20 June 2021

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?

Job 38:1,8-11, NRSV

Much of the book of Job consists of his lament over the sufferings and hardship that he both witnessed and directly experienced. Job had much to lament since he had lost everything – his house, wealth, family and even his health. In today’s reading, we hear the beginning of God’s response to Job’s long list of questions. God does not not respond with answers to Job’s questions but with rhetorical questions about the creation of the world and all its glories. These questions posed by God show that the human mind cannot fathom all the mysteries and purposes of God’s actions. God wants Job to set himself into this much bigger context and to develop a relationship of greater trust with God. Even if God had given responses to each of Jonah’s questions, this would not have been enough to satisfy his real longing. God knew that what Job really needed was to know that he had not been abandoned and that God still cared for him. Job needed to learn this lesson of recognising his human limits and allowing God to take care of the rest.

• • Why do you think God allowed Job to speak at great length before replying?
  • How are we to understand our own and others’ suffering?

Pray today for those who feel that they have been abandoned by God.