Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
– Job 38:1-18
Devotion
Job has been requesting a meeting with God and now he gets one. God comes out of a storm and begins to speak to Job. However, instead of answering Job’s questions God chooses to challenge him. When God says “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” and “Brace yourself like a man” (or woman), one must assume that a tongue lashing is about to take place. Over the next few chapters, God will rebuke Job by asking him more than 70 questions illustrating His greatness and Job’s relative subjection to the Father. God begins here in chapter 38 by using some of the most spectacular creation language in the Bible.
The Big Question
Job does not turn from God nor does he curse Him. He does, however, question God’s fairness due to his ill treatment. God’s response reminds us of His greatness. Have you contemplated God’s greatness? It is sometimes easy to think about God but not feel the overwhelming gravity of who he really is and what he has done. When is the last time you marveled at His creation? Do you give God the reverence that He deserves?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what you have learned.