11-27-14. Job 38:4-30. In God Are The Answers-my devotional
God is the great and awesome Creator and in him lay all of our answers and solutions. Job 38:4-30. Kevin E. Jesmer
In light of the God’s greatness, Job and his friends should be humble and trust God and come to him for answers. In Job 38:4-30, God set out to let Job and his friends know about his greatness reveal in acts of Creation. No human being was there when God created the heavens and the earth. At the completion of the heavens and the earth a huge celebration took place by the angels of heaven. The morning stars sang, and the angels shouted for joy. God had planned and created the universe right down to the finest detail.
These verses also proclaim God’s sovereignty over the earth and sea, light and darkness, over snow and rain, over the constellations and clouds and lightning. The Lord put boundaries on the mighty waters. All the days and nights are fixed by the Lord, and are proclaimed by the sun, moon and stars. The Lord only allows the wicked to go only so far, before he steps in and stops them in their pride. (15) The Lord knows where the doors to Hell and death are (17) God actually holds the keys to death and Hades (Rev 1:18). Like all of creation, our purpose is to humbly proclaim the greatness and majesty of God.
And so what is God is saying here? And how does is relate to Job’s condition? Essentially the Lord is saying, “If I can do all of this, with my creation, please realize how easy it is for me to change your situation?”
God wanted Job and his friends to examine their way of thinking. Look at verse 38:4, ““Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” And now verse 38:18, “Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.” The people in the chapter were spending a lot of time trying to figure God out and the reason for suffering. At times they were so confident of their answers. In some things they were right, but in other ways they were not. They were not able to understand, because the things that they were trying to grasp were too huge for mere mortals to comprehend. Finding the “meaning of human suffering” has been the quest of thoughtful souls since the dawn of humanity.
Dr John Armstrong once wrote, “God never gives Job a simple answer to his question. God says to Job, in effect, “I run a vast and complicated world and you cannot possibly grasp the multitude of reasons I have for what I do and why I do it.” God always does the right and he always acts consistently with his divine nature of love, thus he is always and only good. But the holy one will do the right thing and answers to no one as to why.” (written 8/17/09)
Dr Armstrong refers to Rabbi Benjamin Blech, who concludes: “That’s why the book of Job is not really the story of a tragic figure of old. The book of Job is about twenty-first century men and women who try to make sense out of the unfair circumstances of their lives even as they struggle to hold onto their beliefs. Most of all, the book of Job is about a dilemma which, sooner or later, every one of us must resolve in our lives” (If God Is Good Why Is the World So Bad? Simcha Press: Deerfield Beach, Florida, 2003, 5).
But just because we are so limited in our understanding It doesn’t mean that there are not any answers. God was reminding Job and his friends of their human limitations. If they want to understand the deeper and most profound questions of life, they needed to humble themselves, revere God and come to the Lord for answers and solutions. God is our Father and our Shepherd and our Friend. He cares about our plight. He understands our situations. He knows our struggles. He cares about it and he wants to do something about it. We need to trust God and have faith in him, for he is the sovereign Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the Great Physician who can heal the sick. He is the Good Shepherd who can lead the flock to green pastures and quiet waters. We can even trust Jesus when we are dying. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He can raise the dead. He can save us so that we can enter the Kingdom of God by his grace. He can whisper his wisdom into our hearts. We want answers, satisfying and complete answers. These answers are to be found, but not within ourselves. They are found in Christ alone. And so the next time the question, “Why” is echoing in your heart, turn to the one with all the answers, to Jesus Christ. He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. Today, let us trust the Lord with everything. Praise God!
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