Here’s the climax of the book: Job gets his answer from God, and in a way few have received an answer from Him. God answered Job out of the whirlwind, and apparently audibly spoke to him. Think about that.
Did God answer him in a way that satisfies you? I have long wished that God would have told Job the whole background story of his trial and commended him for remaining blameless through the trial. And that He would have reprimanded all four of the friends in a most just way. Why did God answer him this way? What do you think?
I wonder if it’s not because God wants us to understand that it’s not about us, pleasing to Him as we might be. The epic battle is between God and His enemy, and while we are loved by God, His enemy sees us only as tools to manipulate in his attempts to hurt God. In all circumstances, we need to understand that God is preeminent. That may not seem satisfying to us, but in truth, if we will accept that reality and allow ourselves to be changed by it, we can find true satisfaction in it. God is the hero of the epic story, and He is truly a hero’s hero. Truly a heroine’s hero. Dare you invite Him to give you a greater appreciation for Him as the only one worth talking about?
Job had expressed numerous times his desire to present his case to God and get answers from God. He didn’t get his answer, but he didn’t seem to mind. His response to God’s point wasn’t, “But you still haven’t answered my question! Why did you do this to me?” Note his response: “I am speechless, and rightfully so.”
Just so, we have powerfully important questions for God: “If God is who He says He is, why did He allow this horrible thing to happen?” “Why is there evil in this world?” “Is He as powerful as He says He is, or is He as involved as He says He is, or is He not as good and loving as He says He is?” But God wants us to see Him as Job did, in such awe that we can only place our hands over our mouths. He can handle our questions; can we handle His answers?
Is God vain to make it all about Him? Not at all. Would you call an expert vain for offering effective response to a challenging situation or for giving expert testimony in a court case? All that He says is true! The things He points out about Himself are sparks to ignite our praise life if we will just contemplate them. God is worthy, so worthy of our awe. That is a fact, and this passage confronts us with an opportunity to consider that fact. If we don’t take these reminders as an opportunity to consider His worthiness, we never will consider His worthiness, and we will fail to know God. So let’s consider what He offers for Job’s consideration, and formulate our own praise to God out of it. To get us started,
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- How vast is the earth – and God created it – from nothing. Just by the words from His mouth. We are incapable of creating out of nothing, and our words are powerless to create.
- How vast are the oceans, and how overwhelming the power of their waters, as we’ve witnessed plenty recently. We can’t begin to hold the water back – but God does. The oceans go no farther than God says. He controls them with a word!
- How vast is the darkness, and how impenetrable, except for the light God has created. And what a source of light we have!
- What more powerful telescopes have revealed about the vastness of the universe has so awed many astronomers that they can no longer believe that it spontaneously happened. Whether or not they have chosen to believe in God, they are compelled to believe that there is intelligent design in the awe-inspiring things they have observed, things that the proponents of the Big Bang theory never had the opportunity to observe.
- We are helpless to control the rain – when we get it, and when it stops. Our growing food is watered correctly by God’s mercy alone.
We don’t know what behemoth and leviathan are. They may be extinct creatures, for all we know. That we don’t know what they are is not important enough to bother with. If curiosity about that causes us to miss God’s point, we have been played by the enemy’s tactics.
Notice that Elihu is not admonished by God when the other three men are. That is not because Elihu was spot on. God was not displeased with Job, as Elihu accused; God says that he was correct. Job was blameless. Because God’s response to Elihu is not recorded, some scholars believe that Elihu was the author of the book and left that part out. Another consideration might be that God didn’t think he was worth bothering with. Perhaps in that culture, God’s ignoring him was more effective at putting him in his place than if he got an audible admonition from Him. He had stated that he was perfect in his own eyes; would he have heeded the inevitable admonition from God? If “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,” Elihu rightfully deserved not to receive a response from God. What a frightening position to be in. How many of us might be in that very position? One to whom Jesus has to say “Depart from me; I never knew you” when he tries to justify himself by pointing out how often he spoke up on behalf of God or defended His honor.
This story is our call to examine our own hearts. Are we Eliphazes, who self-righteously claim to know God and think we’re defending His honor in our spoutings, but kindle His anger instead because we don’t speak rightly about Him? Does He see us as fools in our speeches about Him? Do we need to repent of our ideas that we have Him figured out, and seek His forgiveness? How fortunate Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were, that God gave them the opportunity to make their relationships with Him right. Elihu was not given that chance. Are any of us in the hopeless, prideful condition he was in? That is truly frightening to consider.
You have finished reading your first book of the Bible for this year! Readers typically don’t find it an easy or enjoyable book to read, so if you have read it completely, you have made it over a potential hurdle! If you haven’t read it completely, there are more hurdles ahead to challenge you; determine now that you will do better!