Trust the Lord of the Storm

I don’t think Job really expected God to answer him. He had been through a lot. You can’t help but feel sorry for him. He had been a very wealthy man, and not a Scrooge who lived for all this wealth, but a man who knew where all his blessings came from and lived his life righteously before God. But then all of a sudden he lost everything—his possessions, his children, his health. And still he resolved to praise God. As far as Job’s book goes that’s just the introduction. The bulk of the book is made up of long poetic speeches given by Job and his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. The book can be a challenging one to read because it’s fairly long and it isn’t always easy to tell just what these men are trying to say, but generally Job’s friends all believe that he must have committed some grave sin of which he needs to repent. That must be why he had lost God’s favor and unless he repented of that horrible sin he would never have God’s favor back. Job argued back that he was innocent, even calling on the Lord, “Let the Almighty answer me!” he said.

I don’t think he really expected God to answer. But answer God did. And he did so in a way that demonstrates very plainly who is Creator and who is creation, who is God and who is man. Job 38 says

Then the Lord responded to Job out of a violent storm. He said:

²Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans

with his ignorant words?

³Get ready for action like a man!

Then I will ask you questions,

and you will inform me.

The violent storm both signified God’s presence and hid it from sight. All through history people have looked at storms and thought of them as being connected with something supernatural. The ancient Greeks thought Zeus hurled thunderbolts and Poseidon stirred up the seas. It was a storm that led the young law student Martin Luther to think that God’s wrath was upon him and led him to pray, “Saint Anne, save me and I’ll become a monk!” Storms can be terrifying and are completely out of our control. And even today with all our weather science and satellites and computer models, we’re still very limited in our ability to predict the weather, and even more limited in our ability to control it.

None of this is any trouble for God. God is in full control of all things. By speaking from a storm he was demonstrating to Job the very things he was about to speak of. God is the Lord of the Storm.

I can’t think of anything more frightening than to be addressed the way that God addressed Job. Job had boasted of his high moral ground. It’s true that he was unjustly accused by his friends. But he had gone too far when he said “Let the Almighty answer me!” Now God was answering him. So Job has a dispute? It’s time to resolve it. “Get ready for action like a man!” God told him, or literally, “Gird up your loins like a man.” In the middle east the men wore long robes and when they needed to take action such as running or working or fighting, they would pull the robe up and tie it around the waist. God was saying, “I’m ready to wrestle, to contend with you. I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.”

And he follows this with fantastic poetry that demonstrates the power and wisdom and timelessness of God.

There’s divine sarcasm in these words. “You wanted me to answer you, Job? Sure, I’ll answer. Just tell me this: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who determined its dimensions? I’m sure you know.” Job had no right to question God because he wasn’t there. God was eternal, and Job was not. Job didn’t know or understand how the earth came to be. And still today, thousands of years later we don’t know. The best theories of the godless world are so full of holes as to be laughable. And God’s description of his six-day creation also leaves many questions unanswered. Job couldn’t answer God’s questions, and neither could we.

But there’s more here than just sarcasm to put Job in his place. There’s beauty and care and love in the way that God describes the things he made. The world wasn’t thrown together haphazardly. God describes it as a building, stretching a surveying line, laying its foundation, setting its cornerstone. And even the wild and unpredictable sea, God describes as nothing more than a rambunctious baby. “I wrapped it in thick darkness as its swaddling cloths.” And he reigned it in. “You may come this far, but no farther. Here is the barrier for your proud waves.”

Seeing God’s creative work, there was rejoicing in heaven. “The morning stars sang loud songs together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” This is referring to the angels. The angels were also created beings. They aren’t mentioned in the Genesis account of creation, but they were almost certainly also created during those six days, perhaps on the fourth day with the stars, and so they with their brilliant glory can be called “morning stars.” Even the angels couldn’t answer all God’s questions to Job. They simply watched and rejoiced.

This beautiful poetry of creation goes on for a few chapters of Job. Read the whole thing some time this week if you can. It’s humbling, and it certainly was to Job. Job didn’t attempt to answer questions he knew he had no ability to answer. And he didn’t question God any further. He repented and humbled himself before God.

In a similar way we’re often tempted to think that we know better than God. “What is God doing?” we ask as we look at the world around us. Why does he allow such turmoil among the nations? Why permit such turbulence and wickedness in our country, where the most disgusting sins are not only tolerated but celebrated? And why does he allow me to face such violent storms in my life – the strife that tears apart family and friends, the pains of addiction and financial insecurity, my own poor health, uncertainties about the future, and the sins that I cannot seem to escape?

“If only God would answer me, I could tell him a better way.” Maybe we don’t think it in quite those terms, but isn’t that what we’re suggesting when we grumble and complain? But in that moment when you’re complaining that God has let all your hopes and dreams fall apart I don’t think you really expect or really want God to answer. Because if he did surely you would deserve no less than Job for him to speak to you from the violent storm and humble you to dust and ashes.

God doesn’t actually answer Job’s question. The question was, “Why am I suffering?,” and God never tells him. Instead, he tells Job that it is not Job’s place to question God. God has been in control since the earth’s foundations were laid. He remains in control. And he wants us to humble ourselves before him and trust him even when we do not understand what he is doing, even when all we see is the violent storm. Do you need to know the answer to every “Why?” No, you just need to trust God.

God’s power is truly astounding, but he actually gives you a much greater reason to trust him. It’s the one who many years after Job’s time came according to God’s promise and slept on a boat in the middle of a storm. Jesus’ disciples were panicking, thinking they would all drown, but Jesus slept calmly on a cushion. And when they woke him he saw no reason to be afraid. He rebuked the wind and the waves, “Be quiet. Be still.” And they were.

Jesus is the Lord of the Storm, and he’s God’s answer to us in our cry for mercy. Shaking your fist at the heavens certainly won’t do you any good when you don’t understand God’s plans. Neither will it do you any good to question or challenge God. But God also does not demand that you shut up and sit down without giving you his gracious promise. And that promise is his own Son. Not the angels, though they are called sons of God. No, the eternal and onlybegotten Son of God, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who was there at the beginning, through whom all things were made, who commands the wind and the seas, and who came to be the sacrifice for your sin.

Jesus is God’s sure promise to you that all his unfathomable power and wisdom he brings to bear out of love for you. Is that not for us the greatest source of joy and peace? I don’t have to live in fear of wars and rumors of wars, because the Lord of the Storm reigns, and his power rules over the nations. I don’t have to be discouraged by strife and pains and uncertainties because Jesus knows all things. He knows my weaknesses, and even joined me in them by becoming my brother, being made true man. I don’t have to dread the consequence of my sin, though it deserves all the wrath of the Lord of the Storm. Jesus died for me to take my sin, and he lives and reigns forever.

By God’s grace Job was restored, but the promise that you have from Jesus is even greater. In this earthly life he will ever be with you. And because of him yours are all the blessings of heaven. By the blood of Christ, shed for you, you are his own dear child. In baptism you are wrapped in his precious name. So do not challenge God. Do not worry, and do not be afraid. Trust in him. And with all the sons of God you will shout for joy in his kingdom. Amen.

— Pastor Seth Georgson