Job 38
Job has repeatedly complained that God has been silent. He wants his day in court, an audience with the Judge, so that he can present his impeccable record and stupendous case before Him. Be careful what you wish for, Job! Today God shows up and breaks His so-called silence:
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:2-3
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
With this, God begins to put Job in his place, and it sets the tone for the entire chapter (well, actually, for all of Job 38-41). God proceeds to do exactly as He says here, asking a series of (somewhat rhetorical) questions and challenging Job to answer:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Job 38:4-5a
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
And that is just the beginning. The whole chapter continues in the same vein, forcing Job (and each of us) to recognize that God has done (and continues to do) what Job (and we) could never do, that God knows what Job (and we) could never know. God is from eternity, and we are not. God is the Creator, and we are not. God directs the entire universe, and we do not.
Any time we start thinking we know better than God, these chapters are a good place to turn to remind us that maybe we don’t really know what we’re talking about. Even if we don’t think we’re smarter (or better) than God, most of us (at some point or another) may think we’re smarter (or better) than everybody else, in which case these chapters are still good to read to take us down a notch or two.
One good thing about Job 38-41 is that we know this is now God speaking, so we can implicitly trust all He says. We do not need to figure out what might be right and what might be off track. We do not need to wonder about the speaker’s motivation or ignorance or mistaken understanding or warped worldview. That doesn’t mean everything God says is straightforward or that the ancient word pictures are necessarily easy for us moderns to understand, but at least we do not need to filter any of it out as potentially suspect. So stay tuned for the next few chapters, and listen to God Almighty speak.
God shows up! In spades…!! It’s interesting to break down His series of rhetorical questions. He covers the oceans and the seas (vv. 8-11, 16-18); light and darkness (vv. 19-21); winter weather (vv. 22-23, 29-30); other meteorological activities (vv. 24-28); the stars in the heavens (vv. 31-35); and my favorite – time, itself (vv. 12-15), including tying wickedness and darkness together! After covering His created earth, He also looks a bit on humanity (vv. 36-38) and begins some questioning on the animals that He has created (vv. 39-41). And for every series of questions, Job and his friends have only one response – You are all; we are nothing! As John points out, it’s a good lesson for us as we try to guide others into our way of thinking!