A theophany.
At length Job has his wish. He has been longing to meet with God and praying for God to reveal himself. The time has now come for God to hear his prayer and make his will known. This is far more important than man's speculations.
I. THE COMING OF GOD.
1. The time of his coming. God comes last. The three friends have had their say, reiterating till they weary us. Job has been free to vent his grief and his despair. Elihu, more enlightened, yet not quite attaining to the full light, has uttered his long harangue. All have said all they had to say, and throughout God has been silent. Now it is his time to appear. God will have the last word in every controversy, in every life's story, in the great world's history. "In the beginning God "In the end, too, there is God. Christ is the Alpha and also the Omega. We have but to wait in patience. The end is not yet; when it comes God reveals himself.
2. The manner of his coming. "Out of the whirlwind." When Elijah met God the Lord was not in the whirlwind. God uses various vehicles of revelation—the "still small voice" for Elijah, the whirlwind for Job. He is not tied down to any routine. He has no rigid ceremonies. He adapts his methods to circumstances and requirements. Anything God has made may be a chariot in which he will come to visit his people. Sometimes it is best for him to come in storm and tempest, to hush our vain babble and subdue our wayward spirit. The noisy debate of men is drowned in the whirlwind of God.
II. THE ACTION OF GOD. When he comes it is to answer Job.
1. For Job's sake. Then the first thought is of the patriarch. He is the central figure in the whole drama. But we might have thought that the three friends would have been rebuked first. Yet their condemnation is postponed. It is more necessary for Job to be relieved of his perplexity and led into a right state of mind.
2. An answer. Then God had heard what preceded. He may not make his presence manifest, but yet he is a silent Auditor at all our conferences, debates, quarrels. He hears our trusty words. He perceives our foolish doubts. God's treatment of us is not irrespective of our action. He takes account of all we do and say, and his action is adjusted accordingly. Thus God answers man. He meets the doubt, takes up the difficulty, handles the complaint, deals with the prayer, replies to the question. We may have to wait long for the answer. It may not come in this life. But as it came to Job, so at last, in God's time, it will assuredly come to us, and when it has come no more need be said. It will certainly be full, sufficient, satisfying.
3. In words. The Lord spoke out of the whirlwind. God usually answers us on earth by deeds of providence, or by the voiceless pleading of his Spirit in our hearts. But he has given us words in the messages that prophets have brought to us and that are recorded in the Bible. For us, however, God's great answer to every question and every prayer is the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. The gospel shows that God has not left us to work out our problems in the dark. It reveals God speaking to us, and his message in Christ is one to give light and peace.—W.F.A.
God's answer.
This is perplexing. When after long delays God has at length appeared, we expect him to clear up all doubts and to fully vindicate his providence to Job, while he also vindicates Job in the presence of the three friends. But God acts in a very different way, and rather seems to defend darkness and mystery than to shed light. Yet if we look into the matter carefully we shall see that all the light that could be given with profit comes through the new impression of awe and mystery that the language of God's reply produces.
I. IGNORANCE MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED AND HUMBLED. If anything had been most painfully apparent to Job throughout the whole debate, rousing his scorn as well as his anger, it was the fact that his three friends had "darkened counsel by words without knowledge." Now God wilt have Job see that even he has been making the same mistake. The perplexed patriarch has been throwing out a cloud of indignant words, but he has not really understood what he has been talking about. Such words have not helped to the explanation of things; on the contrary, they have been misleading, darkening counsel instead of throwing light upon it. Now, until Job perceives this, he cannot be led to a vision of reassuring truth. While we think we know, our ignorance is invincible. So long as we are satisfied with ourselves, we cannot receive the deliverance of God. The first lesson must reveal our ignorance and humble our pride.
II. MYSTERY MUST BE MANFULLY FACED. Job had lain groaning on his ash-heap. Let him now gird up his loins like a man. Humility should not be thought to exclude courage. We are most brave when we think least of ourselves. Now, a courageous facing of difficulty is necessary if we would conquer it. It is useless to rave against the mystery of life. Let us go up to it and confront it calmly. This is the second step to the conquest of moral and intellectual difficulties. But there may be a touch of irony in God's words to Job—merciful and not bitter, kindly meant, to complete his lesson of humility. Can the patriarch face the mystery? Let him try. It' he fails in the honest attempt, he will be in the very condition for receiving the help of a Divine revelation.
III. THOUGHT MUST BE ROUSED AND STIMULATED. Job had been questioning God; God will now question Job. God's first answer to Job is to request an answer from the patriarch. It is easy to put questions. We should be wiser if we listened to those that are addressed to us. The method of the reply to Job out of the whirlwind was fitted to awaken the thinking of the patriarch. We must learn to approach the mysteries of God with an open and an active mind. No help can come to us so long as we remain inert. Perhaps one effect of the awakening of thought will be to reveal our own littleness by the side of the awful greatness of God. This is what God's answer to Job seems designed to produce in his hearer. Then we can be no longer perplexed at mystery. We see we must expect it. At the same time, the greatness and goodness of God in his works teach us to trust him and not despair at the mystery.—W.F.A.