Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Monday September 7
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Job 38:1-3-Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
Throughout the Book of Job, we see that in his suffering, the patriarch has become terrified of God. He believes that God Himself has become evil and turned against him.
Notice some examples of what he says about God in this Book.
Job 7:11-14-11 (CEV)-And so, I cry out to you in agony and distress. 12 Am I the sea or a sea monster? Is that why you imprison me? 13 I go to bed, hoping for rest, 14 but you torture me with terrible dreams.
Job 9:21-24-21 (CEV)- I am not guilty, but I no longer care what happens to me. 22 What difference does it make? God destroys the innocent along with the guilty. 23 When a good person dies a sudden death, God sits back and laughs. 24 And who else but God blindfolds the judges, then lets the wicked take over the earth?
Job 10:3 (CEV)-Why do you take such delight in destroying those you created and in smiling on sinners?
Job 23:2 (CEV)–Today I complain bitterly, because God has been cruel and made me suffer.
Job 27: 2 (CEV)–I am desperate because God All-Powerful refuses to do what is right. As surely as God lives,
Job 34:5 (CEV)-Job claims he is innocent and God is guilty of mistreating him.
Job did not understand why he was suffering so terribly. His friends were blaming him, saying that he was being punished for some sin, yet that wasn’t the case. He had no idea of the events in the Divine throne-room that precipitated these events and show that there was serious consequences and repercussions for what was happening (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). Surely we can understand the struggle of faith that this great man endured! Indeed, from Job 29, we learn that Job regarded God as his closest and must trusted Friend for years.
Then, tragedy struck, and Job was devastated, feeling forsaken, betrayed, and forlorn.
This all highlights the astonishing way that God shows up again in Job’s life. The Bible says that the Lord appeared in “the whirlwind.”
This is extremely significant.
The one difference between yhwh’s introduction and those of Job and the friends is that yhwh speaks ‘from the storm’ (sĕʿārâ; esv has ‘whirlwind’). While this word sometimes refers to purely natural storms (Pss 107: 25, 29; 148: 8), it more frequently refers to a storm within which God appears theophanically to battle against chaos and evil (Isa. 29: 6; Jer. 23: 19; Nah. 1: 3; Zech. 9: 14; cf. Ezek. 1: 4). With these other uses of the word in mind, the way yhwh finishes his second speech from this storm to Job by describing the chaos monster Leviathan takes on new significance. It looks as if the ancient Old Testament pattern of theophanic storm warfare is being activated. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, yhwh’s appearance in the storm, with thunder and lightning, is a way of presenting God’s victorious warfare against supernatural chaos and evil and the salvation of those who trust him (see Job 26: 11–14; Pss 18; 29; 74; 89; Isa. 27: 1; 51: 9–11; Joel 3: 15–18; Hab. 3: 3–15). 5 This connection between God’s appearance in the storm and his warfare on behalf of his people is easy for modern readers to miss, for the symbolic resonances of the storm in Old Testament poetry are very foreign to our context. It is probably easy for us to assume that yhwh’s thunder and lightning in these texts are a way of describing divine power in a general sense, yet fail to appreciate the full implications of God’s action in the storm. In the symbolic world of Old Testament poetry, however, the thunder and lightning of God’s storm have a dual function: they both repel the raging sea and the monsters in it and renew creation with rain after the battle. In other words, yhwh’s manifestation in the storm occurs not just as a display of divine power but specifically for the purposes of driving back darkness and chaos and restoring order, fertility and fullness of life. The same thunder and lightning that drive back the raging waters also bless and nourish creation. As modern readers, we must constantly remember that in this cultural and religious context, thunder and lightning are not just fireworks but divine weapons by which God saves and renews his people and all creation. 6 The exact manner of God’s appearance would have been very significant to Job as an ancient Semite. Even if the pattern of divine warfare from the storm does not take exactly the same form at the end of the book of Job as it does elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is no accident that after yhwh describes Leviathan and promises his defeat (41: 1–11), Job is restored to fullness of life before God (42: 7–17). Even if there is no battle in Job 38–41, there are indications that God’s appearance in the storm in 38: 1 should be read in line with other texts describing divine warfare–a very hopeful sign for someone who has repeatedly mourned how close he is to death, how dominated he is by darkness (e.g. 30: 26). All this is to say that God’s introduction in 38: 1, unassuming as it may appear at first glance, gives Job the best of both worlds: his long-lost divine friend speaks in a way perfectly intelligible to him, but God speaks (as it were) dressed in full battle armour, ready to defeat enemies no human can. Entirely contrary to Job’s complaint in 9: 17 that God is crushing him in the storm, 7 yhwh’s appearance in the storm here (so it is implied) shows he is ready to go to battle on Job’s behalf as his saviour. (Eric Ortlund, Piercing Leviathan: God’s Defeat of Evil in the Book of Job (New Studies in Biblical Theology 56), 62-64 (Kindle Edition); Downers Grove, Illinois; InterVarsity Press)
Please consider a few things with me.
First, God had been silent while Job was crying out for His help and aid. Job took this to mean that God was ignoring him, and didn’t care enough to even answer him (Job 9:11, 17; 13:24; 23:3-5, 8-9; 30:20, 21; 31:35; 34:35-37). Yet this Scripture shows us that this was not the case! God was well aware of everything that was happening.
Please let this sink in: God’s silence in a particular situation does not amount to His absence, or His neglect. Sometimes people do not “feel” that God is with them. Job felt this, to a huge degree! However, God was still with him-just like He is always with His people (Hebrews 13:5).
Second, God does show up and act, at the appropriate time (cf. 1 Peter 5:6-7). We forget that God is working in the world, even if we do not always see His work, and that He does so in His own time. Asaph was greatly bothered by the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the innocent. Indeed, he had almost slipped into sin (Psalm 73:1-15).
Then what happened?
Psalm 73:16-20-When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me—. 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.
Asaph learned the same lesson as Job. God works in His time, and sometimes in ways that we do not fully comprehend or appreciate. The evil pain, and suffering in the world do not mean that God is indifferent or uncaring. They simply demonstrate that God is working and will accomplish good until He finally one Day fully defeats that evil, pain, and suffering. Until then, we persevere in hope.
Finally, please do not miss this: Job learns that God was still his best Friend and Defender!
The appearance of God in the whirlwind reminds the patriarch that God had not abandoned him, or turned against him. Indeed it is a comforting symbol for Job that the Lord loved him still, and was coming to his defense. No human being can fully defeat Leviathan, that crooked and fleeting serpent (Isaiah 27:1) who is also known as the devil, and Satan (Revelation 12:9) Not even the angels can do that (Jude 9). Indeed, as powerful as angels are, these are terrified of Leviathan (Job 41:25)!
Yet God Himself is our Defender, our best Friend, our Divine Warrior, our Savior.
Satan is terrified of him, for he knows that God is his Creator that will one day defeat him (Job 41:33).
When you feel overwhelmed by the suffering of this world and the attacks of Satan, rest in the knowledge that Jesus is your great Hero and He will stand with you through the storm.
Through Him, you will overcome!
1 John 4:4-You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Lord Jesus, stand with us. Our only hope is You. Amen.