There is a common thread which runs through the minds of the skeptic, the sufferer, the philosopher, the believer and the unbeliever. They all seek answers to the toughest and most difficult questions of life. The rational mind requires understanding and definitive answers. The human mind is the most amazing and fascinating gift endowed to man designed to be the seat of reason. But the mind of man, great and yet fully unexplored it may be, is finite, limited, that it can neither fathom nor divine all mysteries which God his Creator chose not to reveal. Man’s rational thinking cannot comprehend everything.
In the Scriptures there was a man, who suffered greatly for no reason at all. His name was Job. The Biblical account of Job, this innocent sufferer, describes him to be blameless and upright, a man who feared God and shunned evil. Job was blessed by God , he had a wonderful family, wife, children and enormous wealth, to enjoy. The protective mantle of God covered him and for all his blessings, Job praised, honored, feared, and remained faithful to God.
All was well for Job until one day he unknowingly became the object of a wager, between God and the devil. God was so pleased with Job that He remarked to satan if he had considered His servant Job, for there was no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil.
The wily devil wasn’t impressed. The devil said yes he had seen Job but he believed that Job did not fear or trust God for nothing, after all he had been enjoying God’s protection and blessing that everything he applied his hands to, prospered making him rich. The challenge was proclaimed. Satan dared God to remove His hand of protection and blessing upon Job and surely he said, Job would curse God to His face. And so the wager was sealed. God had so much confidence in Job that He allowed satan to smite him.
The Biblical account went on to record the extreme suffering of Job in the hand of his enemy the devil. Job lost everything, his children, his possessions and wealth even his status and reputation. Then satan afflicted Job with a terrible disease which struck his bone and flesh from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
But despite his unspeakable suffering Job did not sin with his lips. He said, “I came naked fom my mother’s womb and I will be naked when I leave, the Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” In all of this Job did not sin by blaming God.
Satan’s bet was lost.
In Job’s anguish, he cursed the day he was born. In his pain Job called out to God, “Where are you?” Job felt that the God to whom he remained faithful had shut the door on his face. Job asked for an explanation. He wanted to plead his case before the Almighty. He was discouraged, he asked God for an audience that he may bring forth his complains, and reason with God, argue his case for he needed some answers to his questions.
Then God spoke to Job. Job had been crushed by wave upon wave of calamities that God chose to speak to him out of the whirlwind, saying, “Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me if you know so much.”
“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and cause the dawn to rise in the east? Have you explored the spring from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Can you direct the movements of the stars binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion?”
“Tell Me if you know all this.”
God answered Job with questions of His own. The questions are rhetorical needing no answer because ultimately Job knew the point of the questions. He realized God’s questions had cut him down to the minutest miniscule size. Job understood that God doesn’t owe him any explanation. Job knew he was utterly insignificant in the presence of an All Powerful All Knowing Awesome God. God his Creator knows everything, His purpose cannot be withheld from Him. Job finally understood that his God knows everything about him, his thoughts, feelings, his entire being. Deeply moved Job declared that he had experienced the powerful presence of God which was exceedingly comforting, than any intellectual answers to his questions.
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