Reflections on Job 38

 Job 38(Contemporary English Version)

1. From out of a storm, the LORD said to Job:
   
2. Why do you talk so much when you know so little?
   
3. Now get ready to face me! Can you answer the questions I ask?
   
4. How did I lay the foundation for the earth? Were you there?
   
5. Doubtless you know who decided its length and width.
   
6. What supports the foundation? Who placed the cornerstone,
   
7. while morning stars sang, and angels rejoiced?
   
8. When the ocean was born, I set its boundaries
   
9. and wrapped it in blankets of thickest fog.
   
10. Then I built a wall around it, locked the gates,
    
11. and said, "Your powerful waves stop here! They can go no farther."
    
12. Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey?
    
13. Did it take hold of the earth and shake out the wicked like dust from a rug?
    
14. Early dawn outlines the hills like stitches on clothing or sketches on clay.
    
15. But its light is too much for those who are evil, and their power is broken.
    
16. Job, have you ever walked on the ocean floor?
    
17. Have you seen the gate to the world of the dead?
    
18. And how large is the earth? Tell me, if you know!
    
19. Where is the home of light, and where does darkness live?
    
20. Can you lead them home?
    
21. I'm certain you must be able to, since you were already born when I created everything.
    
22. Have you been to the places where I keep snow and hail,
    
23. until I use them to punish and conquer nations?
    
24. From where does lightning leap, or the east wind blow?
    
25. Who carves out a path for thunderstorms? Who sends torrents of rain
    
26. on empty deserts where no one lives?
    
27. Rain that changes barren land to meadows green with grass.
    
28. Who is the father of the dew and of the rain?
    
29. Who gives birth to the sleet and the frost
    
30. that fall in winter, when streams and lakes freeze solid as a rock?
    
31. Can you arrange stars in groups such as Orion and the Pleiades?
    
32. Do you control the stars or set in place the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper?
    
33. Do you know the laws that govern the heavens, and can you make them rule the earth?
    
34. Can you order the clouds to send a downpour,
    
35. or will lightning flash at your command?
    
36. Did you teach birds to know that rain or floods are on their way?
    
37. Can you count the clouds or pour out their water
    
38. on the dry, lumpy soil?
    
39. When lions are hungry, do you help them hunt?
    
40. Do you send an animal into their den?
    
41. And when starving young ravens cry out to me for food, do you satisfy their hunger?

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Job was, no doubt, relieved for God to finally speak. Under God's barrage of question that Job could not answer, though, his relief may have been short lived.

Job finally got his audience with God, but it did not prove to be his day in court as he had requested. God gave no explanation for Job's plight or provide answers to why good people suffer while the wicked prosper. Instead, He pointed out, through His line of questions, the absurdity of man questioning God abilities. If Job were to demand answers of God as if He were either subject to Job or His wisdom inferior to Job's, Job should establish his right to demand answers by first answering God's questions.

God's first question of Job was sufficient to end the discussion: "Where were you when I established the earth?" But God didn't stop with this question. Instead, He asked less complicated questions for Job to answer and yet he could answer none of them. Who fixed the earth's dimensions? What supports its foundations? Who enclosed the sea while I made the clouds as its garment and determined its boundaries? Was that you, Job?

Had Job commanded the morning or did he understand the gates of death or comprehend the extent of the earth? Where does light or darkness come from? This Job should know since he was already born. After all, he was such a wise and aged man. Obviously this was God's use of sarcasm at Job's audacity to question God's judgment. What, then, about snow or hail or maybe the east wind? Maybe Job knew the source of these? Or maybe Job could command the clouds to cause a flood of water or send lightning bolts across the sky?

Finally, God asked Job if he could put the constellations in place in the heavens? Did he know the laws of heaven that controlled the movement of the heavenly bodies? On a smaller scale, could Job even provide food for a young lion or a raven? What could Job do besides question God?

Job was not alone. Who can do any of these things? Nor are we any different from Job. We all question God and try to hold Him accountable to our puny ideas of justice or how to govern the world. What do we know compared to God? And yet, if God doesn't match up to how we think He should operate we conclude there is no God. But here we are. How did we get here? The most highly acclaimed scientist has not yet answered that question, though many throw out theories that make much less sense and are no more scientific than the existence of God. Once we can explain our existence and play a role in controlling nature or the universe, maybe then we can rightfully question God.