Day 244

Job 40:1–42:17; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Psalm 45:1-17; Proverbs 22:14

THROUGHOUT THE BOOK of Job, we heard Job tell all that he thought that he knew about God. We also heard all that his friends thought that they knew about God (and Job). Then God gave Job what he longed for: an audience. God’s overwhelming presence practically leaps off the page: “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” (Job 40:2).

For all the words spoken about God in Job, and all the defenses and accusations Job intended to present to the Lord on his own behalf, the conversation turned out to be quite different from what Job expected. As God leveled question after unanswerable question at Job, it became apparent that all Job thought he knew about God amounted to nothing (Job 40:4-5). What he thought he needed to say to God became completely unnecessary in God’s presence.

In our own times of difficulty, we cry out to God, expecting that He will simply make it all go away. But what if He doesn’t? What if there is a lot more going on than we are aware of? Usually, if we don’t get our quick fix, we begin to subtly judge God. We wonder if He is truly trustworthy. But when we secretly put ourselves in a position to make an assumption or judgment against the almighty God, we honestly have no idea what we’re talking about. We are utterly ill-informed. And the only way we will ever be informed is to remain in His presence as a son or daughter —not as an accuser. After all, who was the accuser in Job’s story? Satan. We don’t want to be in God’s presence doing that sort of work.

For all the bluster and drama of the entire conversation he’d been having, Job only had one last thing to say to God:

I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.

Job has taken us on a journey that touches things deep within —the kinds of things that can only be understood through suffering. If you’ve never suffered in any way, Job will not make any sense and is completely not for you. But I doubt any of us here fit that criterion.

Maybe the sooner we truly contemplate the conclusions Job came to, the quicker we will find the safe place we’ve been looking for all along: in God’s presence, where things are too wonderful for us to comprehend.

WORSHIP:

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil.