Out of the Whirlwind (Or, Finding Perspective and Purpose in Suffering) - Job 38:1-7, 34-41 (Proper 24B)

 

As we’ve been alluding to for a couple of weeks now, our guy Job has finished talking with God, and this week, it’s God’s turn to respond. Now - here’s where we’ve been, as a quick recap of the story the last couple of weeks. Week 1, we learned about Job and how he was a super awesome guy, upright and genuinely faithful. He had lost nearly everything in his life: his children, his business, and his wealth, and then his health was attacked. This is part of the story that the adversary - imagine, again, a dissenter on God’s executive council, wanted to prove that even the most righteous would curse God when their life was reduced to pain and anguish. Last week, Job talked to his friends, responding to his pain and suffering, wondering where God was in the midst, and thinking that he had been abandoned. Job asked for a meeting with the Almighty so that he could plead his case and be acquitted so that he could be released from suffering.

Well - here we are in the third week of this series, and Job gets what he wants. The moment had arrived, and God showed up. Scriptures say, in a whirlwind. How dramatic… but how else do you expect God to show up? In any of the three so-called friends that he was interacting with? The whirlwind is an excellent example of how God uses natural surroundings to speak to us, whether with Moses with the fire of the sky opening when Jesus is baptized. God shows up - just like the faithful God he is. But it’s maybe not in the way that Job had predicted. He wanted to have this battle with God, this knock-down-drag-out fight. 

This response from God reminds me a little of the movie “A Few Good Men” in the famous courtroom scene with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. You know the one - Tom Cruise’s character is trying to get answers from a general about the specifics of an attack and whether or not they followed protocol, wants to know the truth. Jack Nicholson, playing the general, who has seniority over just about everyone in the room, knows he’s seen more than some hotshot military lawyer will ever see and has been a part of the decision-making process longer than I’ve been alive. In the pivotal role of the scene, he shouts, YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!” Nicholson continues, “Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s going to do it? You? YOU, Lieutenant? I have a greater responsibility than you can POSSIBLY fathom… You have the luxury of not knowing what I know… We use words like ‘honor,’ code,’ and ‘loyalty.’ We use these words as a backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them like a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I offer it.” 

This is one way of looking at God’s response to Job. We want to believe that this book is about suffering and how God responds to hearing about it. But, the answer we get sometimes is you’re out of your league. I care about you and what you’re going through but don’t think for a second that you are in charge of me and what I can or can’t do. Even at the beginning of God’s monologue, there’s some interesting language.

The first thing God says is Gird up your loins. Friends, I have heard this expression before, but I wasn’t quite sure what it meant until this week. But the phrase means - prepare yourself for something challenging. What I didn’t know was that girding your loins is a thing people in the ancient world would do. It’s a preparation for battle. So imagine that you’re a man in this era of human history. You’re wearing your toga or tunic or whatever, and it covers your body. Now, someone tells you to gird your loins, and you’re going to take your tunic and tie it up so that your legs are free to run and maneuver more openly; you’re in a better position to fight. So, in essence, God is saying you want a fight? I’ll give you a fight. Step into the ring, and let’s do this. I will question you, and you will answer ME. 

But the second thing that God responds to Job with is - Who are YOU? How dare you question what I am doing when you can’t see the whole picture? Where were you when I was laying the foundations of the earth? This stuns Job into realizing how small he is. Not to make him think that God doesn’t care about him and his problems but to give him a perspective that he didn’t have before. The flip side of this line of reasoning is that God is saying that I know who I am. I understand the power that I possess. Who are you? Do you know who you are and the power you have? It’s not the same, but you also summoned the God of creation here to spar with. Do you see me as a God who is just concerned about the broadness of creation? Even though God made it so you could have reasoning and wisdom to be able to question me? God provides for His creation, whether man, lion, or raven.

This brings me to another point. God is flexing to make sure that Job knows that God is in control. Humanity may be the most dominant animal/apex predator on the planet, but this is God’s world, not ours. Sometimes, in our arrogance, we need to hear those words that God is God, and I am not. I heard that many years ago, and even saying it right now is just as powerful. We forget that we are not the creator of the universe. Even if we are learning more about it every day, we did not set the heavens in motion and understand the connections between the galaxies. The Lord gave us the breath that we woke up with this morning, and by grace, that will continue until we sleep tonight. By grace, the sun will rise tomorrow, and with hope, we will see it. Let us not take the gifts we have been given for granted. 

It’s interesting that if you continue to read the rest of the chapter, all God gives Job are questions. Job doesn’t get answers. As I’ve preached the last couple of weeks, we want to think of this book as to why God allows suffering? Doesn’t He care? But those are still the wrong questions. Our perspective needs to shift to maybe a larger view of creation, and verse 41 is perhaps one of my favorites this week: “Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God and wander about for their lack of food?” The world is larger than our own pain and suffering. Others have hunger, sickness, and pain. What is God to do about those?

The Good News, friends, is that God created you. You have the power to combat the insufficiencies of the world. You can learn from Job’s experience. Complaining is something you can do, or you can find someone who has burdens similar to yours and offer grace. You can learn from even his friends. When the world wants to blame or bring down you or anyone else despite the creation you represent? God breathed life into you. Use that breath to stand with creation, all of us. He created and is in control of the heavens, the earth, and everything in between. As much as we might feel slighted that God is dodging the questions Job has, the perspective shift that comes from it is good for all of us. There’s more to the story than just our limited observations and human understanding; maybe that’s why we need to build a community to live into the fullness of God; we need more than just ourselves. 

We need to remember who each of us is created to be. If we don’t know - let’s consider praying on it for the discernment to find what God wants and needs. We also need to find the answers to knowing who God is. Knowing both of these is key to having God’s desires for us and can sustain us during difficult times instead of times blaming us. More than reading the Bible, which is super important, we need to be active in our faithfulness, communing with his creation, both nature and the community surrounding us. We need to reach out to those who are hurting, lost, or alone. 

Out of the whirlwind, we may find God’s voice louder and stronger than we ever expected. Let us meet him there, not with fear - but with awe, wonder, and reverence.