bird and its bizarre and grotesque appearance and behavior is bound to impress anyone who sees it.” “Swifter than the ostrich” is an Arab expression for the fastest of the fast whereas “More stupid than the ostrich was the greatest of insults.

So Jehovah, in the midst of this blistering examination, interjects a little humor by pointing to this odd looking creature that doesn’t seem to have any purpose other than this: maybe it was just created for God’s entertainment!  Maybe the Creator, after watching yet another war erupt on planet earth, at times sighs and says simply, “Hey Gabriel, lets go watch the ostriches for a while and unwind.”

And perhaps He just wanted to get Job to smile.

Over against the “Ostrich Comic Relief Show” we are introduced to the beauty and majesty of the horse.  There could scarcely be a greater contrast written between two of God’s amazing creatures. In verses 19-25 the writer of Job pens one of the most magnificent portraits of the horse found in all of literature.

Unlike the ostrich, the horse is universally honored.  The KJV introduces this segment, “Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?”  “…neck with thunder…”  What a wonderful word picture!

We read these other phrases from this wonderful passage

            Verse 20 refers to “sneezes of terror”

            Verse 21 states that the horse is so anxious to charge into battle that he paws or scoops out the ground

            Verse 22 he despises what other creatures fear

            Verse 24 he swallows up the ground with his swiftness

            Verse 25 whereas the ostrich is shy and timid, the horse rushes into battle, eager to meet the enemy!

           

The chapter ends in verses 26-30 with a brief description of the splendor of the falcon and the eagle.  Seeing an eagle in the wild is an awe-inspiring sight.  This picture was taken by Iron River WI this past March.

Conclusion: The period of dereliction is over.  El-Shaddai has condescended to an ailing man’s ash-heap.  But in so doing none of Job’s cries and questions have been answered, not even the intense “Why?!?!”  And yet this trip to the zoo and planetarium seem to satisfy Job.  As FI Andersen states eloquently, "To withhold the full story from Job, even after the test was over, keeps him walking by faith, not by sight…Job does not say in the end, ‘Now I see it all.’  He never sees it all…But he sees God!  Perhaps it is better if God never tells any of us the whole of our life story.”

We may not need to see or know the reasons why, we may just need to be in the presence of God.

CHAPTER 38 (New American Standard Version)

1          Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

2          "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge?

3          "Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct me!

4          "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell {me,} if you have understanding,

5          Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

6          "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,

7          When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8          "Or {who} enclosed the sea with doors, when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;

9          When I made a cloud its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10         And I placed boundaries on it, and I set a bolt and doors,

11         And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop'?

12         "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, {and} caused the dawn to know its place;

13         That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14         "It is changed like clay {under} the seal; and they stand forth like a garment.

15         "And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.

16         "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17         "Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18         "Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell {me,} if you know all this.

19         "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,

20         That you may take it to its territory, and that you may discern the paths to its home?

21         "You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

22         "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23         Which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle?

24         "Where is the way that the light is divided, {or} the east wind scattered on the earth?

25         "Who has cleft a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderbolt;

26         To bring rain on a land without people, {On} a desert without a man in it,

27         To satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

28         "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

29         "From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

30         "Water becomes hard like stone, and the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

31         "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?

32         "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites?

33         "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?

34         "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of water may cover you?

35         "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?

36         "Who has put wisdom in the innermost being, or has given understanding to the mind?

37         "Who can count the clouds by wisdom, or tip the water jars of the heavens,

38         When the dust hardens into a mass, and the clods stick together?

39         "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40         When they crouch in {their} dens, {and} lie in wait in {their} lair?

41         "Who prepares for the raven its nourishment, when its young cry to God, and wander about without food?

CHAPTER 39

1          "Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?

2          "Can you count the months they fulfill, or do you know the time they give birth?

3          "They kneel down, they bring forth their young, they get rid of their labor pains.

4          "Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return to them.

5          "Who sent out the wild donkey free? And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

6          To whom I gave the wilderness for a home, and the salt land for his dwelling place?

7          "He scorns the tumult of the city, the shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

8          "He explores the mountains for his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

9          "Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Or will he spend the night at your manger?

10         "Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes? Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11         "Will you trust him because his strength is great and leave your labor to him?

12         "Will you have faith in him that he will return your grain, and gather {it from} your threshing floor?

13         "The ostriches' wings flap joyously with the pinion and plumage of love,

14         For she abandons her eggs to the earth, and warms them in the dust,

15         And she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may trample them.

16         "She treats her young cruelly, as if {they} were not hers; though her labor be in vain, {she} is unconcerned;

17         Because God has made her forget wisdom, and has not given her a share of understanding.

18         "When she lifts herself on high, she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19         "Do you give the horse {his} might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

20         "Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.

21         "He paws in the valley, and rejoices in {his} strength; He goes out to meet the weapons.

22         "He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does not turn back from the sword.

23         "The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and javelin.

24         "With shaking and rage he races over the ground; and he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet.

25         "As often as the trumpet {sounds} he says, 'Aha!' And he scents the battle from afar, and thunder of the captains, and the war cry.

26         "Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south?

27         "Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

28         "On the cliff he dwells and lodges, upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.

29         "From there he spies out food; His eyes see {it} from afar.

30         "His young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he."

(NAS)

A God Named Clarence (Job 38:1-4)

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!” 

If I hadn’t already read the end of the story I would have thought that this epic struggle would have culminated this way:

• God flies in on a chariot accompanied with a squadron of angels
• God puts His arm around Job to comfort and console him
• God explains in lengthy detail the heavenly contest that transpired in chapters 1 and 2 between God and Satan
• God gives Job a medal for passing the test with flying colors
• The angels do the “wave” and give Job a standing ovation
• God heals Job and then gives him a bear hug
• God allows Satan to chase Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar across the Chaldean plain
• God answers Rabbi Kushner’s question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
• And as an added bonus He goes on a long walk with Job and also explains why good things happen to bad people

But guess what?  That isn’t how the story ends. And at the first read it seems that the Comforter-in-Chief has miserably failed “Compassion 101.”

God doesn’t show up at Uz in His whirlwind limo and say, “Wow Job! You’ve really been mistreated!”  In drill sergeant fashion He just says, “On your feet!  And put your pants on…I’ve got a bunch of questions to ask you.”  He doesn’t even acknowledge Job’s awful suffering.

On “Working Preacher.Org” Professor Kathryn Schifferdecker remarks, “Like George Bailey in ‘It's a Wonderful Life,’ Job responds to his troubles by wishing he had never been born (Job 3). But Job doesn't get a visit from the portly, comforting Clarence the angel. Instead, at the end of the book, the One who appears to Job is none other than the Creator of the cosmos, the LORD God Almighty! And God doesn't come to comfort Job. Instead, God lays into Job, lecturing him from the center of a cyclone…”

It was a “great wind” (a cyclone?) that destroyed Job’s family in chapter one.  It is now at last “out of a whirlwind” that God manifests His presence to His broken and suffering servant.  (The Hebrew word for "whirlwind" in 38:1 usually appears in the context of upheaval and distress and signifies “turbulence.”  That certainly fits the context of the story of Job.)

Remember Jobs anguished cry in chapter 29?  "Oh that I were as in months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me; when His lamp shone over my head, {and} by His light I walked through darkness; as I was in the prime of my days, when the friendship of God {was} over my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me, {and} my children were around me.”

Although the pain from the loss of his children (and the loss of his employees) must still tear at his heart, the spiritual dereliction and the destitution are over. Yet in these final few chapters there is not one single answer to any of the questions that have haunted and perplexed Job.  To the great question of “Why?” there is only silence.  And yet when God is finished speaking with Job, he is totally satisfied, contented, and revitalized.

Francis I Andersen writes, “That God speaks at all is enough for Job.  All he needed to know is that everything is still all right between himself and God….to that extent it does not matter much what they talk about.  Any topic will do for a satisfying conversation between friends.  It is each other they are enjoying.”

“…to that extent it does not matter much what they talk about…”  I like that.  Job is simply thrilled that God has broken the silence.  That aching cry of his heart has finally been answered.  Not in the way that he expected for God shows up in unusual ways and speaks unexpected things to us. 

In previous chapters Job had wanted either a formal indictment, a list of the charges against him, or a declaration of his innocence, an acquittal) from God.  He got neither.

 

God doesn’t answer any of Job’s questions (perhaps we feel like we have a “right” to an answer for the problems that are plaguing our lives.  But perhaps we don’t). Nor does He charge him with any wrongdoing (to the chagrin of the three).  He simply says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge” (or “Who is this that distorts and obscures My carefully thought out plan for your life by words without knowledge?”)  We could paraphrase it by saying, “You don’t know what you are talking about Job!  You are making assumptions about your life’s trial without seeing the big picture.”

Let me repeat verse 3 again, “Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! 

Did you catch the little phrase “…like a man”?  The word for “man” used here is the Hebrew “geber.”  FIA writes, “As distinct from the more general Hebrew words for ‘man’ this word specifically refers to a male at the height of his powers. As such it depicts humanity at its most competent and capable level.” And Hartley gives us this insight, “This choice of words means that neither his affliction nor his inflamed rhetoric has diminished his intrinsic worth as a human being.”

In other words, the Creator is saying to this extremely sick, extremely weak and extremely discouraged man, “You are still a warrior prince in My eyes Job; your disease and trial have not diminished that one bit; now stand up like that warrior I know you to be and prepare for battle!”

I think something happened to Job at that moment.  Even though from our viewpoint God’s words appear almost harsh, something happened in the heart of Job.  This man, so wracked by disease and trial, so spent from battling through the thick veil of blackness, reached deep within himself and, for the first time in weeks, sat up!  Tears of hope began to course down his cheeks.     

38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding…”

What follows in the next four chapters is a rather remarkable synopsis of a trip with God to the planetarium and the zoo.  In the New American Standard Version I count sixty-two question marks in these chapters. Those 62 question marks punctuate some 70 plus questions that are put to Job in rapid fire succession.

And the topics of those questions range from goats to eagles, from horses to ostriches, from the footings of the earth to the boundaries of the ocean, from ice to frost to dew to rain to snow, from the great land monster called “Behemoth” to the great sea monster called “Leviathan.”     

God questions Job on two themes – the structure of the world and the maintenance of the world.  Hartley writes, “God raises Job's sight from his own troubles to the marvelous order that undergirds the world.”       

“Where were you…?”  Job was in a state of nothingness, a mere non-entity; he wasn’t even an onlooker. God hurls question after question at him and he could not answer the least of them!  (Even modern day man with his great engineering skills cannot come to agreement as to how the pyramids were built.)

Professor Schifferdecker writes, “Is this an adequate response to Job's suffering? It is not, in a conventional sense, very comforting. God would probably fail a present-day pastoral care class. Nonetheless, these speeches of God at the end of the book of Job accomplish something profound. They move Job out of his endless cycle of grief into life again. They enable him to live freely in a world full of heartbreaking suffering and heart-stopping beauty…”

*******************************

A God named Clarence or a God named Yahweh?  Most of us want to have our prayers answered and we want our circumstances changed.  We want our ash heap existence fixed!

But we generally want sort of a portly, good-natured, non-combative and somewhat defective god named Clarence to do more of a general “rearranging of the ash” instead of a full-blown tornadic wind upheaval of my entire life!  (Even ash heaps can get to be comfortable places.) And we sure don’t want to have to “stand up and put our pants on.” That means I need to stop complaining and that I can’t blame everything under the sun for my problems and that I’ve got some responsibility in this mess.

We think it would be cool for El-Shaddai to show up at our doorstep in a divine whirlwind…but are we ready to have everything we hold dear (our world view, our theology, and our “stuff”) turned upside down?

We want God to answer prayers, but do we want God?

God may not visit your ash heap in a manner that you think He will; He may not visit your ash heap at a time that you think He should.  And when He does show up, He may not speak to you the words you think you need to hear.

He may just say, “Stand up!  Put your pants on!  I want to talk to you for awhile…..”

You Are God Alone! (Phillips Craig and Dean)

Our Desperate Need to "Wonder" (Job 37:14-24)

When our three year old granddaughter Naomi saw our Christmas tree for the first time this year, it was a joy to see her eyes filled with wonder and hear her expression of, “Wow!” 

In a nutshell it is this expression of wonder that infuses Elihu’s theology at the end of chapter 37 as he beholds the approach of the terrifying beauty and majesty of God.  And it is this very vein of thought that ultimately begins to lift Job out of his awful circumstances.

37:14 “Listen to this, O Job, Stand and consider the wonders of God!”

At first reading Elihu’s admonition seems a little cruel. How can a man so diseased and despairing even attempt to stand?  And yet twice in the chapters to follow it is this exact admonition that Jehovah uses during His encounter with Job. But perhaps it may be more of an admonition to “stand still” then simply to “stand.”  Immobilized by his weakness, Job still had to be reminded that the raging of his spirit needed to be quieted.    

“Listen” comes from a root word meaning “to expand” and so literally means to “broaden out the ear.”  Five of the six times this word is used in Job it is found in the speeches of Elihu. 

Sometimes our spirits may resemble Job’s – agitated, mad at God, and un-listening – when what would truly bring healing are silence and stillness and a “standing still.”  

37:15 “Do you know how God establishes them, and makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?  16 Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge…?”

Picking up a refrain from chapter 36 and the first half of chapter 37, Elihu again focuses on the meteorological mysteries of clouds and lightning and thunderstorms (the word “cloud” is found 22 times in Job).

The word “wonder” is found twice in these first couple of verses, and it refers to things that are beyond human capabilities, the unsolvable “I-can’t-find-a-way-out-of-my-problem” things. These abnormal events are designed to strike the mind forcibly, to create a sense of wonder, and cause us to know that there is a God Who cares!  In the midst of his gloom, Job’s sense of wonder needed to be rekindled.

37:17 “You whose garments are hot, when the land is still because of the south wind?  18 Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror?”

Throughout this book, Job has wanted an encounter with his seeming Antagonist (he would get his wish shortly). But Elihu wants Job to consider something, “You know Job – when it gets really hot out here in Uz and you are sweltering and all you have strength to do is to take a nap, are you able to ‘hammer out the sky like a metal mirror?’”  Francis I Andersen reminds us, “Since the sky seems firm and solid to a viewer on earth, the poetic comparison with ‘a molten mirror’ should not be spoiled by introducing quarrels about its scientific accuracy.  The Hebrews were fully aware that the structure of the heavens was much more complex than that of an inverted bowl.”

The version of the Bible called The Message puts those verses this way, “Why, you don’t even know how to keep cool on a sweltering hot day, so how could you even dream of making a dent in that hot-tin-roof sky?”

37:19 “Teach us what we shall say to Him; we cannot arrange our case because of darkness.  20 Shall it be told Him that I would speak? Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?”

Note the word “arrange.”  It is used of the arranging of pieces of firewood in Genesis 22:9, of the setting in order of the pieces of showbread (two rows of 6 cakes each) in Leviticus 24:8, and of the preparations for a legal case in Job 13:18. It often contains a militaristic/battleground tone and is used in the context of warfare and means a ‘drawing up in battle order.’   At one point Job described himself as being “attacked by the terroristic forces of God ‘arranged’ against him.” (Job 6:4)

Throughout this book Job was desirous of taking legal action against God in a court of law.  But in this very poetic scene, Elihu reminds Job that he can scarcely formulate an opening statement let alone argue or arrange an entire case.  “Job, your dispute arises from a lack of knowledge of God’s ways (your darkness); you can hardly see past your tears let alone peer into the omniscience of God and plumb the depths of His love!”

The Arabs had a proverb, “Take care that thy tongue cut not thy throat.”  Barnes writes in his commentary, “We are surrounded by mysteries which we cannot comprehend, and we should therefore approach our Maker with profound reverence and submission.”  And Trapp reminds us, “Silence may be our best eloquence!” 

Perhaps verse 20 could be paraphrased, “You are on the verge of being swallowed up by your raging and bitterness; should I really ask one of the angels to approach the One Who dwells in unapproachable light and say, ‘I hate to bother you Sir, but Job has a few complaints….’”

37:21 “Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies; But the wind has passed and cleared them.  22 Out of the north comes golden splendor; Around God is awesome majesty.”

It’s a little difficult to tell exactly how this scene plays out.  Is it that the dazzling splendor of God is in the initial storm or is it that the natural metrological storm clears and the supernatural storm appears? However it takes place, one thing is for sure – the dazzling splendor of God begins to agitate Elihu and his speeches indicate as much.  Barnes writes, “God is introduced in the following chapter with amazing sublimity and grandeur…He comes in a whirlwind, and speaks in tones of vast sublimity…as Elihu discerned (the approach of God) he was agitated, and his language became abrupt and confused. His language is just such as one would use when the mind was overawed with the approach of God…”

Our speech would become a little agitated also if the earth was reverberating with the thunder of God, a lightning storm filled the blackened sky and suddenly a tornado appeared!

Verse 22 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, “Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.”  The Message renders it, “…a terrible beauty streams from God.”  Instead of trying to reason our way out of our problems, maybe we just need a glimpse of “the terrible beauty that streams from God!”

I cringe when I hear someone refer to the Creator of the Universe as “the Big Man upstairs.”  We are but one breath away from eternity and we should speak of eternal things with far more reverence and respect.

37:23 “The Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.  24 Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

Trying to paint a word picture of the immensity of God is a little like trying to gain a sense of the vastness of the ocean by putting our ear next to a sea shell and “listening to the ocean.”

Concerning verse 23 one writer states, “This is a very abrupt exclamation and highly descriptive of the state of mind in which Elihu was at this time – full of solemnity, wonder and astonishment at his own contemplation of this ‘great First Cause’…" Barnes puts verse 23 literally and simply by translating it this way, “The Almighty! We cannot find him out! Great in power, and in justice, and in righteousness!” 

And Clarke summarizes this section by saying, “…the incomprehensible glory and excellency of God confound all his (Elihu’s) powers of reasoning and description; he cannot arrange his words by reason of darkness; and he concludes with stating that, to poor weak man, God must for ever be incomprehensible and to him a subject of deep religious fear and reverence. Just then the terrible majesty of the Lord appears! Elihu is silent! The rushing mighty wind…proclaims the presence of Jehovah: and out of this whirlwind God answers for and proclaims Himself!”

A weatherman has enough difficulty trying to remain upright and do a broadcast during the fury of a hurricane.  But can you imagine trying to introduce the King of kings during this storm?

Concerning verse 24 Matthew Henry writes, “He regards the prayer of the humble, not the policies of the crafty.” 

The approach of God had left Elihu and Job and the others in a state of wonder. The dictionary defines “wonder” as “to be filled with amazement, bewilderment, astonishment or awe.”

Our God is a wonder-working God – He is able to do the “beyond our comprehension” things, the extraordinarily difficult things that baffle the imagination.  I believe that we are created with a need “to wonder.”  Whether it is contemplating the wonder of the tiny spring-like cucumber tendril (by Harvard scientists nonetheless!) (to see, click on this link: Cucumber Tendril), or writing a blog about a desire to “Reclaim Curiosity in a Ho-Hum world”  (One Man's Wonder) or thinking about the origins of the universe, we have a desperate need to wonder.

Perhaps this is why, during a very, very dark period in Israel’s history, I find it so striking that the prophet Isaiah wrote, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall rest upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

His Name shall be called “Wonderful…”  He is able to bring hope to your un-resolvable situation.

Dan Vander Ark
Copyright 2013

An Approaching Storm & Unhealed Grandkids (Job 37:1-13)

“And now let’s turn to the weather portion of tonight’s newscast.  Elihu, what’s it looking like outside in the weather garden?”

“Well Bob, it’s quite fascinating actually, and there’s a spectacular weather system that’s fast approaching out of the north…I’ve never seen anything quite like it!  I apologize for the shaking microphone but my heart is pounding so hard right now I’m having a hard time concentrating on the forecast.  The thunder and lightning are absolutely awe-inspiring; there is probably more than a little terror and panic going on right now in our viewing area…”

Just prior to the startling appearance of God at Job’s desolate ash heap, Elihu seems to give us a lesson in meteorology.    

Francis Andersen writes, “Elihu…is startled into mixed terror and admiration at the awesome spectacle of God’s power in the thunderstorm.” 

(Speaking of thunderstorms, it is said that that the Roman Emperor Caligula (AD 37-41), upon hearing thunder, would get out of his bed and hide under it.  I wonder if his generals knew that.)

37:1-4 “At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place.  2 Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.  3 Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.  4 after it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.”

Note how the NIV and the NLT translations of verse 1 describe Elihu’s reaction to this supernatural storm:  "At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place.” (NIV) “My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me.” (NLT)

Also note the prominence of the words “thunder,” “lightning,” and “voice.” And note in particular the number of times “voice” is used:  verse 2 refers to the “thunder of His voice,” three times in verse 4 the word “voice” is used, and verse 4  speaks of the “roaring voice” (roar here refers to the deep rumbling cry of the lion), . 

Our word “thunder” perhaps comes from the Swedish “tordon” or “Thor’s Din” (the noise of Thor); and lightning was sometimes called “thunderflame.”

God thunders with His majestic voice!  No contestant on NBC’s “The Voice” can ever match the majestic thundering and roaring Voice that calls the Universe to attention.  If we tremble during a thunderstorm imagine how we would quake at the presence and the voice of the Almighty!

37:5 “God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend.”

The Voice that spoke in Genesis One is the same Voice that is about to break through the hopeless despair enveloping Job.  The version called “The Message” puts verse 5 this way, “His word thundering so wondrously, His mighty acts staggering our understanding.” 

I like that phrase, “staggering our understanding!” Our minds naturally view problems through the prism of our finite understanding. We behold a situation and characterize it as “hopeless,”  so at times we need something supernatural to explode our “There-is-no-way-out-of-this-problem” type of thinking.  And that something (or rather “Someone”) is the God Who can do great things which we cannot comprehend!  We need an encounter with the God “who staggers our understanding.” 

37:6 “For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.'"

The language of this verse is more forceful than the simple statement of “Let the snow fall…”  It is written in the fashion of the command of Genesis 1:3; but instead of “Let there be light!” we have, “Let there be snow!” 

In the span of two verses we have gone from “things which we cannot comprehend” to a discussion of snowflakes and raindrops.  But what is the point of giving Job, while still covered in the misery of open, running sores and an endless itching, a lesson in the different forms that precipitation can take?

That is a question that will be answered beginning with chapter 38.

Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, “The changes and extremities of the weather, wet or dry, hot or cold, are the subject of a great deal of our common talk and observation; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu does here, with an awful regard to God the director of them, who shows his power and serves the purposes of his providence by them!”

37:7 “He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work.  8 Then the beast goes into its lair and remains in its den.”

In generations gone by, winter seemed to be sort of a divine “time-out,” a time when God would stop man's out-of-doors work so that humanity would take thought of their complete dependence on God.  Writes Matthew Henry, “The plough is laid by, the shipping laid up, nothing is to be done, nothing to be got, that men, being taken off from their own work, may know his work…when we are confined to our houses we should be driven to our Bibles and to our knees.”

Another commentary puts it, “…the busy affairs of life come to a pause, and while nature is silent around us, and the earth wrapped in her fleecy mantle forbids the labor of the husbandman, everything invites to the contemplation of the Creator, and of the works of his hands. The winter, therefore, might be improved by every farmer to enlarge his knowledge of God, and should be regarded as a season wisely appointed for him to cultivate his understanding and improve his heart.”

37:9 “Out of the south comes the storm, and out of the north the cold. 10 From the breath of God ice is made, and the expanse of the waters is frozen.”

“South” in this verse literally means “an inner chamber or apartment”, and refers to the remote or hidden regions; and “North” literally means “scatterers.” 

For the most part our weather systems arrive out of the West.  Having lived in the Dakota’s for a few years, I can still recall seeing the storm clouds gather (sometimes spectacularly) in the West and move across the plains.  It’s a beauty that’s not seen that well in the woodlands of northeastern Minnesota.   

37:11 “Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. 12  It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth.”

To paraphrase Poole: The clouds, seemingly pregnant with water, are made to go on long journeys.  Finally, worn out from their protracted voyage, upon reaching their destinations they empty themselves wherever God commands them. And though seeming to wander with a casual aimlessness across the sky, neither the clouds nor the lightning is haphazard in its movement. Nothing in God’s universe is beyond His guidance.

Francis I Andersen writes, “God is in complete control of all those events even though their whirling around might suggest aimless, chaotic forces.”

37:13 “Whether for correction, or for His world, or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.”

There is a lot packed into this verse but let’s just focus on just the word “lovingkindness.” 

The Hebrew word “hesed” is perhaps the greatest word of the Old Testament (and may be the equivalent of the New Testament word “agape” or love).  It appears in the King James version of the Bible as “mercy” or “kindness” “or goodness.”  

A derivation of this word is translated “stork” because it was thought to be kind to its young. Dom Sorg observed, “This word is really the OT reflex of ‘God is love’”  Hesed refers to the eternal divine kindness. Sakenfeld tells us that “forgiveness must always have been latent in the theological usage of hesed.” It expresses an attitude of a merciful reaching out to God’s creation when that creation is in the most pitiful of states. 

It is a love that can reach down and take people from the guttermost to the uttermost!

Hesed love is unending and ever faithful.  It is a stubborn and unfailing love! 

It is a type of love that pursues its object no matter how apathetic or pathetic that person may be!

It is a love that always creates hope in the most desperate of situations and can always moves past the most impossible  of obstacles! 

As I have often stated in these “Conversations From the Ash Heap” devotionals, the word “hopeless” hardly begins to convey Job’s awful plight.  And yet on the other side of a thick veil of darkness and gloom, God’s Hesed Love (in the form of an extraordinary and terrifying storm) was just about to envelop his bleak circumstances.

The God of eternity, the Creator of time and space Himself is about to make a very personal visit to a lonely man at a deserted town dump. 

Conclusion: I stopped by to visit one of my friends at work a week or so ago.  I asked about her grandchildren – two of them are suffering from a disease so rare that one of the nation’s most prestigious medical centers has not been able to diagnose it yet. 

As she described what they are going through I just wanted to hug her and cry with her.  I guess I could have quoted some Bible verse or something, but I felt like I should simply listen – words just seemed so empty at the time.

That night during prayer I cried for her grandchildren. I prayed that the God who manifested Himself so many centuries ago in the little known city called “Uz” would bring hope to the parents and healing to those little grandkids.

If you are someone who is struggling to find even just a bread crumb of hope, remember that against all odds, God visited Job.  And God can visit you.