“How great is God – beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. God is mighty and despises no one; he is mighty and firm in purpose.” So, Job was reminded in the 36th chapter of his book.
A pervasive theme in the poetic books of the Bible is that God is fathomless and we will never understand all that he really is. Ecclesiastes 3:11 reads, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
His Word is full of details about who God is, how we can know him, and how we can have an eternal relationship with him. However, we can never know enough to answer those questions we have when life presents us with situations that can keep us in a quandary.
I know as many do that life throws us more questions than we have answers. The why of things is a constant struggle in my life but I need to move on. This has been most difficult for me; but I still tell myself, “trust and wait!”
When the unexpected questions, situations, issues come our way, we are not alone. We go to God to acquire the wherewithal; be it awareness, comprehension, insight or just understanding to “get through” and even “get answers.”
God is incomparable. He is such an amazing Father. When he speaks to us, we must listen. Even when he seems to be away from us, he isn’t. He is there and cares. He is always in control and he will speak. We just have to be ready and quite aware when he does.
Job 37:1-4 reads, “At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightening beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds he holds nothing back.”
Job wanted an answer to his suffering and to his calamitous situation. I can understand that because in situations I have faced, I’ve wanted to know! But, I have learned that sometimes that is not possible. The truth is that faith in God is far more important than explanations for what we go through.
Job 37:21-24 “Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. Out of the North he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted to,power; in his justice and great righteousness , he does not oppress. Therefore, people revere him for does he not have regard for all the wise in the heart?”
God told Job, “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” The 38th chapter of Job is God speaking. He didn’t even answer Job’s questions presumably they weren’t at the heart of the issue. God used the earth’s natural order to reveal Job’s lack of understanding of God’s moral order.
If Job could not understand God’s physical creation, how could he possibly understand God’s mind and character? How could I? How could you? Honestly, we cannot! There is no measure higher than God himself to gauge his judgment. God is the standard. And, we mere mortals have the option to submit to his authority and judgments and rest totally in his care!
I want rest, peace, tranquility, love, and care. I have experienced and have learned from these experiences that life owes me nothing. I am by no means shortchanged by this premise but enriched by trusting and submitting and repenting daily. Frankly, it hasn’t been easy; by no means, but in the end it is so worth it all! I believe that with all my heart.
ritasalomon 