Daily Thought

After the long and profound discourses of Job and his companions that are recorded earlier in this book, we come to the section where God speaks directly to Job and allows Job to directly respond, 38. 1.

Job heard God’s voice coming ‘out of the whirlwind’, and we might reflect on how appropriate this was in the light of what had gone before. Job’s settled existence of former days, with its blessings of family life and material prosperity, had been caught up and smashed to smithereens by the ferocity of the whirlwind created by Satan, and allowed by God.

Early chapters of the book inform the reader of what had gone on behind the scenes, but the central figure, Job, was kept in ignorance, and left in a state of bewilderment by the turn of events. In the circumstances his stoicism was remarkable, as was his resilience in seeking to refute the accusations of his friends when they looked for a reason to explain his discomfiture at the hand of God. So much had been said by men; insinuations, accusations, protestations, justifications, explanations, without reaching a point of finality in the argument. But now God would speak, and men must listen, for the majestic voice rising above the roar of the mighty wind was undeniable. It is a point at which all human reasoning becomes irrelevant, and all human argument must cease.

God’s statements come upon Job like blinding flashes of light, and the questions He asks register upon the ears like claps of thunder. Job’s answer is predictable, and noteworthy in the light of his dogged defiance in the face of men’s words. Now, challenged by his Maker, he capitulates entirely, and acknowledges that before a righteous and holy God he appears in all the vileness of a spiritual and moral leper. Such an awareness inhibits all further speech on his part - the debate has concluded and all the argument is settled. Take note of this development and remember:

1. God has once spoken in His Son, Heb. 1. 1, 2, yet men have not heeded. These Christ-rejecters will stand dumb struck before His face, and at His word, in a coming day of judgement, Acts 17. 30-32; Rev. 20. 11.
2. I must confess that ‘in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing’, Rom. 7. 18. All my glorying must be ‘in the Lord’, 1 Cor. 1. 31.