An unexpected and surprising event happened. God appeared and spoke to Job out of a storm. The storm reminds us of the majesty and power of God as seen in God’s appearance to Israel on Mount Sinai. Yet God spoke to Job in a personal manner just like He spoke to Moses face to face. Although the language was challenging and harsh, God did not reveal Himself to crush Job but to reach out to him in grace. It was a privilege extended to His servant Job to communicate that He was not distant and indifferent, but He was in fact conscious of what was happening to him.
God appeared and spoke as a gracious, personal God and as an infinite, overwhelming force at the same time.
However, God did not address the concerns of Job and his friends at all but instead ‘answered’ in a series of more than eighty rhetorical questions (questions with obvious answers). The questions are peppered with “Who”, “Can you”, “Have you ever”, which were designed to emphasize the limits of human power, implying the limit of Job’s power as well.
What is more, these questions highlighted the greatness of God’s creation and His control of the universe. The Lord revealed His involvement in the creation and control of the animate and inanimate world; the stars and constellations; the netherworld; the natural world including light and darkness; rain, snow and the sea; and hail, clouds and storm. All these revealed Job’s ignorance in contrast to God’s knowledge and Job’s finiteness in contrast to God’s overwhelming majesty.
God’s providential care of the animal world was also clearly stated. He feeds the animals and cares for their young. Thus, if He does that, surely He cares for humans made in His image.
God’s creation is vast, diverse and mysterious, way beyond human control and yet easily within His control. In communicating this, God was teaching Job the deeper lessons about wisdom in a broken world. Surely, God is able to rule the world justly and lovingly, even in a broken world where things may seem to be out of control. Nevertheless, God is still sovereignly in complete control.
So does it make sense to accuse God of injustice? It seems that Job had been doing this. In reality, God’s concerns in creation are wider than humans alone. The clearest example of this is when He makes rainfall where there are no humans (38:26-27). As creator, He is distinct from His creation but He is involved in freely caring for it. God’s many references to creation are highly appropriate because by them He was addressing His ownership of the universe while at the same time refuting Job’s accusation of deprivation. God did not actually deprive Job of anything, because He, as Creator, owns all that is in the universe. The founder is the owner; the Creator is the ruler.
In the face of all these, Job acknowledged that God is sovereign and admitted his own unworthiness (40:3-5). He sensed that he had already said enough and resigned to remaining silent (40:4b).
God went on to ask Job:
“Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendour, and clothe yourself in honour and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. (40:8-12)”
What Job learned is that divinely ordained justice in the world is God’s governance. Accusing God of injustice was presumptuous because God as ruler has a system of justice that exceeds what Job sensed in the human legal system. Since Job did not have the power to be judge, he did not have the right. Job’s claim that he could run the universe better than God was simply a fiction. Job was told to drop the claim and hand the matter over completely to God more trustingly, less fretfully. This is the way of wisdom – to willingly, not begrudgingly, admit that God alone is God.
God then spoke of the behemoth (40:15-24) and the leviathan(41), usually considered as the hippopotamus and the crocodile. In the ancient East, these animals are symbols of cosmic power and chaos. God demonstrated to Job that he could not possibly control or subdue these creatures. Therefore Job had no right to challenge God. Since he thought that God was allowing chaos in his life and since he questioned what God was doing, Job was challenged to defeat these symbols of chaos. If he could not conquer and control these animals, he was in no position to discredit God, his Creator and Maker, for treating him unjustly. He could not possibly assume God’s role and bring order into the moral realm.
Job learned that pride has no place before God. Even a crocodile looks down on the haughty (41:34), bringing fear to man’s heart. How then could Job stand in defiance against God, the Maker of the crocodile?
Job gave his final reply to God in (42:2-6). It is clear that his reply was an act of worship, for he called God “wonderful” (42:3). Job admitted that his demands had not taken into consideration the wonder of who God is. He also admitted that God has plans behind everything that happens, even if those plans are hidden to man. In this instance Job thought he knew how to run the world better than God until he appreciated the power and hidden wisdom of God.
Job bowed before God and let Him be who He is. He learned to serve God for Himself alone. Although God gave Job no explanation for what happened to him even after the test, it made it possible for Job to enter into a life of naked faith, to learn to love God for Himself alone. To withhold the full story from Job keeps him walking by faith, not by sight. He did not say in the end, “Now I see it all”. He never sees it all. He sees God (42:5) and that was all he needs. That is what we all really need, now and for all eternity.
The words of a hymn by William Cowper, a suffering servant, poetically capture this idea:
1 God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
2 Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
3 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take:
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
4 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
5 His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
6 Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His works in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.