Unanswered Questions

Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind.   Job 38:1

Job endured a period of great suffering, struggling with many unanswered questions, but then almighty God spoke to him. Later Job would say, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:5).

God gave Job not an explanation, but a revelation. This will disappoint people who are looking for an explanation for suffering. God’s revelation did not answer all of Job’s questions, nor does it answer all of our questions. But it does tell us who God is. When Job saw the glory of God, he was satisfied.

God asked Job nearly seventy questions that Job couldn’t answer. It was as if the Lord was saying, “Job, you want to enter into God’s counsel. Let’s see if you are qualified.” So God conducted an interview. You may have endured an interview in which high-powered people asked you hard questions, but this was the most devastating interview of all time.

Let’s listen in on the interview: “Job, I understand that you want to know all things. You want to be God of the universe? That is a pretty exclusive position, so let me ask you, ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, . . . as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries?’ [Job 38:4, 7-8]. Have you ever tried talking to the waves or telling the sun to rise? [[see38:11-12]. If you wish to know all things, you need to learn how to do this.”

Job wanted to lay his case before God, but now, in God’s presence, he was silent. He thought he needed to understand why things were happening, but now he knew this knowledge was out of his league. “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand” (Job 40:4).

Perhaps you have imagined that when you see God, you will ask him some pretty tough questions. But when Job was in the presence of God, it was altogether different from what he expected. He was not the one asking the questions; in God’s presence, his questions melted away.

For further reading, see Job 38