Read
22Have you been to the places
where I keep snow and hail,
23until I use them to punish
and conquer nations?
24From where does lightning leap,
or the east wind blow?
25Who carves out a path
for thunderstorms?
Who sends torrents of rain
26on empty deserts
where no one lives?
27Rain that changes barren land
to meadows green with grass.
28Who is the father of the dew
and of the rain?
29Who gives birth to the sleet
and the frost
30that fall in winter,
when streams and lakes
freeze solid as a rock?
Can You Arrange Stars?
31 Can you arrange stars in groups
such as Orion
and the Pleiades?
32Do you control the stars
or set in place the Big Dipper
and the Little Dipper?
33Do you know the laws
that govern the heavens,
and can you make them rule
the earth?
34Can you order the clouds
to send a downpour,
35or will lightning flash
at your command?
36Did you teach birds to know
that rain or floods
are on their way?
37Can you count the clouds
or pour out their water
38on the dry, lumpy soil?
39When lions are hungry,
do you help them hunt?
40Do you send an animal
into their den?
41And when starving young ravens
cry out to me for food,
do you satisfy their hunger?
Reflect
In the second half of Chapter 38 God continues to question Job. In mercy God is helping Job see how little he understands about the created order. It is important to see that none of these questions is directly addressing Job’s complaint. None of them is touching on either Job’s suffering or God’s justice. It is not that God is ignoring those issues; on the contrary, he is setting the stage so they can be discussed in a proper context.
But in this opening section of his discourse God piles up rhetorical question after rhetorical question. God began by pointing out that Job was not there when he created and formed the universe (vs 4-21).Job simply does not know how, where, or why God shaped things as he did. Job’s experience is limited and his knowledge is partial.
God continues in verses 22-41 to teach Job that he is not just the Creator. He is not a deistic God who wound up the universe and then let it go. God is in sovereign control of the created order. It does not merely rain: God sends the rain. Lightning does not flash haphazardly: God scatters the bolts abroad. Even the stars, constellations, and galaxies that make up the universe are upheld and governed by the hand of almighty God.
None of this means that there are no regularities or law-like structures in the universe. It is essential, however, that we realize that this universe does not operate in a mechanical fashion apart from God. The biblical revelation is clear at this point: God not only creates, he guides, sustains, and controls the universe on a constant basis. He is an involved God.
Respond
Creator God, we praise you for all that you have made. We thank you that even at this very moment you are sustaining the entire universe. It is amazing to think that you are upholding the stars and also mindful of my life. Help us live in this knowledge. Amen.
Steve West
Steve West is the Lead Pastor at Crestwicke Baptist Church in Guelph, Ontario, as well as an adjunct professor at Heritage College and Seminary (Cambridge) and Toronto Baptist Seminary.