Then the Lord answered Job

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: - Job 38v1

This simple statement is profound. I once read a book by a noted Christian auther who said that this should be printed like this.

THEN THE LORD ANSWERED JOB!

His reasoning was that this was so important that it should not escape us.

Why is this statement so important?

I think we can understand if we try to see it in a situation that we might grasp.

I enjoy a good discussion. I enjoy a good debate. I might even enjoy some good intellectual sparring at times.
But sometimes I get in a situation where I just stop responding. Sometimes the person you having a discussion with is just not worth the trouble. Sometimes you know that you are just wasting your time carrying it on any farther. As was once said ‘You cannot win in argument with an ignorant man,’ so sometimes you just don’t bother answering anymore.

When we look at this picture we see the picture of the all-powerful, eternal, and all-knowing God condescending to answer the questions of a mere mortal whose knowledge and perception are limited by his own tiny bubble of time and space.

Why would God even bother answering the man who was questioning Him? Why bother? Surely when compared to God Job was indeed an ignorant man.

Why? Because God loves us. He interacts with us because He cares. He took the time (I realise that He is not bound by time, but we get the point) to deal with Job because Job mattered to God.

God wanted Job to see the bigger picture. He wanted Job to see that it was not about him.

So far the whole book had been ‘He said this and he said that and he answered this and Job continued...’
But now God speaks and as Lucado puts it ‘Faces turns to the sky. Winds bend the trees. Neighbours plunge into storm shelters Cats scurry up the trees and dogs duck into the bushes.’ (From ‘The Great House of God’)

God condescends to speak to man. This is well worth our attention.