When God does answer Job, it’s as if He’s giving a science lesson, not a word of consolation to a suffering man! Today I’m speaking of Job chapter 38.
Where the Lord reviews certain acts of creation, perhaps saying in essence: “JOB, IF I CAN MANAGE THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, HAVING MADE IT FROM NOTHING … DON’T YOU THINK I AM AWARE OF YOUR SITUATION? THAT I CAN HANDLE YOUR DILEMMA?”
Then God gives us examples of His omnipotence, omniscience!
Since God “laid the foundations of the earth” (Job not being present, by the way) … reckon God can design a plan whereby one of His children (namely, Job) suffers without relief … primarily TO PROVE that unrewarded faith is the purest of all, genuine to the core? That the rewards can come later, that God is enough, God alone, to thrill the true Believer! I’ve quoted from Job 38:4.
Then almost immediately God referenced (it seems) the Flood, worldwide Flood, in the days of Noah. “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?” Job 38:8, King James Version. Water everywhere!
And once the water had overflowed the planet, God promised Noah “no more such thing.” See Genesis 9:11 if you need the exact wording of the covenant. Whereupon God immediately “told” the oceans to “stay put!” As in Job 38:11, God talking to the sea … “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Wow, proud waves? Is there a “hint” here of the sea being a picture of chaos, of evil? (As in Isaiah 57:20. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” That is … Job, if God can handle the proud sea … he can also handle the proud devil, Satan!
Then verse 16 (Job 38) mentions “the springs of the sea.” And mankind did not even know such things existed (by observation) until fairly recently! Under the massive oceans, bubbling artesian wells!
And verse 19 hints that even “light” travels in “the way!” As in “Where is THE WAY where light dwelleth?” Humanity has now learned that light indeed travels in “waves,” in a very orderly pathway!
Furthermore, the Book of Job says more about snow, ice, and frost (the cold) … than any other portion of the Bible. And verse 29 suggests that God knows about those great ice sheets that once covered parts of the earth! “Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?” Out of God’s “Womb,” I guess!
Anyone (specifically Almighty God) Who can control the processes of meteorology … can orchestrate Job’s life! That’s for sure! “Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man.” Verses 25 and 26 combined.
Then God turns to what we call “outer space!” Teaching us that the Lord … “brings forth Mazzaroth (the Zodiac) in his season. And guides Arcturus (the constellation Ursa Major) with his sons?” Amazing, Job 38:31. (Verse 30 gives another astronomical truth, as well. But I’m running out of time this morning!)
And Job 39:41 (actually introducing the beginning thought of Job chapter 40) tells us that God “cares” for the animal world, too! His animal world! Here is God “feeding” every living creature! “Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.” Job, if God is aware of the raven’s needs, do you not see that He is surely aware of your needs as well?
A BIG GOD, isn’t He?
By now Job is already feeling better.
“Smaller” too.
All is now well (to the Patriarch) … God has come!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell