Who Are You? :: Job 38:4-18
You know the question. It is on the hearts, minds, and lips of every child young and old. Why? “Mom, why can’t I have pie for breakfast?”
If you lived in my house, you knew the answer ... “Because Dad ate it all!”
But why? We all are dying to know. Why can’t I drive 55?
Other times our children drill us, and we don’t know why. Then, we grow weary of being peppered with why. They want to know why, and they want to know now. And they want to know where, and when, and how? They want to know ... they demand to know ... why you can’t bake another pie.
When we refuse to give an answer, it’s not because we’re mean; it’s often because we know something our children don’t. We’ve learned an important lesson in the past ... gained an insight our kids might not understand.
And so ... we offer ... silence.
In our Old Testament reading, Job had asked our heavenly Father, “Why?” ... I suspect it was more like ... Whyyyyyy! And even, WHY!
And he got no answer. ... For 37 chapters ... there was nothing but silence.
Job was a righteous and upright man. That doesn’t mean he was sinless. That means he feared, loved, and trusted in the One True God above all things and that he turned away from the evil in his life. In other words, he is a man with personal integrity. He goes to church regularly. He studies the Bible with his pastor. He prays unceasingly. He hears the rhythms of the Psalms and sings them with joy. And when he falls short, he recognizes his sin and his need for a savior. Thanks be to God.
More than that Job teaches his family to fear, love, and trust in God, too. His godly character manifested itself in his concern for the spiritual welfare of his children. He taught his children to pray. He even offered burnt sacrifices to atone for their sins.
Yes, everything is going right for Job.
And then everything went wrong.
The Satan, that is the Devil, that is the Adversary, that is the Enemy, that is the Accuser, that is the Lord of Filth appeared before the Lord looking for someone to devour.
I bet, The Satan said to God, if you would stop blessing Job, he would curse you.
What happens next is just incomprehensible. Job’s wealth is snatched away ... 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 female donkeys ... all gone. Then all of Job’s servants are murdered. And his family ... seven sons and three daughters ... are killed instantly. And finally Job is stricken, smitten, and afflicted with disease.
It all hurts ... bad.
Things got so bad that his wife told him to curse God and to curl up and die.
But blessed be the Lord, he said.
I don’t know about you, but I want to know why?
Why did this happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good people suffer? Why do children die before their parents? Why does a good and loving and all-powerful God allow tragedy to befall us? WHY!
Today, I think it’s best if we follow the book of Job and don’t answer that question. Instead, hear this. The Lord God Almighty invites you to know ...
WHO YOU ARE IN LIGHT OF HIM.
I. When we remember Job, we usually think of that man with incredible faith, persevering under very difficult situations.
Yet in the end, God calls Job out for challenging him. In fact, two verses before our reading picks up, God says Job is one who darkens counsel by words without knowledge (38:2). In other words, Job is speaking of things he knows nothing about! God is saying to Job, Who are you?
That’s where our Old Testament reading picks up today.
Job didn’t comprehend the complexity of God’s amazing creation, from its vast dimensions to the intimate details of how God placed the precise limit for the seas and ordered the movements of the universe.
Instead, Job wanted to understand good and evil ... just like Adam and Eve. Job wanted to understand life. Job turned to his friends who thought and taught that if things are going well, then God must be blessing you ... but when things go wrong, well, God must be cursing you.
It’s terrible theology, completely unbiblical.
So God asks Job, who are you in light of him?
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements ... surely you know! Who set the boundaries? Who laid its cornerstone? Have you commanded the morning since your days began? Have you walked on water? Have you comprehended all this?
You don’t, do you?
That is the point.
Sometimes when we read and hear about these Old Testament characters such as Job, we then chastise them for their lack of faith, their imperfections and problems, without realizing how much we are like them.
II. We, too, may not be quite the people of faith we think we are.
We lean on our knowledge instead of our faith.
We place our trust in what we know or think is right, instead of on the one who is the source of all knowledge and faith. We begin to worship the god we create, the god of our imagination. We begin to worship science to protect our life. We begin to worship the god we call ourselves. We can provide for ourselves. We begin to think of ourselves as being better Christians than we actually are.
I mean, look at all of you. The vast majority of you are here every Sunday. One third of you participate in adult Bible study. Enough of you long for the Lord’s Supper every week that we really should have it every week. You confess your sins and recognize your need for a savior.
Just like Job.
Still our knowledge about God is incomplete. As he reminds us in Isaiah 55:8, For [his] thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [his] ways.
So God is speaking to each of us: Who are you ... you who think you know so much, who are you as if you think that knowledge makes me like you more.
If you are trusting in your knowledge, ask yourselves ... who are you in light of him?
Like Job, you actually know the answer.
III. We are forgiven sinners, and our God is our Redeemer who lives and reigns.
This forgiveness does not come from our knowledge of God or his creation, but as a gift from the one who created us, as a gift from the one who commands the wind and waves.
This forgiveness doesn’t come because our faith is strong enough to enable us to walk on the water until we become too frightened of the implications.
This forgiveness doesn’t come because we live a life of godliness.
This forgiveness does not come because we teach our children to pray.
This forgiveness has nothing to do with us.
What God has done goes against all logical explanations ... it flies in the face of all the prosperity preachers like Job’s friends. Like Job, all of us, every single one of us, see our sin and our need for a savior. And we all know Christ is he who says he is ... that truly he is the son of God.
This is a beautiful mystery. We have faith in Christ, and are saved as a result.
We cannot comprehend how a virgin would give birth to the Son of God, Jesus. We cannot comprehend how he would be God incarnate. We cannot understand how Jesus would rise from the dead, conquering sin, death, and the devil once for all. We cannot reason in our minds that water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word would create our saving faith in the promises of our Savior, Jesus. We cannot understand how our Lord Jesus Christ would ascend into heaven in the flesh ... and then give us his body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins at the same time. How does that happen?
But God doesn’t ask us to understand.
We deserve to be punished for our sin ... all of our sin ... but our Lord Jesus Christ stood in our place. He who knew no sin became sin for you so that all of God’s wrath could be poured out upon him instead of you. In a great exchange, your sins were forgiven and his righteousness was bestowed to you. That makes no sense.
You are now innocent so that God can have a right relationship with you.
But as if all of that wasn’t beyond reason enough ... Because of your baptism, where Christ united himself with you in his death and resurrection, you have been united with him in eternal life. And now our Lord Jesus is preparing a place for you in paradise, where you will be united with him forever ... not just in Spirit ... but in the flesh too ... when he raises all the dead and gives eternal life to all who believe in him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, You know that your Redeemer lives! And now because of this relationship born from above you will not be put to shame ... you are saved.
Thanks be to God ... You know who you are now.
So continue trusting in your Savior and calling on the name of the Lord. He who is faithful has forgiven you and set you free.