Thursday, September 12, 2024  

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Today's Scripture
Job 38:1–17

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’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? (NRSV)

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Reflection

Back in my Clinical Pastoral Education days, a classmate recalled a funny story of leading a youth group outing to a pond. On its bank were a few swans, and one had waddled up to the top of the embankment near the foot of a particular thirteen-year-old. The kid, in a fit of mischief, stuck out his foot and gently booted the swan, who rolled beak-over-tailfeather downhill. As the group continued its walk, the swan, regrouping from this insult, beelined for the “assailant” and pummeled him in retaliation. The schadenfreude of it all made us laugh.

Job’s plight is the reverse of schadenfreude; it is theodicy, posing the question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” Job’s good fortunes are reversed when God entertains “the adversary’s” challenge to test Job’s faithfulness. Job’s friends present theories about Job’s misfortune, imagining “hidden sins” for which he’s being punished. In essence, God declares, “Who are you to question me?”

Callous? Perhaps. Yet there is comfort in being reminded of the immensity of the cosmos, of the omnipotence of God, of how little we are, and how limited our knowledge. God, as a free agent, is in control.

I remember a dark time in my life when I turned to this text, seeking words to shout at God in my agony, only to find that being reminded that I am not the creator of the universe recentered my perspective on life and my place in the world. Mindfulness of my limited nature and God’s vastness gave me the peace to lean into the freedom that is found when in awe of God.

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Prayer
Almighty God, when we are tempted to seek ultimate satisfaction in the “why,” center us in the solace of the “who” that is you. Amen.

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Written by Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation

Reflection and Prayer© Fourth Presbyterian Church

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