As we rejoin the story of Job this morning, Job is perplexed by the plight that has befallen him. He has lost his family, his fortune and his health. He remains completely unaware of the heavenly debate between Satan and the Lord, and of the devil’s evil desire to make him curse God. Job’s three friends have been singularly unhelpful, suggesting that he himself is to blame for his predicament – surely he must have sinned?! But Job whilst continued to protest his innocence, his faith began to falter – can God really be trusted? What reasonable explanation can there possibly be for his hardship? Is God truly just?
In an awesome scene, God speaks out of a whirlwind, straight out of a storm. His reply in our passage today is both a rebuke and a reassurance to Job (v.1-3):
- It is a rebuke to Job’s questioning of God’s competence and wisdom
- but also a reassurance that the Lord really is righteous and trustworthy.
In a long speech, God sets out his credentials as our Creator, Sustainer and Saviour…
Job’s God…our wise Creator
God begins his ‘reassuring rebuke’ of Job by reminding him (and us) of his divine wisdom, intelligence and creativity. In verses 4 to 7 of our passage this morning, the Lord says: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
God’s ingenuity is not confined to planet earth either. For in verse 31 to 33 he reminds Job that the heavens are his creation too: “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out Leo with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens?”
Over the past three thousand years since Job was written , our appreciation of the beauty, complexity and scale of heavens has only increased. If we were writing this passage In our own words today, we might say – ‘Who put the bang into the big bang, who calibrated the cosmic constants to the precise degree, who established the laws of quantum physics, who generated a billion galaxies?’ – and so on! Confronted with the infinite intelligence of God seen in creation, it is only rational to trust him.
Job’s God…our loving Sustainer
God is more than a mere creator, however. As his awesome speech to Job continues he makes clear that he is the loving sustainer of all his creatures as well. He gives strength to wild animals, gives birds and animals the ability to build their nests, find food and nurture their young.
In the opening verses of chapter 39, for example, God says he knows “when the mountain goat gives birth,” and he “watches when the deer bears her fawn.” From the raven to the roaring lion, God says he knows and supplies their needs. Animals and human beings are all knitted together by God in their mothers’ wombs, his eyes are on us before we know ourselves – do read Psalm 139 if you ever doubt this to be the case. So much more can be said, but as we reflect on the loving care of God for his creatures, we (and Job) can be confident of his loving concern for us.
Job’s God…our powerful Saviour
God’s great speech concludes by drawing Job’s attention to Leviathan – a great sea serpent, a monster of the deep, a fearsome adversary of humanity. Leviathan appears several times in Scripture, and seems to be a mythical beast designed to represent the powers of evil – perhaps even the devil himself. Confronted by such monstrous power we humans are inclined to tremble in fear. When we think about the evil in the world we could be sorely tempted to despair. Certainly this was Job’s mental state, as he contemplated all the calamities that had befallen him.
But God reminds and reassures us in this passage that he can restrain Leviathan, the forces of evil are not beyond his control. As God asks Job in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 41: “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?”
As we saw back in chapter 1 of Job, God has Satan on a leash, the devil can only operate within God’s prescribed limits – and one day Satan will be defeated and destroyed, never to harass humanity any more. Confronted by the forces of evil, by Leviathan’s in our own life, we can be confident in God’s power to save, we can trust the devil’s ultimate demise is assured.
Job’s God…with us, as Jesus!
As I finish, God’s great speech from the storm, his words from the whirlwind, are designed to reassure Job (and us), that he can be trusted. We may well be perplexed by the presence of evil in our world, but we can trust that God is good and that he will one day end all that hurts and harms his people. Leviathan will not have the last laugh.
But more can be said. Because unlike Job, we can see God with a human face, not merely hear him as a voice from a storm. Because in Jesus Christ our awesome God became one of us. He assumed the same human nature possessed by Job and each one of us. Just like Job, Jesus was an innocent man who suffered at the hands of evil, but maintained his integrity. Most amazingly, Christ displayed the same character traits that God declared to Job in our passage today. For example:
- Jesus displayed God’s total command of creation – he was someone who calmed a storm, walked on water and healed the sick.
- Jesus lovingly provided for his people – he was someone who could miraculously feed five thousand people, someone who could satisfy people’s spiritual hunger and quench their deepest thirsts.
- In Jesus we see someone through whom God demonstrated his power to save – someone who by his death and resurrection conquered the grave and defeated the devil.
God can be trusted because he is our wise creator. God can be trusted because he is our loving sustainer, and God can be trusted because he is a powerful Saviour. But most of all, God can be trusted because he has revealed his character to us in the life of Jesus Christ.