BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

While reading through the last 35 chapters, we’ve heard many human voices talking about God.

Now, Yahweh blazes onto the scene in a powerful, whirlwind storm to speak directly with Job, who has been demanding an explanation for the intense misery and catastrophic loss he’s been suffering. Yahweh responds with 77 questions for Job. That’s not how Job was expecting the conversation to go.

Yahweh’s opening inquiries take Job on a virtual tour of the universe. The first set of questions (chapter 38) turns Job’s attention to cosmic origins and function. God isn’t condescending or shaming Job here. God is boldly reminding Job that he, not Job, creates and sustains life.

In chapter 39, God zooms from cosmic space down to the way living creatures eat and produce offspring. In the same way Job could not understand the intricacies involved with things like hanging stars in the night sky, Job cannot deeply understand how God nourishes and reproduces life through nesting birds and prowling lions. As an experienced livestock farmer, Job is an expert on animals. But as a (limited) human being, Job needs the original creator’s expertise to understand how creation operates.

Creation itself reveals a complexity beyond our comprehension. That vast majesty invites Job, and everyone who reads the book of Job, to consider humanity’s limited perspective. Perhaps God’s ways lie beyond Job’s reach … at least for now.

Reflection Questions

• Reread Job 3:1-10. How does Job use the language of light and darkness in his first speech? How does this compare to the way God talks about light and darkness in today’s reading?
• Can you think of a time when you felt overwhelmed by the beauty and/or the mess of creation’s complexity? Spend some time meditating on that experience, along with all you’ve learned in Job so far. How does your experience relate to or diverge from Job’s?