An Odd Way To Solace

Questions. Have you ever heard a 10 year old roll off like 25 questions in a row? It sounds like this, "How come?" Or, "But why?"

If you are going through a difficult time right now, or, there are hardships pressing in on every side and you feel like all is against you, you may be in the perfect place for God to do His best work. But He will often comfort us in strange ways. The Book of Job is a poetic narrative about trusting God in our hardships and difficult circumstances. What is interesting is that we find God asking for our trust with a flurry of questions to Job.

Have you ever been annoyed by the random musings of a child asking so many questions. My youngest son was the king of questions. He has posed to Jane and I stunners such as, "How are shoes made?". Or, one of my favorites, "Why does God live in heaven?" As I'm sure you can guess, there aren't many answers for these kind of questions.

And yet, the questions of a child are much easier to answer than the questions that come from God. And so, we have this moment in history when God pops the questions. In a flurry of conversation with Job, God strings together more than 50 questions about His Sovereignty. Each to prove his ability to handle Job's present situation. These questions go beyond a rhetorical conversation. These are meant to convince Job of the greatness of God. 




What is odd about this conversation and the questions is that they come in the midst of the worst days of Job's life. 
Kind of an odd way to bring solace.

These questions to Job from God became statements about God’s authority. God’s power. God’s sovereignty. God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. About waves, and oceans, and shorelines. About stars, planets, and galaxies. About the rising sun of the morning and the setting of the giant splendor of the sun. Convincing conversation of the how to hang the earth in space, and the creation of the universe and the heavens. About how eagles fly, lions roar, and horses gallop across the earth. About the creation of man and woman and our intricacies that balance our human existence. And finally, about the creation of mankind and ultimate eternity from birth through death

And what God is trying to get across to Job (and to you and me), is that He can handle it. He can handle anything. In Job's (or my or your) trials, the story isn't ever complete. God is great at writing the story and is more concerned about our spiritual lives than the suffering we are going through physically. In other words, He will do whatever it takes to get the glory out of our lives. And in the end, through all of the hardship and difficulty, God has a peculiar way of far surpassing the losses of Job.

And don't forget. All of this solace and comfort began with questions...

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