Daily Devotion – March 27, 2020 – Pastor Brian Hansen
Job Chapters 38-39
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” “Or who shut in the sea with doors” “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,” “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?” “Do you give the horse its might?” “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,” “Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?”
The story of Job (pronounced Joe-b) in the Bible has long been one of the most interesting stories I’ve spent time trying to understand and to unpack. For those of you not incredibly familiar with Job’s story, let me try to summarize it. Job is a righteous man whose faithfulness to God is unflinching. During the course of Job’s story-line we see Job experience significant losses. First Job experiences the loss of wealth, then he loses significant family members, and finally Job’s health is attacked. During the long course of Job’s suffering, he is invited by both friends and his remaining family to curse God.
However, Job never gives into these (no doubt appealing) suggestions. Rather, Job does his very best to remain faithful and grounded in his trust in God’s presence and faithfulness. However, toward the end of the story, as Job has suffered repeated loss, and as he begins to question and loses heart, we see Job reach a point where he demands from God some form of explanation as to why all of these calamities have befallen him. Job wants what most of us desire in the midst of things of which we can’t make sense; Job wants an explanation of why. So, Job demands that God explain to him why he has suffered so.
Rather then give an answer to Job’s question, God asks Job a series of questions. God’s response can be found in chapters 38 & 39 (of which I have taken small excepts for today). In this two chapter response we see that God doesn’t necessarily give Job the answers Job demands regarding why such calamities have been allowed to befall him, but rather God reframes Job’s question by inviting Job to consider how God has been present and caring for Job and for the whole of creation from its inception.
Sometimes I think it can be easy to focus on the question of why is this happening to me. In all honesty, I think that those questions of why are fair to ask and wrestle with. Yet when we allow those questions to consume and embitter us, we risk losing sight of the promise that God is here with us and the entire creation that God so loves, even in the very deepest and darkest valleys of our lives. Thanks be to God for God’s presence and faithfulness to us and to all of creation.
Prayer: Blessed Creator of all, help us to see your presence in all that surrounds us. Hold us in your loving care as we seek to make sense of things we do not understand. Guide our hearts and minds to see your presence all around us for we ask in Jesus name. AMEN
