Daily Devotional • September 15
A Reading from Job 38:1, 18-41
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25 “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
28 “Has the rain a father,
or who has fathered the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
or given understanding to the mind?
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
38 when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in their covert?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Meditation
After 37 long chapters of the Almighty’s deafness toward Job’s complaint, the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind. Although “answered” is the correct translation, it’s definitively not what God does; he asks.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?”
“Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain?”
“Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?”
God is a fan of asking questions:
“Who told you you are naked?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Why do you say that I am good?”
“Who do you say that I am?”
It is often an indication that someone has forgotten their place in the world. God is eager to remind them. God is God. It is he who hath made us and not we ourselves. And when misfortune comes we forget who we are: creation, formed of the dust, full of the very Spirit of God. God’s questions to Job are chastening, yes, but they also give him the opportunity to rest, to stop the rat race of theodicy, and remember that he still (despite the evidence to the contrary) has the whole world in his hands.
Chase Benefiel is a friend, Tennesseean, preacher, and student (in that order) currently finishing his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee