God is In the Storm

Job lost everything he held dear: his livelihood, possessions, and even his children. While trying to maintain his emotional pain, Job was struck with great sickness. Accompanying the internal pain, came the physical pain of boils all over his body.

Sadly, that was not the end of Job’s turmoil. In what seemed to be an attempt to comfort Job, his friends gathered around him; however, they could offer no hope or peace, because they too were fraught with confusion.

A debate sprung from the chaos. The topic was a question that we have all asked after devastation and loss… “Why?” For 35 chapters in the Bible they argued, “WHY did Job lose what he held most dear?” 35 chapters of debate on WHY would God allow all of this to happen.

Was it because Job had sinned? Was God mad at him? Was God trying to use Job as an example of how He handles sinners?

Job called on God to appear many times. He must have thought, “Certainly, if God shows up, He can answer the question which is plaguing my mind.”

God didn’t appear when Job called. Actually, God seemed to appear in a random fashion in the narrative. While still in discussion, a storm was brewing over Job and his friends. Suddenly, God interrupted the debate by speaking from the storm.

The words of God seem out of place… Almost insensitive. Instead of answering any questions posed by Job or his three friends, God asks His own questions. In 4 chapters, God asks 83 questions. Not one of them appear relevant to what was happening TO Job, because they were not. They were, however, relevant to what was happening IN Job.

God never answered the question “Why?”. The answer to that question was far too heavenly for Job to comprehend in his mourning. We have the privilege of reading the first 2 chapters of the book of Job that show the heavenly conversation between God and Satan. But to our knowledge, Job never did receive an answer to his question.

We tend to believe that more information will provide more comfort, when it is actually Trust in God that provides comfort.

Because the question WHY is far less comforting than the question WHO. In all of God’s rhetorical questioning, He was reminding Job WHO He is. He asked,

WHO is the one that laid the foundation of the earth? WHO is the one that told the ocean how high it could rise? WHO tells the clouds where to rain? WHO gives the hawk wisdom to fly south? WHO commands the eagle to build it’s nest at high altitudes?

God was showing Job that He is powerful and wise, but also sovereign. He wanted Job to understand that there was much more going on than what Job could perceive. Isaiah echoed that idea in Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Job had to trust God above his own desire for answers. As Solomon shared, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 KJV)

Trust that God is in control even when things are spinning out of our control. Trust that God has a WHY even if we cannot perceive it or understand it. Trust that some things may only be revealed in eternity.

After all of God’s questioning, Job finally had to admit, “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You… Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:2-3 NKJV) God CAN do everything and DOES have an ultimate plan, even if it is too wonderful for us to understand.

Next time a storm is brewing and devastation is occurring, remind yourself that God is IN the storm. And if He is in it, we can trust that He has a plan and everything will work out for the good in the end.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)