Bittersweet Symphony

OPENING PRAYER:

God of Glory and God of Might, I see your beauty and majesty in the world you have created. How great you are.

READ: Job37

“At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. 2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. 4 After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. 5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. 6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ 7 So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor.[a] 8 The animals take cover; they remain in their dens. 9 The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. 10 The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. 11 He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. 12 At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. 13 He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love.

14 “Listen to this, Job;

stop and consider God’s wonders. 15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? 16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge? 17 You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind, 18 can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

19 “Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. 20 Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up? 21 Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. 22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. 24 Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?[b]”

Footnotes

[a] Job 37:7 Or work, / he fills all people with fear by his power

[b] Job 37:24 Or for he does not have regard for any who think they are wise.

Job 37

REFLECT:

‘Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him’ (John 7:18).

In this, Elihu’s last discourse, God’s mighty power and sovereignty over all things is the subject and the prelude to God himself speaking (chapter 38). At chapter end, Elihu stops as suddenly as he started, but not before highlighting the undeniable fact of Job’s miserable experience and God’s response to it: God is still in charge (vs 23,24).

Job’s complaint all along has been: where is God? Has he gone AWOL? Why hasn’t he helped? Doesn’t he care? Elihu answers these complaints in God’s absence. In a way, he almost does so to prepare Job for what is to come. But Job is listening to a man. What could Elihu say that Job could not have gleaned by his own wisdom?

How do we hear God speaking to us alongside his word in Scripture? Can we hear it in the voice of another telling us about the things of God? Do we notice the Holy Spirit’s blessings in our everyday experience? Do we see it in creation? Do we sense it in prayer? How does God’s awesome majesty make itself plain, so that we become ‘wise in heart’ (v 24)?

APPLY:

How might God be speaking to you today? In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Paul encourages us in our prayerful relationship with God. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you now.

I WILL STATEMENT:

I WILL start a conversation with my spouse about how I can love or respect them more.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Faithful One, I see your glory in the regularity of the seasons, the wonder of your creation. I am even more amazed that you know and love me.

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