Reading 77 • November 30
Today's Scripture
Job 38:1–11
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements — surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb? —
when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?” (NRSV)
Reflection
Although there have been many passages from scripture that have led off Fourth Church’s Advent devotions over the years, I feel confident in saying Job 38:1–11 has not been one of them. The book of Job, on the whole, confronts us with uncomfortable questions around the problem of evil and the reality of unmerited suffering, asking where God is in the midst of those things. Not exactly the stuff of Advent hope and joy!
And yet: are Job’s complaints really all that unfamiliar? We are not only in a season of waiting for Christmas Day to come; we have been waiting, year after year, for the promises of the Christ child coming into this world to be realized in full — a world without injustice, hunger, or violence. Perhaps Job’s long wait is symbolic of our own wait for justice, wholeness, and peace this Advent season, just as it certainly must have been to those who were first reading the book of Job in the wake of the Exile.
In today’s passage, God’s word from the whirlwind breaks a thirty-six-chapter silence as Job is reminded of how small he is in the vastness of creation, limited both in perspective and knowledge. God’s reframing is simultaneously true and yet also terribly unsatisfying — and perhaps there’s a lesson for us in that.
Maybe this Advent season is not meant to satisfy us. Maybe the yearning we feel for God’s kingdom to be made fully known is our invitation to be a part of building it — not just this time of year, but in the days and weeks and years to come.
We may not ever see that promised day of true justice, wholeness, and peace in full, but we can still work to catch glimpses of it.
Prayer
Holy God, in this Advent season of waiting and yearning, hoping for the day when your promises to us are realized in full, prepare our hearts to truly receive the love, hope, and joy Christ came to bring, in order that we might be a small part of making those things born anew. Amen
Written by Matt Helms, Associate Pastor
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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