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READ: Job 37:19
CHALLENGE: Trust God Through the Storm
Job has been asking to meet with God and for God to speak and explain things to him. God does. Life can be tough to figure out. On any given Sunday morning we are a collection of happiness and hurts. Some may be celebrating a promotion while someone other family is experiencing loss.
- DON’T STOP BELIEVING EVEN WHEN YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND
And you won’t understand a lot of the time.
Vv19-24 – “Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. 20 Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up? 21 Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. 22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. 24 Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”
- We Don’t Understand Because We are in the Dark
You’re in the dark and the Bible says so! In other words, we truly cannot have a complete picture of what’s going on beginning to end or top to bottom. For instance, Job knows nothing of the devil’s role in his suffering, so he can only blame the Almighty. And you get a part of that because God is the ultimate leader in the universe, which means that He’s also the lightning rod for our angst and complaints. God gets the blame even when undeserved.
Elihu says that you can’t draw up a case and that means to “put something in order”. Now, if I’m drawing up a legal case, I need to organize the facts in order to present them in convincing fashion before a judge. However, we don’t have all the information by which to intelligently argue a case before God. Why is that? Light is not shining on every detail, particular, variable, wrinkle, or possibility.
For instance, the reasons “why” things happen would be a part of what we don’t understand – not for sure. Why is their suffering? Why did my child die? Why me? Why did I lose my job? And even if we say, “It’s part of a fallen world”, then we can ask, “Yes, but why me because I’ve been good”? There are a lot of “whys” that we just don’t have answers for. And should our suffering be part of a specific master plan, we’ve not been in that meeting.
You may wonder how you have factored into the darkness you’ve experienced. Am I at fault in some way? Perhaps. Perhaps not. In this case, the friends of Job all thought that he, Job, had a role in what happened to him. There are plenty of times when what happens to you has nothing to do with you at all, although it greatly impacts you. You did everything right and you still got a negative outcome but the outcome was detached from you and your efforts or behaviors. My father died of cancer and he told me, “I tried to live healthy and I did all that I knew to do in order to prevent it”. There was no “logic” to it. One could argue that God saw fit to take him home at that time.
We are in the dark meaning we don’t have every piece of knowledge at our disposal. Knowing everything would be like trying to count the leaves in a forest. There’s just no way! And here’s the thing, the leaves on the trees in the forest is a finite number, yet we still cannot count them all. It’s just beyond us! Some branches will always be hidden from view because we only see it from our limited vantage point, and some branches are blocked by other branches. We just know that there are leaves…lots of leaves! There’s a forest, but we never see it all at the same time. The same is true of God’s plan.
So, to come and complain to God about what has happened when you don’t even know the reasons or exact role God played in the calamity, if any, seems off target. There is no one talking about the role of the devil in this chaos. We don’t know how the angels who were in the same meeting factored in. Job did not know what was said. Didn’t understand the test. Didn’t know the future. All of us are limited.
We finite creatures are trying to figure out an infinite God and it’s not possible. There are things that are not viewable by us. We are in the dark and must admit that we do not know the answer to all of the questions. The important thing is that God knows!
- We Don’t Understand Because God is Incomprehensible
You cannot look at God thoroughly any more than you can look at the sun mid-day when the skies are blue. It’s blinding so you would have to squint and quickly look away. If you were to look at the sun for 100 seconds or less, you will have permanent eye damage. It’s no joke to say, “If you look at the sun, you’ll go blind”.
When the full eclipse was happening, you couldn’t really look at it until it was 100% eclipsed. Even just a little bit of sun peaking around the moon was blinding. You have to look away. You cannot truly see it.
When you’re driving and the sun is rising or setting on the horizon, it’s tough to see anything. I’ve been at a traffic light and squinting to see what color the light is and when I go, I’m hoping I guessed right! That’s like trying to look into God’s plan. We cannot quite make it out. But we know this one thing, we need the sun!
The sun is a great analogy because one could ask, “Why are you trying to stare at the sun anyway”? You can’t stare at, fully see, or comprehend God. So, why are you trying? Why are you trying to understand all the things that you are seeing in this world when it’s impossible to comprehend.
There was a strong solar storm and the northern lights were overhead but it was in the day time. Could you see it? Absolutely not. The light of the sun obscured the definition and colors. You wouldn’t know that it was there except for the app saying it’s overhead. Often times, even at night, our phones see the light much better than we can see it with our naked eyes! God’s plan is the same – we cannot always make it out in clear definition.
Now, of course, we know His commandments and that helps us to give us certainty in an uncertain world.
- God is Beyond Our Reach
We don’t have access to God. We never see the entire script. The only information that we would have about God would be whatever he revealed. And Elihu opens up the idea that God will come to people and let them know in a dream or deep thoughts. But we don’t quite catch it.
Job 33:13-18 – Why do you complain to him that he responds to no one’s words? 14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, 17 to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, 18 to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.
God does speak but we don’t perceive it. In a dream. By a warning. Some night terror to wake us up. Oh God definitely talks and lets us know something. My wife elbowed me in the eye the other week and I told her about it the next morning but she couldn’t quite recollect it. Oh yeah, I thought that was a dream!
However, since He’s beyond my reach, I don’t have information on demand. I can’t just walk into the throne room like an angel and talk intricacies. It’s like something on the top shelf and we cannot get it. It’s beyond me. Like me throwing my wife the keys the other day and they got hung up in a branch! Go figure. We did get it.
One day Jazzy let go of a balloon and it floated up to the high part of the narthex ceiling and she expected me to retrieve it. OK – I’m not here to disappoint her so I went home, got my fly rod and I captured the ribbon of the balloon with my line and pulled it down for her. It wasn’t long before she lost one outside and as he floated toward the clouds, she calmly told her mom, “Bill will get it”. I’m glad I was not part of that conversation because there was no way that I would have been able to retrieve that balloon. It was well beyond me.
I have to accept that I don’t have all the information and never will. And without ALL the information, I can’t know ALL the answers. Now hopefully, when we get to heaven, we will be handed the rest of the puzzle pieces that we don’t have now. But I can accept that not everything that I have seen is either fair or makes sense from my perspective.
It’s beyond me and as Solomon said at the end of Ecclesiastes chapter 8, even if the wise say that they know the beginning from the end, they do not know. Not really. Not truly. God’s character is not diminished by my circumstances. He’s still just, righteous, and does not oppress. Nothing that happens to me can impugn God. Fill your heart with trust rather than with thoughts of doubt.
Don’t miss out on the end – revere God! We ought to stand back and worship. Remember Job? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
B. LISTEN FOR GOD IN THE STORM
Job 38:1 – Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
I’m not sure what the precedent for the storm is. Did a storm appear as God approached. Was this like watching some massive thunderstorm or twister approach? There was a storm, Job was in it, and God spoke out of it. His life was certainly a storm! It’s beautiful imagery and I often wonder how often God speaks out of the scary and painful times in life. And is it in the storm when we’re most likely to understand God’s power and guidance?
I think of the storm encountered by Jonah. Jonah was running from God and God appointed the storm which got everyone’s attention. They drew lots to find out why it was happening and the lot fell to Jonah. The storm was so extraordinary that saw it as the work of God. They tried to not listen to Job’s advice to pitch him overboard and to row back to shore but God made it clear that Job had to go overboard. Everyone recognized God in the storm.
I’ve seen over and over again where people come to God because of pain. Ravi Zacharias said that pain in the megaphone for God’s voice. God uses all kinds of ways to awaken people from their slumber.
There would be things we would never learn about God outside of the pain. That being said, the storms of life are not my favorite thing but might as well learn all that I can. The difficult things that I’ve experienced have taught me far more and brought me closer to God. So, when you’re in a storm, don’t just focus on surviving or winning some fight. Perhaps look toward what God is saying to you in this present moment.
I think of the dismay of the disciples in that dreadful storm. Seasoned fishermen were rocked by the wind and waves and they awakened the slumbering Jesus in their panic. A lot to be said, right? Why couldn’t God have prevented it? Why did the waves have to be that big? Why was the boat not better equipped? Why did the disciples have to cry out? I don’t know. But I know this, after they saw that, they were marveling at Jesus Christ and what He did in a way that would be impossible without it.
May the storms of life leave us marveling at God’s work.
C. KNOW THAT GOD IS WORKING OUT A PLAN
VV2-4 – “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
Since God is the one who knows the plan, we have to trust him. Job was talking about wanting to meet with God. God was not punishing him at all, but it seemed that way and that he was punishing him unfairly at that.
“Job has darkened this counsel because he lacks a broad, comprehensive perspective of God’s ways. His perception has been darkest when he has accused God of acting arbitrarily without regard for justice and when he has assumed that he himself could dispute with God as an equal”. He has questioned whether God governs the world in justice.
So, God says that Job has darkened his plans or counsel with words without knowledge. The one who doesn’t know what’s going on or why it’s going on is Job. There is never a knowledge problem with God. The knowledge problem is with us which, is rough because we have much to deal with that we don’t understand. We should be careful about dogmatically stating why things happen when we don’t, in fact, know. Admit it.
Rambling on just obscures it. Guessing obscures it. If something happens by God’s predetermined will, you couldn’t know it for sure. We just know that it did happen and God helps us. It’s interesting that our words can obscure God’s true intentions. We might say, “God has a reason for everything”. But we’re talking about someone’s relative getting murdered. Wait, wait, wait! We’re saying that God did that? Now that is going to make God look Ogre-ish and that’s completely unfair to God. The danger with Job blaming God for the calamity is that the devil instigated it. God knew it but certainly did not plan it.
We’re very limited because we cannot see the entire field. We cannot see events stretched over time. We can only see the present spot in the maze and that can be rather confusing.
But do latch on to this one thing in it all. God has a plan. There is a rhyme and reason to things even when we don’t catch it. And even if haphazard, God can use it for something good. The nature of God is to turn all things in a good direction.
There was a calamity that Jesus Christ talked about. A tower fell on people but then he was using it to get people to repent and that was an important aspect. Getting your life right with God is the most important thing you can do! He urged them, based on that calamity, to repent.
Sometimes your hurts are clearly what God is using. And God wants all people to come to a saving knowledge of the truth. There is some design to it all even if we don’t understand it all. And this is something we have to embrace. It’s all going to get used toward God’s will and glory. Somehow, some way.
Joseph is a famous story. He was betrayed by his brothers. He was sold to a man name Potiphar. He was falsely accused. He was thrown into a dungeon. He could interpret dreams and interpreted the dream of Pharaoh. He was then placed second in command of the entire nation. The brothers intended to harm Joseph but God intended it for good. What are the chances that Joseph understood the plan from the get-go?
This led to his family moving to Egypt. After a while, Joseph was forgotten and the Jewish people enslaved. It became so chaotic that families were forced to throw their babies into the Nile River. Their pain and suffering was incredible. However, that pain and suffering forged them into a cohesive nation.
They were freed from slavery but they doubted God’s plan and even more chaos ensued and they wandered for 40 years and this is where they became battle ready before taking on the land of Canaan. It all got used to get the nation where the nation was supposed to be.
Jesus Christ came and healed people. He showed us the way to salvation. He was betrayed by a friend and tried and crucified. The disciples were terrified but in the chaos, God saved the world. You think those guys understood all that was going on in every moment of time? No way! God understood it.
Where were you when God made the world? The point is that God doesn’t need us to tell him what to do. He’s greater than the greatest forces we experience. He’s more beautiful than the most beautiful things we see. So, let’s feel our faith swell and grow.
Thus, the verse, All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. That’s important, right? Love God. When you love God you can be assured he can work the blackest of threads into something amazingly beautiful.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
If we try to throw a band aid on the deep wounds of humanity, we’re doing God no favors at all. God doesn’t want us just throwing pat answers out there. We aren’t meant to know everything. Love God, love others, do your best, keep trusting.
Do we trust God? Maybe a question we could ask ourselves is this. Why do we get to live? Why are we allowed to have a role in this world? Why are we allowed to serve God? Why am I here and some not? I don’t know. I really don’t. But I would have to assume that if I’m here, there’s some plan that God has for me.
I have to trust God for all things. We won’t understand all things but God is still working and speaking in our world and I’ll lean on Him.