Job 31:35-37; 38:1-11 [25-27] – Job, Week 4 (2020)

Sunday, June 28, 2020
12:00 AM 11:59 PM 00:00 23:59

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Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.”

— Job 38:1-3

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NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, June 28, 2020

by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff

Main Idea: God reminds Job that God—more powerful and knowledgeable than us—has got our back.

After many chapters of Job’s ranting about his suffering, questioning his life, pondering his death, chastising God for God’s perceived absence, God finally responded. But God’s response was not as gentle and compassionate as it was bold and passionate. God put the challenge back upon Job. Did Job know even half of what God knew? Was Job even a portion as powerful?

No, for all Job’s rantings and ponderings, in the end, Job was speaking out of ignorance and fear. God reminded Job who God was, what God had done for humanity (God was constantly having to remind people of this), and that all things were precious to the God who created them. God’s speech was not to intimidate, but to remind Job of the power of the one who loved Job. God ultimately would not forget Job, nor any of God’s beloved creation. Job’s task was to trust in the God who held more knowledge and power than humanity would ever know.

It can be tempting sometimes to challenge God as if we were equal to God. We curse God, we doubt God, we fall away from God. Yet God reminds us just who God is. (Not to discourage our doubts, questions, or challenges, but to stand toe-to-toe with us as we challenge God.) God looks us square in the eyes and reminds us that God’s got this. Just as God tells the oceans where to cease and the rivers where to run, God also commands Satan and holds the boundaries of human suffering. Does this mean people don’t suffer? No. Does this mean that God is actively battling the forces that cause suffering on our behalf? Yup.

Perhaps in the end it is not for us to know why or how suffering comes upon us, but to cling even more tightly to the God that’s on our side—to know that one who is far more knowledgeable and powerful than us has got our back.

Suffering can be the greatest gift we receive when we know that, in God, suffering has meaning and compassion. Suffering is the hand that turns the wheel; it is our job to learn why, in God’s perfect world, we must suffer.

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