Finally … God Speaks

Silent treatment - weapon, in relationships. Silence is golden. True - but not when it is used as a weapon. Some of you grew up in homes where there may not have been outright arguments - but there was painful silence. Maybe you do it yourself. It happens in families; it happens in churches ...

1 GOD SPEAKS

2 WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CREATING A WORLD?

3 WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SUSTAINING A WORLD?

Silent treatment - weapon, in relationships

“I’ll teach her a lesson - I will ignore her. Won’t say a thing”. “I’ll show him!” - not a word is spoken. And it can go on for days … years even. It’s a weapon - and if sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me” - if we recognize what a lie that old retort is .... well silence can hurt too. Don’t do that.

At this point in the book of Job - it seems more and more as though that’s what God is doing. Using silence as a weapon. But all of that changes in chapter 38 and verse 1.

1 OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND

, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

This is the first time, in the entire book of Job, that God speaks to His suffering servant. Let that sink in for a moment -

… Job goes from being the hero of the world of his day … successful businessman, wealthiest man around, the rare individual who combines business success with integrity and great character. A man whose humble, sincere, zealous devotion to God in daily worship - set an example for everyone to follow.

… GOES FROM THAT to … grieving father who has lost all 10 of his children in one horrific tragedy, mourning in poverty, on the very same day that his economic empire vanished into thin air - and he is left penniless, homeless and hopeless. And to top it off - that wretched day is followed up by another day where he is stricken with painful boils and rotting flesh, wasting away on a one way, short road to death. See the man of God, sitting - on the outside of town, in the garbage dump, on a pile of trash, scraping the puss from his wounds with broken shards of cups and bowls.

The reason for the riches to rags story is because of a test that God had allowed Satan to conduct, based on a conversation between God and the very being who, in the entire universe - hates God and everything He loves, more than any other. God and Satan talk it out. Satan comes up with the challenge: “I can destroy Job’s faith”. God says, “Go ahead and try - I will let you go after him, up to THIS point - this limit.” God and His archenemy know what’s going on. WE know what’s going on - as we read through the book.

But for this faithful servant … this worshiper of God … for Job there is nothing but silence. Nothing. Not a word.

We have no idea how long Job’s suffering lasts. We have no idea how much time has passed since the first servant came with the first bit of bad news about Job’s animals being stolen .... but however long it’s been … it has been a time where the heavens have been locked as tight as Fort Knox.

Job’s three friends have had their input. They know EXACTLY why Job is suffering. He sinned. He must have sinned. That’s the way God has set up the universe - You do right - you get blessed. You do wrong - you get punished. “There is no such thing as innocent suffering”. It doesn’t fit their categories.

Job says, “But I haven’t sinned” (yes, Job is a sinner, like the rest of us - but his sin hasn’t brought on THIS!). Back and forth go the arguments between Job and the so-called ‘comforters’ that have actually become his ACCUSERS. Chapter after chapter. And nothing is decided. The friends make their way off of the stage - never to be heard from again.

Over and over and over again - Job has proclaimed his innocence. His integrity. He has wept, he’s raged, he’s been in despair and anguish of soul. His body and mind and spirit have been troubled. And at the very core of his being is the struggle of his situation: on the one hand - he is being treated unfairly - unjustly … but on the other hand, there MUST be justice in this world. There MUST be some kind of meaning to this meaningless suffering - - - but what is it? God will not tell him. Heaven is silent.

Then, from chapter 32-37, we have heard Elihu speak. He’s a windbag. He loves the sound of his own voice - he speaks for 6 straight chapters - he MUST love the sound of his own voice. But one positive thing that Elihu does have to say is this: “God is Glorious in Majesty” (notice the heading over chapter 37 in the ESV, “Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty”. Now the headings aren’t part of the text - but that’s a good description of chapter 37 - it’s what Elihu is doing). “Human beings don’t have the right to demand anything from God.” Who are we to make demands?

So here sits Job - in his pain and heartache. And silence from heaven. He is at death’s door.

Finally - after 37 chapters of silence and human being trying to judge the WHY of this suffering and the WAY out of it. Finally … God speaks.

Finally - after 37 chapters of silence and human being trying to judge the WHY of this suffering and the WAY out of it. Finally … God speaks.

Don’t miss the place God speaks from. V. 1 tells us that the LORD answered Job ‘OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND.” That’s significant: “WHIRLWIND” - this is the same Hebrew word that’s used in the prophets and the book of Psalms for storms - tempests:

, .... “For He commanded and raised the STORMY WIND, which lifted up the waves of the sea” … “He made the STORM be still and the waves of the sea were hushed.” God is speaking out of the storm. The chaos. Job has been living through the midst of a storm that we can only imagine - crying out for answers …

“Who is it that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Are these the first words you would expect from a loving God, to a man who is suffering more than any of us have ever known??! A Suffering that came to him in his innocence?!

What’s going on here?

Job has been speaking words - - lots of words. To every charge that one of his friends has made against him - he’s had a response … a response of ‘words’. He has defended himself. He has gone so far as to demand a hearing from God. Demanding that God justify this situation. “EXPLAIN YOURSELF, LORD”. And every honest person here this morning, who has ever lost something that they have treasured - someone you didn’t think you could live without … everyone here who has known real loss in your life - — you have been where Job is, “I DEMAND AN ACCOUNTING OF YOU, GOD” - - they are natural, human words … words overflowing from agony.

But they are words without UNDERSTANDING. God cannot be tamed. He is not a domestic pet. His presence is a SEVERE MERCY.

Verse 3. God throws down a challenge to Job: “Dress for action like a man; I will question you and you make it known to me.” God will throw out the same challenge again in chapter 40.

“Dress for action.” The verb, in the Hebrew - it’s a word from the world of wrestling. This is a wrestling match - not an arm wrestle. Better picture is the picture of an octagon and a UFC fight.

Remember back to your school days? The most exciting days around the school - when there was a fight in the playground .... monotony and boredom - shattered and everyone came alive. Somebody shouts, “FIGHT!” - and people come running from every direction. Everybody wants to watch …

…

But it isn’t a physical fight that God is talking about, it’s a fight of understanding. It’s a fight about the way things are. How is God right to do .....

How can He be JUST - when THIS HAPPENS?!

God says, “Okay, let’s do this?”. But He doesn’t just challenge Job to the contest - He also lays out the rules.

“Here’s how this is going to go down, , “I will question you and you make it known to me.”

Don’t you want to throw out the challenge flag here? “Hang on, Lord. Can’t you see that Job is suffering here? He has born the weight of pain unimaginable. Isn’t it up to you to give an answer for the “WHY” of this suffering? Shouldn’t you at least explain your ways here?!

God says, ‘NO - I’m the One who is going to be asking the questions here.’ This is not a contest between equals. And what happens through chapters 38, 39 and into the beginning of chapter 40, are TWO sets of questions, one question after another, divided into 2 types: The first set of questions revolve around the creation of the world and the second set of questions revolve around God’s sustaining care OF the world.

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2. THE QUESTIONS

QUESTION #1 comes in v. 4: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? If you follow the text in these chapters, you see that God

Question number 1 comes in v. 4: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? If you follow the text in these chapters, you see that God

You say, ‘That’s not fair! What kind of question is that?! Job is suffering. He wants an explanation. Doesn’t he deserve at least that?!”

God ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.”

Job has been saying, in the course of this suffering that he has the right to understand WHY.

God says, “How much understanding CAN you have? Can you understand the laying of the earth’s foundations?”

Verse 5, “Who determined its measurements - surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? (6) On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, (7) when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (8) Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb …?”

Question after question after question! There are 50-60 PLUS questions that GOD asks here.

And Job can’t answer any of them. Not a single one. What does that say to us? .... That God is far greater than you can ever imagine him to be.

See the majesty, the greatness of God.

Can you go back to the beginning of creation - and understand the intricacies of this cosmos?

Can you to into the depths of the earth to see how it all hangs together? How far into the depths of the earth can you go?

As a kid - - when you dug a deep hole, always heard - if you dig deep enough, you’ll get to China. None of my friends, nobody that I know, has EVER dug a hole in BC that is deep enough to get through the core of the earth and reach China.

Oh how we skate across the top of this planet! CURSE OF OAK ISLAND - -

How far into space can you go? Mars .... planets … peer through our most powerful telescopes and get little glimpses of far off planets … and our knowledge of them is so, so shallow.

Apollo 8 was only the second, manned mission into space by the Americans. It was the first manned spacecraft to leave the low orbit of the earth, reach the moon, orbit it and return to earth. The three astronauts on board were the first humans ever to witness and photograph an earthrise. The mission took place in December, 1968 and on Christmas Eve, as the crew came around the from behind the dark side of the moon and earth burst into view, in all of its glory, blue and white, garlanded by the glistening rays of the sun - no human had ever seen that sight before. The crew radioed to earth. And the first words that came out of their mouths were these: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light ....”

They went on to read the first 10 verses of Genesis chapter 1. That broadcast from space went on to become the most watched TV program - EVER. When you catch a glimpse of majesty on a grand scale, somehow there is no other meaningful explanation you can give, captured by the awe-inspiring wonder of it all than - no other explanation but … GOD. Can you imagine an atheist astronaut - on that mission proclaiming, “In the beginning … NOTHING”. It just doesn’t fit.

“In the beginning … God.” And that’s just the view around the one measly moon of just one smallish planet among several.

That’s just the view around the one measly moon of just one smallish planet among several.

“In the beginning God” He formed the blueprint in His own mind, He spoke the universe into being - set the foundations ....

SOME MORE QUESTIONS:

VERSE 22, “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail ...?”

In verse 34 of Chapter 38, God changes direction and moves from questions about creating and managing a universe - to questions about animals and the care of them. Verse 39, “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?”

Chapter 39:1, “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?” The answer of course is, ‘No.’ The mountain goats are up in the mountains, where we don’t even see - let alone have anything to do with their birthing.

… The ostrich is so foolish - in fact the very existence of the ostrich is one more evidence to me that God has a sense of humor.

.... ILLUSTRATION - Salmon - migration … always find their way back to the very river, stream in which they were born. How do they find it?

Salmon - migration … always find their way back to the very river, stream in which they were born. How do they find it?

Can’t even find my way around Richmond, when I’ve been away for a few months.

What is it that drives them back to the place where they were born? We search out these questions. We were made to search out those questions

We were created to search out the answers to these questions. God vs. Science - - - NOT TRUE - the fact that there is science -- observable laws of the universe, the fact that we have a sense of justice - recognizing that some things are not the way they are supposed to be.

… points to a God Who created all of this - laid out the plans and brought into being His design - to perfection .... a God who created us in His own image .... with a hunger to delve into the deep of knowledge.

But for so many of our questions … we have. NO. ANSWERS.

Look at chapter 40 - “And the LORD said to Job: ‘Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let Him answer it.”

What’s God saying to Job? “You are a faultfinder - finding fault with God. You’ve been plunged into pain … you’re suffering in this trial .... and you are looking for SOMEONE to blame … and you’ve blamed God. You said to Him: ‘THIS IS YOUR FAULT’.

God is great. God is big. God’s knowledge, His understanding, His wisdom - - how can you possibly understand it? How can you possibly fathom it? You want to know the secret of the universe?

What do you need to know in order to answer that question? You need to know everything.

You want to know why it is that this particular event has happened to you.

This event is related to a million other events. And those million events are related to a million OTHER events.

Your human brain doesn’t have the capacity to grasp it all. God has the universe going according to His order. When I ask the question, I’m saying, “I DON’T LIKE THE WAY YOU ALLOWED THE UNIVERSE TO BRING ABOUT THIS PAIN! ..... THIS CIRCUMSTANCE.”

But I have no idea - I have no idea how this circumstance fits into the plan God had for my life, when I was born to my parents, in my family … on the way to the end goal He has for my joy and to inspire MY WORSHIP.

When I say, “LORD - THIS ISN’T GOOD”, what I’m saying is “LORD, I COULD DO A BETTER JOB OF RUNNING THIS UNIVERSE THAN YOU - I could have avoided this pain that makes no sense to me.”

And in these questions, God is saying to Job what He is saying to us, “Oh … really. Can you do any of THIS?”

In the book “Finding Your Way”, the author, Gary La Ferla tells an amazing story that comes fromthe records of the US Naval Institute following WW2. In 1942, the USS ASTORIA engaged the Japanese during the battle for Savo Island before any other ships from the US fleet could arrive. During the night of the battle, the Astoria scored several direct hits on a Japanese vessel, but it took lots of damage itself and sank the next day.

August 8, listen to what happened:

“About 0200 hours a young Midwesterner, Signalman 3rd class Elgin Staples, was swept overboard by the blast when the Astoria’s number one 8-inch gun turret exploded. Wounded in both legs by shrapnel and semi-shock, he was kept afloat by a narrow lifebelt that he managed to activate with a simple trigger mechanism.

At around 0600 hours, Staples was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to the Astoria, whose captain was attempting to save the cruiser by beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples ended up back in the water again. Thankfully, he was still wearing the same lifebelt. He was picked up again, hours later, this time by the USS President Jackson, one of 500 survivors of the battle.

While he was sitting on the transport ship, still clinging to his lifebelt that had saved his life not once, but twice, ‘hugging it’ - Staples looked at that small piece of equipment for the first time - scrutinizing every stitch of his literal, life-saver. He noticed that it had been manufactured by Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio - and it had a registration number, specific to that individual lifebelt.

Staples thought that was interesting - his mother worked for Firestone. What a ‘coincidence’! He was given home leave after the battle and he made a point of asking his mom about the number on the belt. She told him that the company insisted on personal responsibility for the war effort, and that the number was unique and assigned to only one inspector. Staples had memorized everything about his precious lifebelt, so he quoted the number to his mom.

There was a moment of stunned silence and then she spoke through tears: “That was my personal code that I fixed to every item I was responsible for approving!”

Can you imagine the emotions within the hearts of mom and son, as they reflected on the way that so many humanly uncontrollable events had to fit so seamlessly together so that this mom would go to work one morning completely unaware of the fact that months later, on the other side of the world - her workmanship would literally save her son’s life?

Who can arrange that?!

He has the end ordered from the beginning. You are not God. Actually - that’s the most important lesson that you can ever learn

.... there is ONLY ONE GOD, and YOU ARE NOT HIM.

And that’s our problem, isn’t it? We make gods out of ourselves? We don’t come right out and say it: “I AM GOD!” (at least, most of us don’t come right out and say that ...but the attitude ...), but when God doesn’t work the circumstances of MY life out in the way I think He should .... my response is, “I KNOW BETTER THAN YOU!”

… the frustration in the middle of the pain .... “If I was in charge of the universe - I wouldn’t have done it like this! I would have ordered the universe better than THIS. I would have gotten this thing right. I would have made sure that THIS DIDN’T HAPPEN”.

Do you know what you’re doing when you’re thinking like that? Maybe it’s just a thought.

God is coming to Job and He’s calling him on his thoughts.

THIS IS WHAT GOD IS COMMUNICATING HERE:

GOD IS GREAT BUT JOB IS SMALL. Don’t misunderstand - God isn’t saying that the trial is small, that the suffering is small. It’s not a small thing to lose the one you love. It is NOT a small thing to lose your health. The suffering isn’t small.

God is showing that JOB is small. WE ARE SMALL. In the vast universe, in the unfolding of the history of the world, from the beginning of time … Job is small. He’s just a creature - He is a creature God has made in His image … that God will send His Son to die for … to adopt into His family.

Jesus is the elder brother and he will reckon that person to be a child of God, an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ! .... But, he’s still a creature.

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3 WHAT CAN BE SAID?

And what does Job say in response? This is his chance! Finally, after all of this time of waiting to make his case before the God who he’s been calling on. Now, he gets to argue. So what’s Job going to say? Pull out his suitcase filled with reams of pages of legal briefs? Chapter 40:3, “Then Job answered the LORD and said: ‘Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once and I will not answer; twice, but I proceed no further.” And that’s it. Chapter after chapter of Job protesting his innocence, arguing against the silent God - demanding a hearing. And now, after God speaks - - 2 short verses. And that’s it.

And what does Job say in response? Chapter 40:4, “Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once and I will not answer; twice, but I proceed no further.” And that’s it. Chapter after chapter of Job protesting his innocence, arguing against the silent God - demanding a hearing. And now, after God speaks - - 2 short verses. And that’s it.

And that’s it.

Do you see what has happened here? God has shut his mouth.

Paul citing this book in , “That every mouth will be shut and the whole world may be held accountable to God ....”

It’s time to listen now. It’s not time to demand God answer for Himself … not even the time to protest your innocence.

It’s time to fall before the sovereignty and the majesty of God.

God has humbled him.

Job is still innocent. Notice that in all that God says in these chapters, He doesn’t criticize Job’s moral integrity. But during the suffering - Job has said too much. God challenges Job’s claim to understand how things OUGHT TO BE. “BE QUIET JOB - and cling”.

In case you come to the end of this passage and are feeling, “Man, God seems so harsh. Ya, He makes His point - but, come on. Can’t He give Job a little break here?” If you feel like God is coming across as very insensitive - let me point out THREE things from the text before we close.

FIRST - Notice that there is a conversation here. That in itself is a big deal. God may have put Job on the spot - asked him a bunch of questions that he obviously has no answer for - but the point is - God is treating Job with the dignity of a human being, created in His image - - He is giving Job the honor of an explanation - even if the explanation comes in the form of a test. The point God is making here, to the man He loves - is the same point He makes to every suffering child of His in this place today, from our passage. The point is this: “TRUST ME”.

SECOND - Don’t miss the name of God the author uses in our passage. In the very first verse: 38:1, “The the LORD answered Job ...”. And at the end of the passage: 40:3, “Then Job answered the LORD ...”. This is God’s personal name being used here: “Yahweh”. The Great I AM - the name God told Moses to use - as He is about to come to the rescue of the enslaved Israelites. This is God’s Saving Name.

And that’s a big deal - because ever since Job’s friends have shown up on the scene - from chapter 3-37, the name Yahweh has NOT been used. God is called El-Shaddai - that means, “God Almighty” … and the way He has been talked about is just like that - A God who is almighty - - but detached. Distant. DISINTERESTED in the suffering of a single man - no matter how good he thinks he is.

But here is God - coming to Job, speaking to this man of sorrow as YAHWEH - “I am WITH YOU”. “I CARE”. And it is all pointing forward to the coming of Christ - the ultimate declaration of the God who is WITH US - -

Do you see what that means for you, suffering Christian? God’s name here, combined with God’s demanding questions of Job - take us to the

But during the suffering - Job has said too much. God challenges Job’s claim to understand how things OUGHT TO BE.

And it’s time to be quiet … and just cling.

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SPURGEON, “MORNING AND EVENING” (March 8).

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

God's people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the "Father of the faithful." Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God's children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach "the kingdom," it will more than make amends for the "much tribulation" through which they passed to enter it.