Years ago there was an ad campaign for an investment firm with a tag line everyone who had a tv knew and joked about in conversations with friends. “When EF Hutton talks, people listen!” The commercial would show a huge noisy dinner party of the rich or a crowded business setting.  When a certain individual spoke about EF Hutton; a silence came over the room and all ears leaned in to listen to his words.

Oh friends, if only we would all stop our talk and activities as soon as we hear our Lord speak. If only we would put down what we hold in our hands and lean in to listen with a heart ready to embrace all that God has to say to us that will always be for our good and His glory!  If only, we would listen in as energetically and enthusiastically as we would a prominent celebrity, a well-known leader, or a family member who is full of wisdom and trusted for good advice. If only we would get our hands on everything God has to say so we can memorize it to gain wisdom and knowledge to avoid the Enemy of God and to live more abundantly with God as our Life Source! God is above all humans, especially those who think they know more than God.

Throughout the book of Job we have read of Job’s misery, his crying out to God for mercy with knowledge of what caused his pain and suffering.  We read the long speeches of his “friends” who accused, judged, and convicted Job of his apparent but unknown sins. We read of Job’s responses to them and to God who he trusted above all.  The last friend, Elihu, was the longest and the most pious in his passionate plea to Job to repent of his sins against God by asking honest questions about his sudden calamities.  Job went silent.  God had been silent through all the questioning by Job.  He was silent as Job’s nosey neighbors spoke,

So, now God steps into Job’s circumstances to speak into the silence of his servant Job for all to listen.  Shh, when God speaks, listen!

Job 38

The Lord Speaks

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

² “Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge?
³ Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,
¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹² “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,
¹³ that it might take the earth by the edges
    and shake the wicked out of it?
¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
    its features stand out like those of a garment.
¹⁵ The wicked are denied their light,
    and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been shown to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ “What is the way to the abode of light?
    And where does darkness reside?
²⁰ Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
²¹ Surely you know, for you were already born!
    You have lived so many years!

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
    or seen the storehouses of the hail,
²³ which I reserve for times of trouble,
    for days of war and battle?
²⁴ What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
    or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
²⁵ Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
    and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁶ to water a land where no one lives,
    an uninhabited desert,
²⁷ to satisfy a desolate wasteland
    and make it sprout with grass?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Who fathers the drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
³⁰ when the waters become hard as stone,
    when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
    Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
³² Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
    or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens?
    Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
³⁵ Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who gives the ibis wisdom
    or gives the rooster understanding?
³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
³⁸ when the dust becomes hard
    and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
    and satisfy the hunger of the lions
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in a thicket?
⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven
    when its young cry out to God
    and wander about for lack of food?

Job 39

“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
² Do you count the months till they bear?
    Do you know the time they give birth?
³ They crouch down and bring forth their young;
    their labor pains are ended.
⁴ Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
    they leave and do not return.

⁵ “Who let the wild donkey go free?
    Who untied its ropes?
⁶ I gave it the wasteland as its home,
    the salt flats as its habitat.
⁷ It laughs at the commotion in the town;
    it does not hear a driver’s shout.
⁸ It ranges the hills for its pasture
    and searches for any green thing.

⁹ “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
    Will it stay by your manger at night?
¹⁰ Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
    Will it till the valleys behind you?
¹¹ Will you rely on it for its great strength?
    Will you leave your heavy work to it?
¹² Can you trust it to haul in your grain
    and bring it to your threshing floor?

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
    though they cannot compare
    with the wings and feathers of the stork.
¹⁴ She lays her eggs on the ground
    and lets them warm in the sand,
¹⁵ unmindful that a foot may crush them,
    that some wild animal may trample them.
¹⁶ She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
    she cares not that her labor was in vain,
¹⁷ for God did not endow her with wisdom
    or give her a share of good sense.
¹⁸ Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
    she laughs at horse and rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse its strength
    or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
²⁰ Do you make it leap like a locust,
    striking terror with its proud snorting?
²¹ It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
    and charges into the fray.
²² It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
    it does not shy away from the sword.
²³ The quiver rattles against its side,
    along with the flashing spear and lance.
²⁴ In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
    it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
²⁵ At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
    It catches the scent of battle from afar,
    the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

²⁶ “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
    and spread its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command
    and build its nest on high?
²⁸ It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
    a rocky crag is its stronghold.
²⁹ From there it looks for food;
    its eyes detect it from afar.
³⁰ Its young ones feast on blood,
    and where the slain are, there it is.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When God speaks; listen.  God who created each one of us, loves us relentlessly, and cares for us reminds us who he is to all who will listen every single day of our lives. Are we looking and listening?  We are a dull people when we allow the anxieties of performing the tasks of ordinary life to override our knowledge of God who created the world with just a few words of command and who loves and cares for us deeply and consistently.

God speaks through Max Lucado, pastor, writer, theologian to us today:  Listen!

“Job could not require God to give answers. Instead, through rhetorical questions, God revealed his power and perfection to Job. Job and his friends needed to decide how they would respond to God.

Elihu told Job that God was too powerful to communicate with people. God proved Elihu wrong by speaking to Job.

“God, why is this happening to me?”

So God speaks.

Out of the thunder, he speaks. Out of the sky, he speaks. For all of us who would put ditto marks under Job’s question and sign our names to it, he speaks.

He speaks out of the storm and into the storm, for that is where Job is. That is where God is best heard.

God’s voice thunders in the room. Elihu sits down. Job sits up. And the two will never be the same again.

“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” (38:2).

Job doesn’t respond.

“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (38:3).

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand” (38:4).

One question would have been enough for Job, but it isn’t enough for God.

Questions rush forth. They pour like sheets of rain out of the clouds. They splatter in the chambers of Job’s heart with a wildness and a beauty and a terror that leave every Job who has ever lived drenched and speechless, watching the Master redefine who is who in the universe.

God’s questions aren’t intended to teach; they are intended to stun. They aren’t intended to enlighten; they are intended to awaken. They aren’t intended to stir the mind; they are intended to bend the knees.

Finally, Job’s feeble hand lifts, and God stops long enough for him to respond. “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more” (40:4–5).

“Who has a claim against me that I must pay?” God declares in the crescendo of the wind. “Everything under heaven belongs to me” (41:11).

Job couldn’t argue. God owes no one anything. No explanations. No excuses. No help. God has no debt, no outstanding balance, no favors to return. God owes no man anything.

Which makes the fact that he gave us everything even more astounding.

Consider your understanding of God. Do you acknowledge God as the almighty Creator and absolute authority? Can you accept his love and special concern for you? Today, take note of events or insights that remind you of these truths. Tonight, prayerfully reflect on God’s greatness.”—Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

Lord God of All,

With a repentant heart and humbled attitude; I’m listening.  YOU are God. I am not.  To you be the glory, honor, and praise. 

In Jesus Name, Amen