WWUTT 899 Job Hears from God?

Job’s Suffering, His Friends’ Accusations, and God’s Hidden Purpose

In the book of Job, God graciously, though very sternly, responded to Job, and his answer was enough to make any man feel small, as we consider the greatness of God when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .wutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Job, and we're up to a very exciting portion here. The Lord speaks. Now really, God has been speaking the entire time, because all of this is the word of God.

Men were carried along by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit gave them utterance, according to what Peter has said about divine inspiration in 2 Peter 1. So everything that we have read thus far has been the word of God.

But here, God actually responds to Job in the narrative of this story. As Job has had all this disaster come upon him, losing property and servants, and even his own children, and then his own health, because the Lord allowed Satan to afflict him, to test Job.

Job's friends came along and said, the only reason all of these things have happened to you is because you've done something evil. This stuff only happens to evil men. So you must repent of this before God, and he will restore you.

Job was right to defend himself before his friends when they were making false accusations like this. He could justify himself to them. But where he went wrong was justifying himself before God, and saying that he knew what God's intention and purpose was that all of this evil would come upon him.

And he thought wrongly of God, made accusations of God that were not true. And God, now in an act of mercy, I mean, he's gonna be very harsh with Job, but this is God responding mercifully. His purpose and his will are hidden.

We don't know what it is, except for what has been revealed to us in the scriptures. Only by what we have in the Bible do we get to know the will of God. Think of how less Job understood the will of God at this particular time when we had no scriptures written down, Job being the oldest book of the Bible.

So he has no scriptures to go by. Nevertheless, was presumptuous in assuming that he knew what God's intention and purpose was in this disaster that came upon him. So God now mercifully has responded to Job.

That's what we get to hear in chapter 38. Very harsh. And yet God is still good and gracious, even though these words are rather pointed. The way that the Lord responds following Elihu's rebuke of Job.

God Answers Out of the Whirlwind

Here we are, Job chapter 38, starting in verse one. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Let's stop there for just a moment. That's all we have as far as the setup of God's response. It's just that one verse, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.

Before Elihu started speaking, we had more setup than that, but we don't have so much for the Lord answering. Nevertheless, this is incredibly powerful, the way that this starts. God answers out of a whirlwind.

And we also see that it is the Lord, Yahweh, is that word. The Tetragrammaton, the name for God. And he answers Job, even though Elihu said back in 35, back in chapter 35, that God does not respond to people who are acting the way that Job does.

So God is in his steadfast love for Job, indeed answering him in the midst of his suffering. Now, for that reason, because Elihu said that God would not answer such people, and then God does speak three chapters later, this is why some scholars think that God was in some way rebuking Elihu, and there could be something to God's introduction when he says, who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge, that he's speaking of Elihu, since Elihu was the last one to speak.

But again, I wanna reiterate to you that I believe Elihu was setting the stage for God to speak, and I don't think God was rebuking Elihu, nor do I think that God's showing up now to answer Job with his own word means that Elihu was incorrect when he said back in chapter 35, that God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it, how much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him.

So he doesn't answer those who cry to him just when it's convenient for them to cry out to him. So what makes you think that God is going to respond to you when you've been righteous in the good times, but now that things are hard, you're going, well, where is God?

I don't see him. What makes you think he's gonna respond to you in the midst of this situation? Then God does respond in chapter 38, but I don't think that this is in contradiction or rebuke against Elihu in any way, because what Elihu was saying in chapter 35 is what is most generally true.

You and I are never going to hear the voice of God audibly speaking to us in the midst of dark trials. This is a very special and unique circumstance because Job is among the prophets who gave us the word of God that we have in the Old Testament.

There's a prophetic sense here in the way that Elihu is writing and that the voice of God speaks to Job. Considering Hebrews 1 .1, long ago, in many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.

So at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers. That would include even Job by the prophets, also including Job. But now we have the word of Christ. We have the word of God more fully confirmed, also a statement that comes from 2 Peter 1, and we would do well to devote ourselves to it, that it might be a lamp shining in a dark place.

So here God is speaking to Job, very unique, particular situation, but we see his steadfast love for Job, his very affection for Job, that he would speak up even in the midst of what Job has suffered and then continued to suffer at the voice of his taunting friends.

Creation, Providence, and Human Ignorance

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, the power of God being displayed, even his voice thundering and saying, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now that's in reference to Job.

Again, that's not a reference to Elihu. That's a reference to Job because even Elihu said of Job, that his words darken wisdom. So who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man.

I will question you and you will make it known to me. God is clearly addressing Job here. So he goes on to say, verse four, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

So God's response to Job is starting with creation itself. And consider the nature of God's response to him here. You don't even understand the basics of creation. Like, can you tell me how the foundations of the earth were laid?

Can you tell me how vast the sky is that has been created? Or the sons of God when they shouted for joy, which could be a reference to stars or it could be a reference to angels. Both of those things actually apply throughout the scriptures.

But Job does not even understand some of the more intricate things concerning creation itself. So what makes him think that he knows the creator and his intentions? That's really what God is getting at here with these opening questions.

Verse eight, or who shut the sea with the doors? I'm sorry, or who shut in the sea with doors? When it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and said, thus far shall you come and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed.

I don't know if you're noticing something here about this opening answer from God, but this is exactly the way that we have creation described in Genesis chapter one. That it starts with in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And then what does he create next? He creates light. There's the expanse between the sky and the sea. And then it says, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear.

That's the creation narrative that we have in Genesis chapter one. That even fits the order that God is laying out creation here with Job in Job chapter 38. Who prescribed the limits of the sea? Who told the sea you can only come this far and no farther.

And here shall your proud waves be stayed. Verse 12, have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked shall be shaken out of it.

It is changed like clay under the seal and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked, their light is withheld and their uplifted arm is broken. 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 of this. God is talking about the vastness of the earth itself.

We're just sticking with planet earth right here. We're not even talking about the vastness of space. Do you understand how deep the ocean is? The ocean is deeper than Everest is tall. If you were to turn Mount Everest upside down, you would still have another mile of ocean to go.

Like Everest pointing down into the ocean and there would still be another mile of depth that you would have to travel there in the ocean to get to the deepest part of the ocean. I believe that estimates are something like we've only explored 5 of earth's oceans and we don't even have a full understanding of the kind of marine life that lives underwater on planet earth.

And Job didn't know that. I mean, how much of the oceans had been discovered in Job's day? And yet here the Lord is asking, Job, 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? So God is saying, have you seen the deepest points of earth? Talking about a physical place. And then he says, have you even combed the depths of the spiritual realm?

You don't know the depths of what I've created physically, let alone spiritually. Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all of this. Even on the surface of the earth, we haven't discovered every creature or species that lives.

Mankind has indeed accomplished some incredible things like getting to the moon, for one, creating about the most complicated apparatus that has ever been invented by man, the Saturn V rocket ship, creating a massive explosion to get a person from earth to the moon.

To this day, it's still the most complicated machine ever created. Nevertheless, of all the things that man has discovered, we can't even say that we've covered the entire surface of the earth yet. What God said to Job here 4 ,000 years ago still applies today.

As proud as mankind is, as much as secular scientists want to proclaim, we don't need God now. We can now account for the existence of the universe without having to say that God is the one that made it.

No, they can't. They cannot even come close. There is no scientific explanation for the existence of anything without God. Man has just become increasingly prideful with all of his discoveries. Still can't account for everything that is even on earth.

So we go on, verse 19, 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.

This is divine sarcasm here. God mocking Job for claiming that he understood the reason and the intention that God had for all of these things that had come upon Job the way that they did. Verse 22, have you entered the storehouses of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble for the day of battle and war?

What is the way to the place where the light is distributed or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? You know, I remember when I was taking weather classes in college, I worked for the National Weather Service for a period of time, I think it was one summer.

And then I did some volunteer stuff with them. This was all part of my radio gig. I used to spend a lot of time in storm season, chasing tornadoes and alerting people about tornadoes and stuff like that.

So took a lot of weather classes related to that. But I remember my weather professor saying, we really don't know where the wind comes from. Like we've got a general idea of having to do with the heating of the earth and the cooling of the earth and just the general movement of air.

And that's what's creating wind. But all things considered, where does the wind originate from? Every planet in our solar system has wind on it, but it's still just kind of a theory as to how all of this happens the way that it does.

Where does the wind go? Where does it come from? How does it do these things that it does? Where is the east wind scattered upon the earth? Verse 25, who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is or the desert in which there is no man to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass?

Has the rain a father or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth? And who has given birth to the host of heaven? The waters become hard like stone and the face of the deep is frozen.

All of this still very sarcastic, the way that God is responding to Job because of course we know where all of these things have originated from. They originated with the creator. In fact, the Bible even tells us that we know, we inherently understand that all things have been created by God.

Romans 1, 18 through 20, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. We suppress the truth with our sin.

That's why there are people who claim to be agnostics and atheists. They don't really believe that God doesn't exist. It's impossible to do that. It is no more possible for a man to truly deny the existence of God than an Apple computer can be given sentience and deny the existence of Steve Jobs.

We would call that Mac broken at the point that it says that there was never any such man as Steve Jobs. Verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. They know, they know that God exists. We can look around the world and we know, we inherently understand that everything comes about by design, by intelligent cause. And this is not just proof of God's existence.

Oftentimes we'll use Romans 1 20 to prove that God exists. It's even more than that. A person not only is inherently aware of the existence of God, they also know his eternal power and his divine nature clearly perceived in all that has been made.

How is God's eternal power and divine nature clearly perceived? Well, because we can look at the world around us and we see that it's finite. Therefore we can fathom the infinite. There must be something that's perfect, that is infinite and indestructible.

So it's everything that we see around us is finite and perishing. So we can perceive that just in all that has been made. Furthermore, we can perceive his divine nature, that he is all powerful. You just look at the most powerful things in creation and you know there has to be an even greater, more powerful cause that brought them into existence.

You can't stand to look at the sun for more than a second without burning your eyes right out of your head. What makes you think that you would be able to lay eyes on the gloriousness and majesty of God?

He is even greater and more glorious than the sun. So though God is invisible, and he's invisible because we have sinned and he has separated himself from sinful man because God is holy and we are not.

Even though God is invisible, his invisible attributes specifically, his eternal power and his divine nature are clearly perceived in all that has been made. The atheist will say that the creationist has the burden of proof to prove that God exists and created all of these things.

That's not true. The burden of proof is on the atheist because what every person inherently knows by their own nature is designed. That all things came from somewhere and yet the atheist wants to be able to say, they want to gain some sort of logical ground by saying that all of these things can come into existence by accident or even that life can come from non-life.

It is nonsense. There is no observance of any of this in nature at all. The burden of proof is on the atheist, but he knows he can't do it. So I'm just gonna make the creationist sound stupid because it's the only ground I've got.

That's all the atheist has, is to try to make the people who don't believe that all things can come into existence by accident sound like fools. It's all he's got. So we go on here. Let's finish up chapter 38.

That's as far as we're getting in our study of Job today. Verse 31, can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? We're talking about the heavens now, constellations, comets, can you lead forth the Maseroth in their season or guide the bear with its children?

Still talking about constellations. Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you reach into heaven and arrange these things? Verse 34, can you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of waters may cover you?

Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?

By the way, I love that illustration. Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the minds? Where do your thoughts come from? You ever thought about that? The naturalist just believes we're all just chemical processes.

So the thoughts that you have are just reacting to stimuli and that's it. That's really boring by the way. And it's nihilist. It completely takes the value of humanity out of anything, that there really is no value to humanity than to any other material in existence, a rock has just about as much humanity as a human does because a rock is even chemicals reacting.

So a human being is just reacting to particular stimuli and that's it. There's no such thing as free will, that would be an illusion. Since you are the subject of your parts, therefore reacting to those things that are outside your body.

So free will would be an illusion to the naturalist, it doesn't actually exist. But what we know that our thoughts have an origin, that they came from somewhere because we've been made in the image of God.

And therefore being made in his image, we are interpersonal beings as he is, and we have been called to have dominion over creation, to rule over creation as God does. We don't rule over God, but we are called to, we are charged, we're commanded to fill the earth and subdue it.

This is all being made in the image of God. He has given us our thoughts and he is the one that guides our footsteps. Verse 39, can you hunt the prey for the lion or satisfy the appetite of young lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in the thicket?

Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God for help and wander about for lack of food? In Matthew chapter six, and I believe even calling attention to these very words in the book of Job, Jesus said, look at the birds of the air.

They neither sow nor reap, nor do they gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Just as God said to Job here, who provides the raven, who provides for the raven its prey? God feeds the birds.

So don't you know that you are of more value than birds? Won't God care for you and provide for you, you who were made in his image? So maybe in God rebuking Job here in Job chapter 38, you've needed a little bit of that rebuke.

You've needed to be reminded that God is sovereign and he is in control and nothing is happening outside of his sovereignty. He is taking care of you. Beginning first and foremost with the death of his son, Jesus Christ, for your sins, which he gave as a sacrifice so that he might be both the just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus.

So place your faith in him and you are forgiven and you have fellowship with God and trust that he is working all things out together for his glory. Amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.