As we read the book of Job, we read a lot about Job's response to God during his suffering. He questions a lot, acknowledges his suffering and defends his innocence, claiming that he has not caused this suffering by sinful actions. For 37 chapters, we hear Job talking to God, his friends, and his family members until Job 38. In Job 38, God speaks to Job through a whirlwind and the entire book of Job shifts.
In Job 38, God begins to ask questions to Job. "Where were you," God asked, "when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much" (verse 4). He continued, asking, "Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line. What support its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone" (verses 5-6). These questions, of course, must lead Job to turn to God because He was the one who created the world and holds the world together. God continues asking similar questions to these, highlighting His power and wisdom and Job's humanity. God was challenging Job with these questions, showing him that He was God and Job was not. As a result, God knew things that Job did not, and God was calling Job to trust Him through his suffering.
The same is true for us. I do not know what suffering or pain you are currently facing, but I do know that God is with you. I know that the God who created you and the world is in control. You can trust Him to walk with you and lead you through it. Will you trust Him today? After all, He knows things that you do not, and that is a good, good thing.
The Lord’s response to Job is perhaps the most pivotal moment in the entire book of Job. This response goes on from Job 38-41. Spend some time reading the entire response. As you read, make notes of God’s characteristics revealed in these verses. As you face your trials and suffering, return to this list to remember that He is God and He knows things that you do not. May these verses from Job and this list give you peace in whatever season you are facing today.
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
“Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!’
“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
As the light approaches,
the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
it is robed in brilliant colors.
The light disturbs the wicked
and stops the arm that is raised in violence.
“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?
Have you explored their depths?
Do you know where the gates of death are located?
Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
Do you realize the extent of the earth?
Tell me about it if you know!
“Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to get there?
But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so very experienced!
“Have you visited the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of hail?
(I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war.)
Where is the path to the source of light?
Where is the home of the east wind?
“Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?
Who laid out the path for the lightning?
Who makes the rain fall on barren land,
in a desert where no one lives?
Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground
and make the tender grass spring up?
“Does the rain have a father?
Who gives birth to the dew?
Who is the mother of the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,
and the surface of the water freezes.
“Can you direct the movement of the stars—
binding the cluster of the Pleiades
or loosening the cords of Orion?
Can you direct the constellations through 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?
“Can you shout to the clouds
and make it rain?
Can you make lightning appear
and cause it to strike as you direct?
Who gives intuition to the heart
and instinct to the mind?
Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?
Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
when the parched ground is dry
and the soil has hardened into clods?
“Can you stalk prey for a lioness
and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
as they lie in their dens
or crouch in the thicket?
Who provides food for the ravens
when their young cry out to God
and wander about in hunger?
