Job (38 – 42) reminds me of when I was much younger. I would tell mama to give me my money after a guest left and dashed me something. Or that when I grow up I will pay her for everything. Sometimes, after she had bought me a lot of things, I still insisted on something specific. If she said she had no money, I would remind her to use the money so-and-so gave me. Or that she should give it to me. Other times, I would remind her of how much change was left of MY MONEY when she bought me a snack. She would always ask “oh really! can you pay for my time and energy? My carrying you for 9 months, nursing you, feeding you, clothing you…”.
Of course, it always got me silent. So, to think of God asking Job “where were you…” in 38vs21 “do you know it because you were born then or because the number of your days is great? is hilarious. How sarcastic! This is the God of the universe who created Job. He knows his beginning and his end; the number of his days and the hairs on his head.
But also, when God asks Job to prepare himself like a man or gird up his loins like a man, it’s like preparing for battle. But who can ever fight God and win? It speaks to God allowing man to have a say too. He allows man to make his case and to defend himself. It speaks to who a man is – one who bears the responsibility of having to protect, shield, fight for his own. In those days. men, not women, went for war. Being a man meant you were expected to be strong, powerful, fearless, battle-ready.
God calls Job to take his place as a MAN and face him. I literally read it as “Job be bold, be courageous, be strong and fight me”.
But after God was done, Job realised who he was, just mere dust who would return to dust. He saw how finite he was in the light of this infinite Being, this universe of a being because all things have Him as their source and nothing exists outside of Him or without Him knowing.
Like little girl me, I come to see how I am nothing without my mum. How much I need her more than she needs me. How much I depend on her for every need of mine. And all of a sudden, I realise that my 20 cedis is nothing. And I can never attempt to repay her for even the smile she offered me the first time she held me in her arms.
Job comes to see the same. How much of nothing he is before this magnificent God. And so do we, when we ponder on His greatness and realise that without Him, we are NOTHING! One of the evidence of this nothingness is found in Chapter 38:12. “Have you commanded the morning since your days began?”. Did Job, and indeed all of us, have an idea how he came to be? How his cells, tissues, ligaments, bones, organs were formed? But funny that we think God who created us and knows the number of our days, cannot solve our problems. Problems that are as finite as our days.
The God who “laid the foundations of the earth”. This Being who “set limits for the sea”. He who catches every sparrow that falls. The Almighty who sees “the doors of the shadow of death”. The God who makes “the horse devour distance with fierceness and rage”. And yet gives the ostrich the ability “to scorn the horse and its rider”. This creative power that put wisdom in the mind and gives understanding to the heart. This God! Why do we think He is incapable of catching our tears as they sneak out of the corner of our eyes.
My mum, given her scarce resources, limited knowledge and wearing out strength, could definitely not solve all my problems. Oh, I remember the many nights she stayed by my bed praying her beloved whenever I was sick that God might heal me and give me my health back.
Even then, little girl me, recognised that my mum, who I looked up to for my every need, had her limits. That she could manage to pay my bills at the hospital or pay for other needs with something more than my 20cedis. But still, she couldn’t do it all because ultimate optimum health came from somewhere else beyond her or her resources.
Job came to realise that God gave him all he had prior to his misfortunes. He realised that God could do over and beyond what his wildest imagination could ever conceive. Like my mama, he too, was a mere mortal and limited infinitely.
The discourse between God and Job, reveals to us the kind of God we serve. It also shows us the reason why staying at His feet is the best place any man can ever be. Like in some movies a parent turns to a disrespectful child and says “who the heck do you think you are”. When they think they own a room and can play loud music, bring in friends or do whatever and the parent reminds them it’s not their house and that they don’t actually own a room. I remember in one movie the child said she wanted her privacy and the parent took the door off for days haha.
I guess that’s what God did with Job.
When we doubt, it’s the same thing. We say our problem is bigger than God or we reduce Him to an incapable God and therefore a liar. But the Bible says that God is not man that He should lie. Which means whether our problem is like that of Job, Abraham, Esther, Hannah, the woman with the issue of blood or the woman caught in adultery, His hand is not too short to save or deliver us. He is the God who “can do everthing” (Job 42:2).
All He asks of us is childlike trust; complete self-abandonment to Him and Him alone.
Witty writing
Thank you