Job 38:1-41
The LORD Speaks
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?
12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 "What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
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?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no man lives,
a desert with no one in it,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?
Can you loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?
34 "Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?
36 Who endowed the heart with wisdom
or gave understanding to the mind ?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
How does a loving father react to son who has many questions?...How would a father react to a suffering son?...We know that God is Love...So, we know He will react lovingly...God put Job in His current situation with the evil one...He knows that Job is hurting...And He knows His son Job has only limited understanding of things...
When I first read Job, I thought God was the angry Parent...I thought He was mad at Job...He was disciplining Job in His suffering...And in this way He was helping Job better understand life and his situation with both his suffering and his disciplining...Maybe I was wrong in my thinking...
When God comes down to see Job, out of the storm maybe the tone is not as I originally thought it was...Maybe His tone is a soft and gentle one...He maybe saying my son (Job), please son -try to look past your current sufferings...You know your Redeemer lives, you have told Me so (Job 19:25), and it is true...His name is Jesus...If you can see and listen past your sufferings and hear My questions, then you may see and feel something far greater than what an earthly life, health, and those things which you think currently seem important...You are not capable yet of understanding the eternities...These things you now feel, hear, and see are only temporary...So listen, son, to my questions of and about eternity, and you will better understand that these things of earth are only temporary...
Look around you and see the magnificent morning stars (the stars were so perfectly arranged and beautiful -even the angels in heaven shouted for joy)...Look at the oceans, and the seas...Listen closely to their waves, and you will sense, feel and hear the spirituality in them and the seas...These things are eternal, and hard for you to understand, but remember the wicked are denied the Light...For My Son is the Light of the world (John 8:12)...He is not only the Light, but He is your Redeemer who lives...Have you seen the gates of death, or the shadows of death?...My son Job, you have not...But I do have a Son who has overcame death and the world in which you live (John 16:33)...And He has seen these things...So my son take heart...Suffering is a part of living and dying on earth...When you understand the laws of heaven and My dominion over earth, then you will know me better, and even feel better...You will then see My hand is in all My works of the earth, and the entire universe...If you can see past your suffering, then you will see Me, and what I have done...There is much more than you currently see...There is much more ,so much more than what is on your mind right now...You see My Son Job, I do love you, and Your Redeemer has prepared a place for you, and soon you will see all these things, that I have asked you about...