Not Why? Who? Pt 2

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel By words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; For I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

B. God’s wisdom and power are seen in the creation of the world

Chapter 38 is part one of Job’s interrogation by God. Job is questioned in the areas of geophysics and astrophysics.

In vv. 4-11 God began Job’s examination in the areas of cosmology, geology, and oceanography.

vv. 4-7- were you the one in the beginning who laid the foundation of the earth?

vv. 8-11- were you the one who created the sea and set its boundaries

vv. 12-15- have you ever commanded the morning and made sure the dawn occured in its proper time and place?

Who did all these things Job? Did you do them, or did God?

C. God’s wisdom and power are seen in His knowledge and order of the universe

1. Job lacks knowledge

Job 38:16 KJV 1900

16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest known point in Earth's oceans. In 2010 the United States Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping measured the depth of the Challenger Deep at 10,994 meters (36,070 feet) below sea level with an estimated vertical accuracy of ± 40 meters. If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth, were placed at this location it would be covered by over one mile of water.

Job have you ever entered the springs of the sea? Have you ever walked in the deepest places of the ocean?

Job 38:17 KJV 1900

17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

There was an ancient concept that Sheol, or the realm of the dead, lied beyond the recesses of the deep. The point is that the gates of death and the doors of the shadow of death were places that Job could not go and hand know knowledge of.

Job 38:18 KJV 1900

18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all.

Job have you every viewed the entirety of the earth all at once? Do you know how wide it is?

How many of you have been outside of the state of Wisconsin? How many have been outside of the USA? The farthest I have ever been in this world is to the DR.

What do you think would have been the farthest that Job would have traveled? Maybe 100 miles, 200 miles? Probably not much farther than that. He had no idea how big the world really was, let alone did he understand the breath of the earth.

I love this next part. God says go ahead Job declare if you know it all. Now I imagine that God pauses and waits here for an answer. Go ahead and speak, I’ll wait. No, nothing? OK then. So you don’t know everything then? Maybe it is possible that there are things in the sovereign plan of God that you don’t understand? Job you don’t know everything but guess who does? God. Again here is our question, not why, who?

God knows everything!

Psalm 139:1–6 KJV 1900

1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it.

The very thought of the knowledge of God is high, and we cannot attain unto it. Yet sometimes we act as if we do know it all. We question God like we do know more than Him. God why did you let this thing into my life? Not why? Who? First of all who are you? I am a fallen sinful creature that barely know a drop of what there is to know if the universe. Who is God? God is an all knowing, all powerful, all wise God that works together all things for our good. Since you don’t know it all, and He does whom should you trust?

2. Job lacks experience

Job 38:19–20 KJV 1900

19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

Here God personifies light and darkness. He asks Job where is the dwelling place of the light and the home for darkness? If Job knew where the paths to the territory of light and darkness could be found, if he know the road to their homes then He could command them to fulfill their task.

Job 38:21 KJV 1900

21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? Or because the number of thy days is great?

I love this verse as well. Maybe this is the dad in me, but I can hear sarcasm in God’s voice as he speaks to Job. You know all this stuff because you were born then right? You are a really old guy right Job? The idea is were you alive when I created light and darkness and when I established paths that light and darkness would follow? You were there right Job? No! You don’t have that kind of experience, you aren’t that old then huh? Who are you really Job?

Who is God?

Revelation 1:8 KJV 1900

8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

And what did God do?

Psalm 19:1–5 KJV 1900

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

The knowledge and order of God in establishing the universe is awesome! Who do we think we are to question God? A God who is wise enough and powerful enough to create the universe and to know perfectly every part of it and to order precisely every detail of it has to be able to manage my life as well. When you compare our own experience with the experience of God it is laughable.

It’s like a four year old child who is still doing finger painting trying to tell Picasso how to paint. It’s ridiculous. Yet this is what we do when we question God for allowing something into our life that we think doesn’t belong. Why God did you do this? The question is not why? It’s Who? Do you trust God?

3. Job lacks resources

Job 38:22–23 KJV 1900

22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?

Treasuries of snow and hail- arsenals of snow and hail. God has a storehouse and arsenal of the elements of nature that he has reserved for the day of battle and war.

Hail was the seventh plague that fell on Egypt. The Lord hurled large hailstones on the fleeing Amorites in Joshua 10:11.

Interesting how God uses the weather to influence times of war- i.e. Germany invading USSR in WWII. Winter was very hard, and caused them to be pushed back.

And one day in the future tribulation God will use hundred pound hailstones as part of the plague of the seventh angel Rev 16:21.

The point is God wants to know if Job has these kinds of resources available to him. Job do you know where these arsenals are? Do you have access to them? And by way of implication can you use them to sovereignly control the outcome of battle?

Job 38:24 KJV 1900

24 By what way is the light parted, Which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

Job do you have the resource of wind at your disposal? Job probably doesn’t understand how this happens. We understand that it results from uneven heating of the earth’s surface. Even here, there are elements of it that we do not understand. Furthermore, we are completely unable to control it.

Who can do all these things Job? God can!

We don’t even have the resources available to us to build a new church building. It seems like every time we get close to getting a different building for the church God closes the door. The tempting question to ask, especially as a pastor is why. Why are you doing this to us God? Now, there is a part of me that wants to think along the lines of Job and his friends. What have I as the pastor, what have we as the church done wrong. God is not blessing us with a new building, therefore there must be some kind of sin in the way of receiving God’s blessing. I must not be spiritual enough to earn a new church from God. What does that sound like? Retribution theology. Now, there very well may be sin that needs to be dealt with. And it is a good and health thing to pray search my heart O God. But God may have other reasons for not allowing us to have a new building. We don’t have the resources, but who does? God does. And so the question is not why, the question is who? Who is in control and uses any and all resources available to Him, including the weather, to ensure that His perfect will is accomplished on earth? God. And so, who do we need to trust? God. A God who is wise and powerful enough to know and order the universe in a way that perfectly accomplishes His will has to be able to manage my life as well. Will you trust Him?

4. Job lacks ability

Job 38:25–26 KJV 1900

25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, Or a way for the lightning of thunder; 26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

The rain that falls on the desert.

Man would never send rain to a desert, because it is not economically profitable. Yet God sends rain even there.

There are remote islands that are uninhabited by humans, and still God causes the rain to fall and the plants to grow. Could man do that? The resources, and the logistics, and the abilities needed to make sure the entire earth, even the deserted places, receive water is staggering.

This spring I am contemplating building a garden box and attempting to get something other than weeds to grow. If I have the ability to take care of just that little piece of ground it will be a miracle. Yet God has the ability to provide for the entire universe. Who has that ability? Not me, not Job, God does.

5. Job lacks creativity

Job 38:28–30 KJV 1900

28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 30 The waters are hid as with a stone, And the face of the deep is frozen.

The forms taken by water. Rain, dew, ice, frost, solid ice like a stone. Just the other day I took the kids out on the ice at Genesee Lake and let them walk around. I am not sure how thick the ice was, but they say at around 12 inches it is safe to drive vehicles out on the ice. One of the kids said, Dad- “I want to come and do this for my birthday.” One problem, his birthday is in October. We would need grandpa’s boat in October.

“The phenomenon of how water changes into so many different forms bears witness to God’s creative genius. . . .. Yahweh alone brings them forth.” (Hartley, 502).

Who could have come up with such an amazing design like water, that can shift and change in some many different ways. We would never have that kind of creative genius that kind of creativity. But who does? God does.

6. Job lacks authority

Job 38:31–33 KJV 1900

31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, Or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

Job do you have the authority to order and control the stars? Can you control the constellations? Pleiades, Orion, and the Bear, as well as the planets (Mazzaroth). Job can you affect their rising, their setting, or their movements? Job do you know the laws that govern these heavenly bodies? Can you establish their dominion over the earth? No? Who can?

Show video.

Isaiah 55:9 KJV 1900

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

And meted out heaven with the span

Who has stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,

And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

Lift up your eyes on high,

And behold who hath created these things,

That bringeth out their host by number:

He calleth them all by names

By the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power;

Not one faileth.

King James Version Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament sheweth his handywork.

By whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Do any of us have that kind of authority? That kind of grandeur, and power, and might, and wisdom, and glory? No, WHO DOES? God.

Believer God’s message to Job is also His message to you.

We lack knowledge and experience and resources and ability and creativity and authority! But you know someone who does not lack in any of these things. God has an infinite amount of all of these things because He Himself is infinite. What then makes us think that we can have the audacity to ask God why? Asking God why implies that we know a better way, it implies that we don’t trust Him…how foolish is that?

God’s wisdom and His power are plainly seen in His knowledge and order of the universe. If God has that kind of wisdom and power, surely He has the wisdom and power necessary to manage my life as well!

“The issue is not ethical, the question is not why, and the need is not understanding. The issue is spiritual, the question is who, and the need is trust.”