Learning Who Instead Of Why - The One Year Book of Psalms

Job 38:8-18

(God’s Poem)

8“Who defined the boundaries of the sea

as it burst from the womb,

9and as I clothed it with clouds

and thick darkness?

10For I locked it behind barred gates,

limiting its shores.

11I said, ‘Thus far and no farther will you come.

Here your proud waves must stop!’

12“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear

and caused the dawn to rise in the east?

13Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth,

to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

14For the features of the earth take shape as the light approaches,

and the dawn is robed in red.

15The light disturbs the haunts of the wicked,

and it stops the arm that is raised in violence.

16“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?

Have you walked about and explored their depths?

17Do you know where the gates of death are located?

Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?

18Do you realize the extent of the earth?

Tell me about it if you know!

Psalm Link

Psalm 46:10

“Be silent, and know that I am God!”

As all parents know, every child’s favorite question is why: “Why do I have to go to bed now?” “Why do I have to eat my vegetables?” “Why do I have to turn off the TV?” We may think that this is simply a stage the child will grow out of, but the truth is, their why questions will continue throughout life.

In fact, even as adults, they will keep on asking why. When a relative is killed in a fatal accident, when their parent is afflicted with Alzheimer’s, or when their own children are plagued with problems, they will ask the same question.

Apparently why was Job’s favorite question, too. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote: “He who knows the why can bear with any how.” That seems to be what Job thought, and that’s what we often mistakenly think as well.

But in all forty-two chapters of Job, God never answers the why question. Instead, he shows Job that knowing who is far more important than knowing why. If you get to know the who, any why will be OK. Like a parent who has come to the end of a child’s string of why questions and answers, “Because I said so,” God often must tell us, “Trust me, even when you don’t get answers.” We are to live by faith—not just with the first step of our journey but with every step.

When mystery clouds my darkened path,

I’ll check my dread, my doubts reprove;

In this my soul sweet comfort has,

That God is love, God is love.

And though I cannot trace his way,

I am resolved to always say

That God is love, God is love.

ANONYMOUS

Bible Networking

This passage in Job gives us a glimpse of the greatness of our Creator. For another glimpse of our Creator’s greatness, read Psalm 148:5-6.

Notable Quotable

“God answered none of Job’s questions; they were the wrong questions. Instead, he involved Job in the experience of knowing him through his creative activity. Job’s questions about the ways of God could not be answered apart from the knowing of God himself.”

WILLIAM E. HULME