Job 38:1-4 -- On Challenging God

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."
Job 38:1-4


I like this rebuke by the Lord to Job that actually goes on for a few chapters before we get to Job repenting. I think it reminds us of an important point... compared to God we are nothing. Similar to what we read in Helaman 12: "O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth." Talking to God and learning from him is a good thing, but questions are not the same as criticism and challenging his wisdom and sanity... those are obviously unwise.

Now, let's put that "nothingness" in perspective. God loves us, finds value in us, and we have fairly limitless *potential* as his children. We should have hope and never give up working to be better and improve. But still, we're like toddlers wandering around and breaking things, or worse, in comparison, and we have a long, long way to go before we grow up. Luckily, we have eternity, and God has enough patience to help us grow up. :)

God is so much cooler than we are that we have zero justification in challenging him. That's a wise addendum to the basics of loving him and loving the people around us. :) Job had been through a lot, but his testing and trials led to even more blessings and a better and wiser Job in the end... and so it is with us. We definitely have a tendency to see only our own limited perspectives, which is perhaps understandable as mere mortals, but when we start blaming God for the tests and trials that we need, and demand lives without any challenges, tragedies, or growth opportunites, we're off track and assuming that we know better than God, which I think we have already established, is crazy talk. All of us are symbolically Job. He got a better life than before--plus in the resurrection he'll get everything else back too. Our stories will all eventually be happy endings as well, even though we have to suffer through some of the middle chapters sometimes where the hero faces the the dragon or loses a hand or whatnot. Today, let's trust God and stick with his plans and plotlines. He is the author of all things, and his way is definitely the right way, even when it is hard.