“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1). Throughout the book we have seen Job pleading for God to meet him face to face so that he could make his case before the Almighty: and at last it’s about to happen.

But what will God say? “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (38:2). That doesn’t sound like too promising a beginning. Several commentators actually take it to be a quick rebuke against Elihu, who was the person speaking in the previous chapter. It could be like a dismissive wave of the hand – “who is this?” – to silence Elihu’s claim to be the one with perfect knowledge. Yet most readers take these words as directed to Job himself, along with what follows: “Gird up your loins like a man. I will question you, and you shall declare to me” (38:3).

So Job’s hope that he will have a chance to put his case to God is fulfilled: Job will get to do question-and-answer with the Almighty. But it seems the questions are coming from God, and they will cover quite a bit of material: earth science and oceanology (38:4-18), meteorology (38:22-30, 34-38), astronomy (38:31-33), and a lot of zoology (38:39-39:30, 40:15-41:34). It is a wide-ranging examination, and it is unlikely that Job – or any of us – will score well on it.

This “nature walk” offers a lot of vivid detail, but by showing the extent of God’s power and knowledge compared to our weakness and ignorance, it reminds us of what Bildad told us (25:1-6): in the end, God is really big, and humans are really small. Wait, does that mean God’s explanation to Job turns out to be the same as what Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu had all said? No. There is something much better than that coming in tomorrow’s reading. (I can hardly wait.)

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Compared to the vastness of your creation we are quite small, O Lord: small in power and small in knowledge: yet you call us to stand in your presence, and to be ready to converse with you. Grant us diligence and faithfulness, that we may indeed be ready.

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