In our series looking at questions God asks us, today we focussed on the questions He asked Job in Job 38-42. We see from the book of Job many questions (from Job and his friends and from God to Job), but we also see that questions don’t automatically lead to neatly packaged answers. God seems to bombard Job with questions in these last chapters, asking over 70 questions related to creation and the natural world which might seem more at home in a David Attenborough documentary series than in the Bible! These questions ultimately demand answers that are beyond human understanding and ability. They mark God out as being sovereign over all, the Maker of heaven and earth, present at creation, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb 1:3) They reveal to Job his inadequacy and mortality, his humanity in all its frailty, and remind Him of the transcendence and omnipotence of God.
The questions posed in Job 40:8-9 show us how, in their questions, Job and his friends have discredited God’s justice and condemned Him in order to justify themselves. We so rarely see the bigger picture and understand our suffering in the context of eternity. God’s questions pierce our souls (see Heb 4:12). They result in Job’s repentance and true understanding of God’s greatness (Job 42:1-6), for God’s words are like living javelins, piercing us but also bringing unexpected healing. Paul reminds us that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom 8:18) and that we must fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18) Job is given a glimpse into the eternal plans of God and into His authority through the questions God asks Him. This leads to greater blessing than Job has previously known (Job 42:10, 16-17). We must never be afraid of God’s questions, even though they can be painful to bear!
