God’s Solution to Calamity is the Knowledge of Him! Job 38-39

Job 38:16-21 (ESV)

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

and where is the place of darkness,

that you may take it to its territory

and that you may discern the paths to its home?

You know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

Job has been asking for an audience with God:

Job 31:35-37 (ESV)

Oh, that I had one to hear me!

(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)

Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it on me as a crown;

I would give him an account of all my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

In this case we might say, “Be careful for what you wish for.”    Beginning in chapter 38, Job is going to get a meeting with God.  But it will not turn out the way he hopes.  God begins to confront him on the fact that God is God and Job is a mere man.   God begins to ask him a variety of questions about what he knows about creation and the existence of life.   In the above passage he takes him to the shores of the sea and asks him what he knows about the depths of the seas.   God then ask Job to tell Him what he knows about the deep darkness and light of the earth and about the expanse of the earth.   God even mocks Job a bit by saying he should know these things because surely you were born then, your years are great. This is of course sarcasm, since Job is a mere mortal and was not around when creation took place.   

The key for our understanding of this passage is to realize that God is massive in knowledge and we are mere pieces of clay.   We know nothing about what God really knows.    Yes, over the years we have learned more and more about the sea and the earth and light and dark.  But we know mere pieces of the splendor and majesty of what God has created and, more importantly, who God is.   We are to be humbled by this knowledge.  Job, in his hurt, just wanted an answer from God as to why he was hurting.  As the book ends, God NEVER answers that question. Instead, God goes higher.   God doesn’t tell Job why he was vexed with all these calamities. Instead God tells him how great He is and how that knowing that greatness can change the mindset and erase the need to know our personal why and shows us our own insignificane.  That would never take place in a psychologist office today.   God’s solution to confusion and calamity in our life is His giving us clarity about His life.  God believes the more we know about him the less we are concerned about us.