The Lessons of Job: We May Never Know Why

Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

Job 42:1,5

The Lord’s speech out of the whirlwind is over. Only once has He stopped for a breath and Job dared to speak: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” (40:4). 

As the Lord has spoken of the miracles and wonders of creation, Job comes to his senses. To think of He who can give orders to the morning (38:12), father the drops of dew (38:28), get the great Bear and her cubs to come out and play (38:31, MSG), and command the eagle’s flight (39:27). Let’s just say, I too am brought to my knees in the hush of a starlit night or the spray of a cascading waterfall. 

Job’s eyes were opened wider and wider to the omnipotence of God. He was better able to enter the mystery of his suffering, and to have faith in God, not in an explanation. Like Job, I may never know nor understand what is going on behind the scenes. However, that I know there was something transpiring in the heavenlies that Job had no knowledge of, strangely comforts me. 

Following the untimely death of his six-year-old daughter, Levi Lusko writes: “Grief has the ability to enhance our spiritual senses. …God’s whisper is often amplified in the deafening roar of death and loss. …It’s like a misaligned lens deep in our souls is suddenly jolted into place…we start looking at life through the lens of faith.” Take Back Your Life study guide, p.42. 

We would dearly love to live our life pain free; but since it seldom is so, best we learn to appreciate the grit. “As we visit the pearl fisheries, we find that life without pain leaves no pearl; that the life lived in sluggish ease, unwounded, without suffering or long continued friction forms no jewel.” December 15, Springs in the Valley, Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.

There was a time when I had only heard of you Lord; but now that I see your wonders, I repent of myself. The deeper I dive into what you can do, I begin to grasp just who you are and accept that no plan of yours can be derailed (thwarted). It is you who offers a hand up out of the pit of despair into your light. 

Nancy P