060219: The God Who Is

"Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who reproves God answer it."
Job 40:2 (NASB)

Hymn: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" Charles Wesley, Simeon B. Marsh

I can't recall a single time I've heard the story of Job used to discuss anything but suffering. How do we respond to suffering? How can we trust God in our suffering? How can we best serve those who are suffering? And these are all good and valuable questions, and Job is a great place to go for answers. But God's response to the whole affair addresses far more than suffering.

​Go back and read chapters 38 and 39. God gives a comprehensive case for trusting in Him. Where the men throughout the book have cited their years as grounds to trust their knowledge, God shows that there is far deeper knowledge only seen by the One who was before time. Where the wisdom of man looked to the stars for guidance, God points beyond to the One who guides the stars. Where the best human minds see truth written in nature, God reminds Job that it was Him who wrote it there. Where mankind fears or tries to use the strength of beasts, God is the one who gives that strength and the only master known to the wild places.

It is true that when we are suffering, we can look to God and trust that His wisdom is not overlooked, and His strength is not being restrained, and His purposes shall be realized. This is also true when we are not suffering, but don't understand what God is doing or how He will act. When things are okay, but we know His promises in our life have not yet been fulfilled, are we as keen to look to Him? When things are going well, are we as eager to be reminded that He is in charge and not us? When we seek wisdom, do we stop at the levels of human teaching or do we look beyond to the God of all wisdom? The challenge to the faultfinder in contending with God applies just as well when we question His timing, and His methods, and His plans, no matter what our experience of that situation is.

God says quite a lot about who He is and our relation to Him in these couple chapters. Maybe we should read them, even when we are not suffering, and ask God if we are treating Him as the God He is. He promises to comfort us elsewhere, but He is the ultimate comforter precisely because He is so much more than that. What do we miss of this act of revelation by only coming to it for comfort?