Today’s Scripture: Job 38-39
I heard the story about a man who rode in an airplane for the very first time. When he got to where he was going, he called his wife who then asked him if he enjoyed the flight. The man said, “Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But I didn’t put all my weight down!” Sometimes, I really wonder if that is how the followers of Christ approach life. We often go through life holding onto things that we should have long since let go of. We say that we trust God, but the way that we worry about things reveals how very little we trust Him.
In Job’s life story, we read where he wrestled with a desire to understand his suffering. His friends had accused him of sin and a lack of integrity. Their reasoning was that Job had suffered because God was punishing him for something he had done or not done. However, we are privileged to see Job’s life from heaven’s vantage point, something that Job wasn’t able to see or quite understand. In the midst of his pain, Job simply did what we often do—ask questions. In Job 38:1, the Bible says that God answered Job out of a whirlwind. He doesn’t answer any of Job’s questions. Instead, God begins to question Job! He says to him in verse 3, “Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.” Over the next few chapters or so, God asks Job a series of approximately 60 questions! Most of the questions that He asks Job relate to the natural order of creation. This is significant because if Job couldn’t understand the inner workings of creation, how could he ever understand the mind and character of the Creator? The purpose of the questions that He asked Job was not for gaining answers. Instead, the Lord wanted Job to recognize and submit to God’s sovereignty.
Whether we like it or not, there are simply some things that we cannot understand. It is often hard for us to accept the fact that God does not owe us any explanation for the happenings of our lives. Instead, He commands us to trust Him. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says 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.” God’s ways are too lofty for us to fully comprehend. He is transcendent and above creation. And rather than giving us explanations, God has given us promises. Such a promise can be found in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” He has promised that He has our best interests at heart!
So today, instead of seeking an explanation for every detail of your life, why not trust God when you don’t understand? After all, He knows what is best for you. God is good and can be trusted! He gave us His Son. It is in Jesus Christ that we find all the answers to our real need.
“Father, thank You for being the One in whom we trust. May we choose to rest in Your grace and sovereign power, even when we don’t understand. Amen.”