Encountering God

Lessons in Job: Encountering God Job 38:1-42:6 | March 17, 2024 I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Looking at my childhood and adolescence, I can see why my parents did certain things or had us do certain things. Most of you know this, I have an older brother. We're only 15 months apart, so he was always one grade ahead, and most of the time, we were at the same school. As children of the 80's and 90's, we walked home from school, and were alone in the apartment until my parents came home from work. Generally, we were on our own to do our homework and chores, and sometimes even get dinner started. But, when we got home from school, we had to call or page my dad to let him know we were home and safe - no door cameras or "find my phone" apps back then. I used to think they were overprotective or too strict, but being a parent now, if Gabrielle's school bus is late ... I worry. If Elizabeth is out with friends and on her way home, I'm checking that "find my kid ... sorry, phone" app. That's kind of true for Christians too. We often question God or wonder what He's up to. Then, when we truly encounter God, He reveals Himself to us, and when that happens, we begin to truly know Him. We're going to see this in our text this morning, but knowing God may not mean exactly what you think it means. This morning, we continue in our series in the book of Job. We'll cover chapters 38:1-42:6. Here, we finally hear from God for the first time since chapter 2. When we search this book, all throughout the speeches and responses from Job, he was basically demanding that God answer him. His desire was that God explain to him why he was going through this affliction. I don't think, however, Job received the response he was hoping or ... at least, at first. Instead, what we get from the Lord in this response, that carries us through the majority of our text this morning, are a series of questions - mostly rhetorical. Warren Wiersbe summed it up nicely when he says, "the whole purpose of this interrogation was to make Job realize his own inadequacy and inability to meet God as an equal and defend his cause." Because, as he continues, "the answer to Job's problems was not an explanation about God, such as the three friends and Elihu had given, but a revelation of God." That's really, I think, the lesson that we can learn here. Namely, we must encounter God, under His terms, not our own. So, let's begin with our main idea: When I am suffering, I can seek to know God by encountering Him personally. Of course, we cannot read all of the response from the Lord, so let's begin, at least begin with the first 3 verses of our text this morning (Job 38:1-3): 1 THEN THE LORD ANSWERED JOB OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND AND SAID: 2 "WHO IS THIS THAT DARKENS COUNSEL BY WORDS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE? 3 DRESS FOR ACTION LIKE A MAN; I WILL QUESTION YOU, AND YOU MAKE IT KNOWN TO ME." The Living Bible paraphrases verse 2: "Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence?" So, effectively, the Lord didn't, "question Job's integrity or sincerity; He only questioned Job's ability to explain the ways of God in the world." One thing that we'll see, particularly at the end of our passage, is that Job thought he knew about God, but he didn't realize how much he didn't know about God. So, the Lord here asks this series of questions, and one can outline this section like this: 1. "Can you explain My creation?" (38:1-38) 2. "Can you oversee My creation?" (38:39-39:30) * Job's first response (40:1-5) 3. "Can you subdue My creation?" (40:6-41:34) * Job's second response (42:1-6) So, what is the Lord's point in this long explanation to Job? Well, I think there are several. * The Lord speaks. (Job 38:1) o Notice how the section opened up, OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND, the Lord responded to Job. o God has made this one of the ways He makes known His presence. * In 2 Kings 2, He brought Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. * In Psalm 77 and Nahum 1, the Scriptures confirm that God's presence is shown in the whirlwind. * God's coming will be like a whirlwind, according to Isaiah 66, Jeremiah 4 and Jeremiah 23. o Now, of course, God's words and His questions were not able to be answered because its purpose was to show Job that he was not an any place to question God. o That's the lesson for Job, but what about us? * Well, first of all, we are not in any place to question the Lord, either. * Again, as we've seen throughout this series, God is and always has been present in times of suffering. * Again, however, there is also a lesson in God's sovereignty. I quoted Romans 8:28 last week, but what does Romans 8:29 say? 29 FOR THOSE WHOM HE FOREKNEW HE ALSO PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BROTHERS. * The purpose, you see, is to draw us to His Son, who provides salvation. o The next point is ... * The wisdom of God is found in His creation. (Job 38-39) o This is seen throughout chapters 38-39. o The bible speaks a lot about wisdom, but most notably is what is recorded in the Proverbs. For example, Proverbs 9:10 declares: THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM, AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE IS INSIGHT. o The word "knowledge" or "understanding" appears over 20 times in this passage. o The first question of His interrogation is found in 38:4-5, where the Lord asks: 4 "WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH? TELL ME, IF YOU HAVE UNDERSTANDING. 5 WHO DETERMINED ITS MEASUREMENTS-SURELY YOU KNOW! o These verses imply that understanding and knowledge is possible to have, but the source of that understanding is what's most important. o God, in effect, is saying that the why is not as important as the who. o I love what Paul said in Romans 9:20. He said: BUT WHO ARE YOU, O MAN, TO ANSWER BACK TO GOD? WILL WHAT IS MOLDED SAY TO ITS MOLDER, "WHY HAVE YOU MADE ME LIKE THIS?" o And this begins where? With the fear of God. * You see, we should be more focused on what God desires for us in these moments, rather than questioning God in these moments. o The next point in this passage is related ... * The power of God is indicated in His mighty creatures. (Job 40:15-41:34) o You know I had to talk a little about the behemoth and the leviathan, right? o I mean, from chapter 40:15-41:34, God speaks about these two beings. o I guess we need to ask why, don't we? Or wait, does that go against the message of our passage? Nevertheless, let's talk about it. o Of course, we don't know for sure what these two creatures are. * The behemoth is a large land animal of some kind, and * The leviathan is best known as a sea monster o Some believe that the behemoth speaks of the hippo, and the leviathan speaks of the crocodile. * That doesn't seem as cool, does it? o The best explanation I've seen on this comes from teacher and commentator David Guzik: "The logical point is made. If Job cannot contend with Leviathan (or even with Satan, whom Leviathan represents), how could he ever hope to stand against the God who made and masters Leviathan? This was another effective way of setting Job in his proper place before God." o A video surfaced recently of a 60-year-old orca whale (also known as a "killer whale") attacking and killing a Great White Shark. Apparently, the fact that the whale was hunting on her own was very rare, as they usually hunted in packs. * Think about it. For us, we don't often think of the killer whale being a hunter, even though that's exactly what they are. (I'm thinking about Shamu and Free Willy!) Imagine being that big and that powerful that even the Great White Shark is vulnerable to them. * So, when God brings up these two powerful beasts in chapters 40-41, it's to remind us that no man can take down these powerful creatures, but the One who made them can. o The next point that the Lord makes here is ... * God alone can vindicate Job (Job 40:6-14) o God here issues a challenge to Job. o This challenge, of course, follows Job's first response, from 40:4-5, where Job states: 4 "BEHOLD, I AM OF SMALL ACCOUNT; WHAT SHALL I ANSWER YOU? I LAY MY HAND ON MY MOUTH. 5 I HAVE SPOKEN ONCE, AND I WILL NOT ANSWER; TWICE, BUT I WILL PROCEED NO FURTHER." o But here is how God responds in 40:7-14: 7 "DRESS FOR ACTION LIKE A MAN; I WILL QUESTION YOU, AND YOU MAKE IT KNOWN TO ME. 8 WILL YOU EVEN PUT ME IN THE WRONG? WILL YOU CONDEMN ME THAT YOU MAY BE IN THE RIGHT? 9 HAVE YOU AN ARM LIKE GOD, AND CAN YOU THUNDER WITH A VOICE LIKE HIS? 10 ADORN YOURSELF WITH MAJESTY AND DIGNITY; CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH GLORY AND SPLENDOR. 11 POUR OUT THE OVERFLOWINGS OF YOUR ANGER, AND LOOK ON EVERYONE WHO IS PROUD AND ABASE HIM. 12 LOOK ON EVERYONE WHO IS PROUD AND BRING HIM LOW AND TREAD DOWN THE WICKED WHERE THEY STAND. 13 HIDE THEM ALL IN THE DUST TOGETHER; BIND THEIR FACES IN THE WORLD BELOW 14 THEN WILL I ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE TO YOU THAT YOUR OWN RIGHT HAND CAN SAVE YOU." o This section begins the final response from God to Job, where He sets out to remind Job, as commentator David Atkison, who stated that, "the living God is one who is not so much to be debated as encountered, not so much to be discussed as to be known." That's why I said earlier: When I am suffering, I can seek to know God by encountering Him personally. I want to close with Job's response, but before that, what lessons or actions can we take from this overview of this passage? First: * Believe in the sovereignty of God. o All of what the Lord said in this passage leads us to this. o Notice the contrast to last week (if you weren't here, check it out on our website or YouTube). o Last week, we spoke about acknowledging God as sovereign. Here, we're taking that head knowledge, and believing it with our heart. o This helps us to surrender everything we know and have and have understood to God. o So, pray that God gives you that conviction. o Next, * Believe that everything that God does is right and good. o Again, we spoke about this before, but now we apply this to our hearts. o Believing with our hearts that God is just. That God is righteous. That God knows what's best for us. o You can even apply this to the fact that the Lord still hasn't revealed to Job the reasons why he had to suffer. o So, pray for assurance. o Next, I must ... * Repent of all the times I've questioned or blamed God. o Now we're getting personal, aren't we? o In the Lord's questioning of Job, He is effectively saying: "Job, if you can answer these things, then you are fit to question Me. If you cannot answer these things, then you do not have a place to demand answers from Me." o Look at the details of all the examples from God, He goes as far as to speak of the foundations of the earth to the controls of the sun and moons to the flight patterns of the hawk to the control over the most powerful beings of His mighty hand - and it's all to show His power and His control over all things. o So, God concludes, when you can control all things, always, then you can question me, because we would be at the same level, but we are not - I know what I'm doing. o So, we must pray for God to humble us. o Frankly, that leads to our last lesson: * Be satisfied with the will of God. o This might be the hardest of all the lessons. o Sometimes His will is not ours. o Sometimes we pray for healing or relief, and we don't get it. o The satisfaction comes from believing that God has a purpose. o One way we can do this is trust that God will provide. Jesus alludes to this in Matthew 6, when He speaks about being anxious. Here's what He says in Matthew 6:28-29: 28 AND WHY ARE YOU ANXIOUS ABOUT CLOTHING? CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, HOW THEY GROW: THEY NEITHER TOIL NOR SPIN, 29 YET I TELL YOU, EVEN SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY WAS NOT ARRAYED LIKE ONE OF THESE o There's a part of me that believes that the Lord spends all of that time on His creation to illustrate this very point. Effectively saying, "If I provide for all of these, why would I not provide for you?" * Recall, Adam was created in God's image. * Adam given dominion over God's creation. * None of them were proven to be suitable to Adam. So, as we close, let's look at Job's response in Job 42:1-6: 1 THEN JOB ANSWERED THE LORD AND SAID: 2 "I KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS, AND THAT NO PURPOSE OF YOURS CAN BE THWARTED. 3 'WHO IS THIS THAT HIDES COUNSEL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE?' THEREFORE I HAVE UTTERED WHAT I DID NOT UNDERSTAND, THINGS TOO WONDERFUL FOR ME, WHICH I DID NOT KNOW. 4 'HEAR, AND I WILL SPEAK; I WILL QUESTION YOU, AND YOU MAKE IT KNOWN TO ME.' 5 I HAD HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR, BUT NOW MY EYE SEES YOU; 6 THEREFORE I DESPISE MYSELF, AND REPENT IN DUST AND ASHES." I think it's very hard for us to say, "you're right." So, how do we respond to a personal encounter with God? Don't worry, this will be quick and short, as we've addressed much of this already. * Confess that God is sovereign. o Our belief - as stated earlier - leads to confession. That's what Job does here, "I KNOW" he says. This knowledge is not like before, this knowledge is from a humbled and broken man. o When we are humbled and broken, and understand our need of a Savior, we must then confess with our mouths and we will be saved. o Next, * Be humble and repent. o Job had to finally come to the understanding that He did not know God as he thought he did. o He had to understand that to know God is to trust God. o Humility is a large part of repentance, without it, you don't realize you need to repent. But, an encounter with God will lead you there. o One of the author's I've read for this series said it this way: "those who do know God come in time to recognize that it is better to know God and to trust God than to claim the rights of God." o Finally, Job reminds us to ... * Submit to God. o Of course, verse 5 contains the most important words from Job's response where he says: I HAD HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR, BUT NOW MY EYE SEES YOU; o In other words, I thought I knew you, but now, I know you. You see, Job came to know God through a personal encounter with Him. But He had to listen to Him first. That led to a confession, to repentance, and to submission to God. Have you had a personal encounter with the Lord? Often, we question God when things are difficult instead of seeking God and trusting that in His sovereign will, He knows what's best for us. Will you trust Him today? Let's pray. 2