Humility, silence, reflection
Text Job 38:1-38 Date 14/09/03 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We return this week to the Book of Job and to Chapter 38. At this point the LORD at last breaks his silence and speaks. In fact this is the first part of the first of two speeches found in Chapters 38-41.
In 13:20-22 Job had said Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply and in 31:35-37 he had cried out Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defence - let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him. Well, here Job’s wish is granted. We have had to wait for the speeches of the angry young man Elihu first but now the LORD does come and he speaks to Job. Job doesn’t approach him like a prince, as he thought he would, but God certainly does speak. And what does he say?
Well, again I don’t suppose it was anything like Job had imagined it and may be you will be tempted to be disappointed with what we read here. What is this? Here is a man reduced to nothing and God wants to talk to him about donkeys and ostriches! However, it is important to remember that whereas up until now we have been considering human answers to the problem of suffering and the answers have been inadequate in both form and content, we now come to God’s own answer. It is, of course, a perfect one in both form and content. In one way we have come full circle, back to the place where the book began – the LORD’s court. The name the LORD (Yahweh) has only been used once (12:9) since the opening chapters. If you remember, the book begins in the courts of heaven where the angels of God are appearing before the LORD and he takes opportunity to speak about his servant Job and how upright and holy he was. This leads, of course, to sneers from Satan and the request to test his loyalty to God by afflicting him, which is granted. That is how Job ends up in the mess he did, with one disaster after another coming upon him. In the intervening chapters we have heard Job’s so-called friends dispensing their human answers to the problem of suffering with very limited success. Now it is time to listen to God and to what he has to say about all this and as we have said the answer is not what we might have expected.
Instead of giving an answer as such or dealing with the errors of Job’s friends, the LORD meets with Job in his own world, a world of beauty, order, mystery and wonder and asks a whole series of questions of his own. On reflection, this is perhaps what we might have expected – not more answers of the sort that man so readily gives but transcendental answers that lift us above our own little worlds to see the folly of our own wrong attitudes and harsh thoughts towards God. What we have here is a Spirit inspired answer to the problem of suffering that clearly transcends the human wisdom of Job’s day and also of our own. Right up to the end of the book God has things he wants Job to learn, things that have been re-enforced by his sufferings. He reduces Job to silence. If we want to be wise, especially regarding this matter of suffering, then we will pay close attention to what we read in these chapters.
1. Seek the right attitude to suffering – humility before God, silence and reflection before him
Verse 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. The storm perhaps began further back when Elihu was speaking (37:1-5, 22) but now it comes to its height. The LORD’s coming is often connected with storms in the Old Testament. Think of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law. Ezekiel’s great vision of God begins I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. Psalm 18:7-13 is simialr The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him - the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. Or what about Nahum 1:3? His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The very name the LORD is important, of course, signifying not only the unique and self-existent character of God but his covenant commitment to his people. He is the God who revealed himself to Moses not only in the burning bush as the Great I AM but also (Exodus 34:6) The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
God spoke from the storm and said: Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Now this could be addressed to Elihu, the last speaker or to Job. It seems more likely that he is referring to Job who had also spoken with words without knowledge. He says, in 42:3, You asked, Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. God then says (3) Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. The term used refers to preparation for any hard work. Here it is for wrestling, for a fight. ‘You want a fight?’ says God, as it were, ‘then get ready for one’. You have heard of duels in days gone by, two men shooting at each other from 40 paces. Here is a duel then between God and Job and Job needs to be ready for the encounter. It’s going to be a rough ride. Here are two applications then
1. Consider what God thinks of our discussions of suffering. For the most part they are highly irrelevant and lacking in wisdom. They serve too often only to obscure his glory. We ought to feel rebuked for much of our grumbling and our pontificating on what we hardly understand. Do we?
2. Consider what God really wants from us in this matter. What he wants rather is for us to meet with him, to sit and listen, to be overpowered by his greatness and our smallness. Are you willing to do that?
2. Things to consider before you begin to ask questions about suffering
In 38:4-38 we have a series of questions that the LORD asks. The questions go on beyond that point but we will just concentrate on these first. They are all to do with nature, of course, here inanimate nature. I am sure there is a pattern but it is difficult to discern. We start with questions about the earth and then the sea. Then come questions about dawn coming on the earth and revealing its features. I suppose that the revelation of earth is then matched with revealing the depths of the sea but also the depths of the earth. Verses 19-21 are about light and darkness paralleling the previous verses about dawn. We then come onto a whole series of questions about the sky and its weather and where it comes from – first snow, hail, lightning and wind, then rain, dew, ice and frost. That leads on, finally, to questions about our control of the stars in the sky and the clouds and lightning bolts. So the general drift is from the LORD laying the earth’s foundation below us to us counting the clouds above.
1. Consider the earth’s foundation – who put it here and how does it stay put?
We return this week to the Book of Job and to Chapter 38. At this point the LORD at last breaks his silence and speaks. In fact this is the first part of the first of two speeches found in Chapters 38-41.
In 13:20-22 Job had said Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply and in 31:35-37 he had cried out Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defence - let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him. Well, here Job’s wish is granted. We have had to wait for the speeches of the angry young man Elihu first but now the LORD does come and he speaks to Job. Job doesn’t approach him like a prince, as he thought he would, but God certainly does speak. And what does he say?
Well, again I don’t suppose it was anything like Job had imagined it and may be you will be tempted to be disappointed with what we read here. What is this? Here is a man reduced to nothing and God wants to talk to him about donkeys and ostriches! However, it is important to remember that whereas up until now we have been considering human answers to the problem of suffering and the answers have been inadequate in both form and content, we now come to God’s own answer. It is, of course, a perfect one in both form and content. In one way we have come full circle, back to the place where the book began – the LORD’s court. The name the LORD (Yahweh) has only been used once (12:9) since the opening chapters. If you remember, the book begins in the courts of heaven where the angels of God are appearing before the LORD and he takes opportunity to speak about his servant Job and how upright and holy he was. This leads, of course, to sneers from Satan and the request to test his loyalty to God by afflicting him, which is granted. That is how Job ends up in the mess he did, with one disaster after another coming upon him. In the intervening chapters we have heard Job’s so-called friends dispensing their human answers to the problem of suffering with very limited success. Now it is time to listen to God and to what he has to say about all this and as we have said the answer is not what we might have expected.
Instead of giving an answer as such or dealing with the errors of Job’s friends, the LORD meets with Job in his own world, a world of beauty, order, mystery and wonder and asks a whole series of questions of his own. On reflection, this is perhaps what we might have expected – not more answers of the sort that man so readily gives but transcendental answers that lift us above our own little worlds to see the folly of our own wrong attitudes and harsh thoughts towards God. What we have here is a Spirit inspired answer to the problem of suffering that clearly transcends the human wisdom of Job’s day and also of our own. Right up to the end of the book God has things he wants Job to learn, things that have been re-enforced by his sufferings. He reduces Job to silence. If we want to be wise, especially regarding this matter of suffering, then we will pay close attention to what we read in these chapters.
1. Seek the right attitude to suffering – humility before God, silence and reflection before him
Verse 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. The storm perhaps began further back when Elihu was speaking (37:1-5, 22) but now it comes to its height. The LORD’s coming is often connected with storms in the Old Testament. Think of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law. Ezekiel’s great vision of God begins I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. Psalm 18:7-13 is simialr The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him - the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. Or what about Nahum 1:3? His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The very name the LORD is important, of course, signifying not only the unique and self-existent character of God but his covenant commitment to his people. He is the God who revealed himself to Moses not only in the burning bush as the Great I AM but also (Exodus 34:6) The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
God spoke from the storm and said: Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Now this could be addressed to Elihu, the last speaker or to Job. It seems more likely that he is referring to Job who had also spoken with words without knowledge. He says, in 42:3, You asked, Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. God then says (3) Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. The term used refers to preparation for any hard work. Here it is for wrestling, for a fight. ‘You want a fight?’ says God, as it were, ‘then get ready for one’. You have heard of duels in days gone by, two men shooting at each other from 40 paces. Here is a duel then between God and Job and Job needs to be ready for the encounter. It’s going to be a rough ride. Here are two applications then
1. Consider what God thinks of our discussions of suffering. For the most part they are highly irrelevant and lacking in wisdom. They serve too often only to obscure his glory. We ought to feel rebuked for much of our grumbling and our pontificating on what we hardly understand. Do we?
2. Consider what God really wants from us in this matter. What he wants rather is for us to meet with him, to sit and listen, to be overpowered by his greatness and our smallness. Are you willing to do that?
2. Things to consider before you begin to ask questions about suffering
In 38:4-38 we have a series of questions that the LORD asks. The questions go on beyond that point but we will just concentrate on these first. They are all to do with nature, of course, here inanimate nature. I am sure there is a pattern but it is difficult to discern. We start with questions about the earth and then the sea. Then come questions about dawn coming on the earth and revealing its features. I suppose that the revelation of earth is then matched with revealing the depths of the sea but also the depths of the earth. Verses 19-21 are about light and darkness paralleling the previous verses about dawn. We then come onto a whole series of questions about the sky and its weather and where it comes from – first snow, hail, lightning and wind, then rain, dew, ice and frost. That leads on, finally, to questions about our control of the stars in the sky and the clouds and lightning bolts. So the general drift is from the LORD laying the earth’s foundation below us to us counting the clouds above.
1. Consider the earth’s foundation – who put it here and how does it stay put?
Firstly, God asks Job (4-6) Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Despite what some want to tell us we know that the world was created by God. He did it in the beginning when neither Job nor you or I nor any other human being was present. Only the angels saw it. They are the morning stars who sang together and the sons of God who shouted for joy. The earth’s diameter is apparently 7,920 miles across the middle and 7,900 miles top to bottom. Its circumference is around 25,000 miles. It has a mass of 6,600 million million million times. Who decided it should have those particular dimensions? Surely you know! Men have been measuring its distance since – the height of its mountains, the depths if its seas, etc, but who measured it out originally, who, as it were, set its footings and laid its cornerstone? Now do you think that the God who did all this makes mistakes or needs to be questioned or criticised about how he runs the universe and how he runs your life and mine?
2. Consider the sea – who put it there and what keeps it there?
2. Consider the sea – who put it there and what keeps it there?
The LORD continues in verses 8-11 Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt? We know that when God made the earth he made not only the land but also the sea. God was there when that screaming struggling baby burst forth from the womb. He put clothes on it at first – clouds and darkness. It was a monster that needed to be restrained. It is well known that there is more sea than land, so how come the sea (which can look so threatening at times) doesn’t completely drown the land as it once did at God’s command? It is because God has fixed limits for it and, as it were, set its doors and bars in place so that it cannot go any further. King Canute was famously unable to stop the tide coming in but when the King of Kings says This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt the sea listens. Do you not think he has the same power over Satan and over suffering? They can only do just as he wills.
3. Consider the dawn – who’s in charge of daily bringing it in?
3. Consider the dawn – who’s in charge of daily bringing it in?
More questions follow. Verses 12, 13 Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? We then have a beautiful description of the light revealing earth’s form (14) The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. When day dawns the righteous are glad but the wicked hate the light because it exposes their wicked deeds. Morning is like a great giant taking a sheet and shaking it. The wicked are revealed by it – they are shaken out. They are like nocturnal creatures. Darkness is their ‘light’ – their time to work and so when day comes (15) The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. They cannot do their evil deeds. Now the questions to us is whether we have ever been the ones to give the order for morning to dawn? There have been times when we have longed for it or wished for it not to come but our power over such things is non-existent. Only God can order the dawn about. It’s his army. It does his will.
4. Consider the remotest parts of earth – have you seen them and explored them?
4. Consider the remotest parts of earth – have you seen them and explored them?
More questions (16) Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Divers can go quite deep, of course, but only so deep. Beyond a certain depth divers are in danger of what they call ‘the bends’ and need to take great care. The bathysphere enables them to go very deep indeed but not to walk there. The deepest place in the oceans, indeed on earth, is probably the Marianas Trench, southwest of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. At 36,198 feet, it is deep enough to contain Mount Everest. No-one has ever plumbed such a depth. And, of course, beyond that is the depth of the earth itself. You have heard of Jules Verne’s Journey to the centre of the earth but that is fiction. Verse 17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Or (18) Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. Think of the Sahara desert or the Gobi or Kalahari, the arctic Tundra, the vast mountain ranges of the Caucasus or the Andes, the jungles of the far east, the vast Australian outback. There are still plenty of virtually unexplored areas. With all this unexplored territory why should we be surprised that we do not know the answer to the problem of evil and suffering? We are surrounded by mystery.
5. Consider the light and darkness – with all your experience how well do you know them?
5. Consider the light and darkness – with all your experience how well do you know them?
In verses 19-21 God asks What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Then with the most sarcasm we will find here Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years! Job demanded light on the subject of suffering, release from his darkness, but he hardly knows the first thing about light and darkness in fact and nor do we. We know that with a prism you can divide it up into its various colours but can darkness be divided in the same way? Although the study of light and darkness has undoubtedly made many strides since Job’s day, there are still many mysteries. Is light made up of rays or particles? How does light bend? It is able to pass through glass without loss of quality or speed but not through wood; why? If you have a dark room and put the light on there is light, but where does the darkness go? When you switch the light off again where does the light go? And what about the bounds of light and darkness? Is there a place in the universe beyond all light? What are black holes?
Do you know that by nature you are in the darkness of sin and death. When his light dawns then every shadow disappears. Jesus is the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Do you realise that?
6. Consider the snow, hail, lightning, wind – do you know where they come from?
6. Consider the snow, hail, lightning, wind – do you know where they come from?
Meteorology, the study of the weather, is an endlessly fascinating subject, especially for some. I picked up a best seller from the library this week called Encyclopaedia of snow. It’s not quite what the title may suggest but it is certainly about the endlessly fascinating subject of snow and is decorated with snow crystals each of which, as you know, God has made unique. The question then (22, 23) is Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? A man called Erich Durschmied has written a book on this called The weather factor showing how crucial it has been in determining the outcome of certain strategic battles. What is said of snow and hail can also be said of lightning (24) What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? How ignorant we are about all sorts of things.
7. Consider the rain, dew, ice and frost – do you know where they come from?
7. Consider the rain, dew, ice and frost – do you know where they come from?
In verses 25-30 we consider several other aspects of the weather and are asked what we know about them. Here Job is not being asked about things outside his experience but things he knew well such as rain and dew. Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no-one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? The rain falls even in uninhabited lands. It is all part of God’s good purpose for this earth. Sometimes the waters are frozen, of course. Think of ice and frost (29) From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? You have seen such a thing perhaps. Frost in the garden, ponds on the heath frozen over. Ice does not have a mother any more than rain and dew has a father, of course. God brings such things about. He can send a downpour or make lake solid at will. Remember his skill and his power.
8. Consider the stars – how much control do you have over them?
8. Consider the stars – how much control do you have over them?
In verses 31-33 having thought of the snow and rain from heaven we turn from meteorology to astronomy and think of the stars. From time immemorial men have given names to the constellations. We cannot be sure exactly what figures are in mind here but the general point is clear. Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? The Pleiades are the seven sisters, a cluster of seven stars often visible in our hemisphere. Orion’s belt is a distinctive line of three stars easily spotted and the Bear, also known as the Plough, is another distinctive formation. We don’t see the stars so well here in London but whenever it is not cloudy there is a wonderful display in the sky. Who orders it? Who brings it about? It is God. Look to the stars – see God’s skill and wisdom, his greatness and power.
9. Consider the clouds and lightning bolts – how much control do you have over them?
9. Consider the clouds and lightning bolts – how much control do you have over them?
Finally, as we think of the sky let’s think of the clouds and the lightning bolts that come from them. Again clouds are an endlessly interesting subject. One can look at them for hours. They are ever changing. There was a famous artist, as you know, who used to paint in this area. He painted a picture of Childs Hill once. I’m thinking of John Constable. He was fascinated with painting clouds. I think they have some of his studies in Kenwood House. The study of clouds was developed in the 19th Century by a Luke Howard (as revealed in the book The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies). He gave names to the different sorts of clouds – cumulus, stratus and nimbus and so on. His ideas have been developed but there is still a lot to learn about clouds and even if we knew everything currently known we could not answer these questions. 34-38 Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? They can send up planes to move clouds and to burst them now but to speak and to have a cloud burst …. Verse 35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, Here we are? This leads to verse 36 Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? And back to Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? How hard we find it to relieve one another, to help one another but God can pour a whole storm out in a moment. He can make clods of earth that have been stuck together for ages suddenly wet and muddy in a moment. What can he not do for you, if you look to him?
When Jesus died on the cross he is described in one place as saying (Psalm 22:14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. Why did God let him be poured out like that? He did it so that all who trust in him might be delivered from the deadness and dryness of sin. Trust in him and you will live. He will be like water poured out on dry ground to you. He promises to refresh the weary and restore the faint.
When Jesus died on the cross he is described in one place as saying (Psalm 22:14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. Why did God let him be poured out like that? He did it so that all who trust in him might be delivered from the deadness and dryness of sin. Trust in him and you will live. He will be like water poured out on dry ground to you. He promises to refresh the weary and restore the faint.
