Read Job 38:1-21
Have you ever stood, or tried to stand, in the midst of hurricane winds? Hurricanes are rare in the UK, where I live, but I did once walk on a hilltop amid what I later discovered had been hurricane-force winds. It was frightening.
In the book of Job, a huge storm is a picture of the power of God and of the troubles enveloping Job. The storm so vividly described by Elihu in Job 37 is the context for the covenant God himself to speak. Yes, now, finally, God speaks individually to Job (38:1)!
The speech in today's reading is a rebuke, for Job has spoken ″words without knowledge″ (vv. 2-3). He is not guilty of secret sins, as his friends say, but he has said wrong things about God. God asks a series of questions, and the answer to each one is: ″No, I haven't; but I admit that You have.″
There are five sections in today's passage. The big theme is how evil fits into creation.
In verses 4-7, the universe is described as a building with foundations. When God finished it, there was a great song of joy, for the universe was (and still is) very good! C. S. Lewis picked up this imagery in The Magician's Nephew, when Aslan sings Narnia into existence.
In verses 8-11, we meet ″the sea″. In Bible imagery, the sea stands for chaos and disorder which threatens the stable, dry land on which we can live. Here, the sea, like a badly-behaved child, has limits fixed for it. God has placed limits on evil, as He did when Satan asked to attack Job in chapters 1 and 2.
Verses 12-15 teach us that evil will not last. Every time the sun rises and the darkness of the night is dispelled, it reminds us that one day, all wickedness will disappear.
Verses 16-18 are about the place of the dead, which is at the bottom of the sea in Bible imagery. This is the most extreme place in creation. And yet, even here God sees and knows.
Verses 19-21 look at some more extremes–the end of the east, where the sun rises, and the end of the west, where it sets. However far you go in the universe, God sees, God knows, God controls.
Evil has a strange place in God's universe for the moment. But it is all under His control, and it will not last.
Think through:
Read Job 38:1-21 aloud. Meditate on how it focuses on extremes. Think about how it shows us that even disasters, storms, and wickedness lie under the control of our great God.
Consider if you have said things about God that you ought not to have said, like, ″If I were God, I would . . .″ Repent and pray not to say such things again.
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