Today's Meditation
Read Job 38:1-17
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone 7when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? 8“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— 9when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?
12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. 15Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. 16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Job has spent a great deal of time questioning God, wondering why God has allowed so much heartache to come to him. He wants a meeting with God to present his case before the Lord.
Backing up for a moment to earlier chapters right before this one, a man appears by the name of Elihu. He is not one of Job's three friends that, after consoling their friend, eventually accuse Job of some secret sin that he has kept hidden; therefore, he is solely to blame for his own calamities that have come upon him. Elihu has been listening to Job and his three friends discuss the matter. He cannot remain silent. Elihu rebukes the friends for their belief that sin must have been the cause of Job's tragedies and he rebukes Job for believing that he is able to contend against the Lord, that mortals are simply not able to understand the ways of God. His speech against the friends and Job goes on for four chapters in Job until he gets to chapter 36, whereupon he exalts the Lord's goodness and majesty. Elihu then seems to call on the Lord for Job's benefit in chapter 37. "Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it loose, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend."
And then Chapter 38 opens with, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind..." I've read and reread this book. There are moments when I think of God with a conciliatory expression and explanation for Job, since mortals have difficulty understanding the ways of God. But most moments what I read is an angry God, particularly with Job for questioning and requesting a face-to-face confrontation. In today's reading, I'm noticing something new. I keep coming back to the phrase, "Out of the whirlwind". Although the stage is set by Elihu for an angry and powerful God to show up, this is not what God intended when he finally spoke to Job. Yes, God is all-powerful, but rather it is out of the whirlwind of chaos... that God brings order. An order to life that we simply do not understand and cannot comprehend. An order to all the chaos that surrounds us on a regular basis, but even more so when life seems to be unfair, when tragedy strikes, when our hearts are broken.
What voice from God do you need to hear out of your whirlwind today?
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