Have you ever wondered how your phone or tablet works? When something goes wrong with it, you long for an expert to come alongside you and tell you what's going on. You want to know its architecture, how it is structured inside. On a grander scale, we also want to know the underlying architecture of the universe. By what rules does the world operate? We can see what happens, but why does it happen? We long to know why, especially when we suffer.

In Job 28, Job gives us a most wonderful and thought-provoking poem. Verses 1-11 are about mining. As we read through the poem, we are invited to think about two things. First, is what we are mining for as valuable as silver, gold, iron, copper, and precious stones? Mining is worth doing because the rewards are so valuable (vv. 6, 10).

The second theme is about how difficult these rewards are to get. Mining is hard and costly; miners–especially in those early days–risked their lives in darkness, far away from where people lived, going to a place that even the sharp-eyed birds of prey could not see (vv. 3-4, 7-8).

But why did Job write this poem? Answer: because he wants to talk about something even more valuable than gold and jewels–wisdom, for which a search is even more difficult. These are the themes of verses 12-22.

Wisdom here means the architecture or blueprint of the universe. It includes what we call scientific laws, like gravity, as well as the moral laws of the world–how good deeds are related to blessing, and bad deeds to suffering. Where can the answer to these deep puzzles be found? This is the question of verses 12 and 20. And the answer is: we can't hope to find it.

But God knows the answers (vv. 23-27). He doesn't tell us, but He knows. Our task is to fear Him with reverent, believing fear and to shun evil (v. 28) –in other words, to do just what Job has been doing all along (1:1,8; 2:3)! We cannot expect to know the answers, but we are to walk in loving fellowship with God, who does know the answers.

This is what Job does; it will be what Jesus does on earth; and it is what we are to do. As you face the challenges of each new day, take time not just to puzzle over what is going on in your life, but also to ask yourself what it would mean to fear God with loving, reverent fear, and to turn away from evil.