God Answers Job

There are many days I identify with Job.  However, Job was a righteous man and I lack much in the virtuous category. Yet, in his misery he questioned God.  In my misery I scream at God and can be defiant. Below is God's response to a righteous man. I am terrified of what He'd say to me.

 

 

Job 38

The LORD Speaks

¹ Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

² “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

³ Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,⁹ when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, ¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹² “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, ¹³ that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

¹⁵ The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷ Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

¹⁸ Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

²⁰ Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

²¹ Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,²³ which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

²⁴ What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

²⁵ Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, ²⁶ to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,²⁷ to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

²⁸ Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens ³⁰ when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

³² Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

³⁵ Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶ Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?

³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens ³⁸ when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions ⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?

⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Job 39

¹ “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

² Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

³ They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

⁴ Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

⁵ “Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?

⁶ I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.

⁷ It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.

⁸ It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.

⁹ “Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?

¹⁰ Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?

¹¹ Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?

¹² Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

¹⁴ She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, ¹⁵ unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶ She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain, ¹⁷ for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

¹⁸ Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

²⁰ Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?

²¹ It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.

²² It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.

²³ The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

²⁴ In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

²⁵ At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

²⁶ “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?

²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?

²⁸ It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.

²⁹ From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar.

³⁰ Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”

Job 40

¹ The LORD said to Job: ² “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”

³ Then Job answered the LORD: ⁴ “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. ⁵ I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.”

⁶ Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: ⁷ “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

⁸ “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?

¹⁰ Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, ¹² look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.

¹³ Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.

¹⁴ Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵ “Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.

¹⁶ What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly!

¹⁷ Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.

¹⁸ Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron.

¹⁹ It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

²⁰ The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.

²¹ Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

²² The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it.

²³ A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.

²⁴ Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?

Job 41

¹ “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?

² Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?

³ Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?

⁴ Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?

⁵ Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

⁶ Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?

⁷ Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?

⁸ If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

⁹ Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.

¹⁰ No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?

¹¹ Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

 ¹² “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.

¹³ Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

¹⁴ Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?

¹⁵ Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; ¹⁶ each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.

¹⁷ They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.

¹⁸ Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹ Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.

²⁰ Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

²¹ Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.

²² Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.

²³ The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

²⁴ Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵ When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.

²⁶ The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

²⁷ Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.

²⁸ Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.

²⁹ A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

³⁰ Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹ It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

³² It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.

³³ Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.

³⁴ It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

Job 42

¹ Then Job replied to the LORD:

² “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

³ You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
⁴ “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’
⁵ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
⁶ Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”