“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” - Job 38:1-3

Were you expecting this? “Dress for action like a man” is a call to combat: Job has challenged the LORD, and the LORD has arrived to call him on it. Remember what caused Job’s misery to begin with – look back in chapters 1 and 2 if you need a refresher. Job was a man in whom the LORD found no fault, yet now he’s called to account. So was Elihu right, that Job was speaking wickedly about the LORD? Read the rest of the LORD’s answer, and discover.

As always, notice what gets repeated: the LORD always speaks out of the whirlwind… Twice the LORD commands Job to “Dress for action like a man…” and twice He rebukes Job’s friends: “…you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” Furthermore, the LORD’s entire answer to Job is devoted to His role in creation: just swim in the details from the world of living things, of weather, of geology and of the cosmos.

In the middle of today’s reading, the LORD asks Job a question: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” Job does in fact answer: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth…” Job’s closing statement mirrors this attitude: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

At the end of today’s reading – which concludes the book of Job – you’re allowed to answer the question: Is there resolution? Or is it sufficient that Job is now content to see the One of whom he has heard? Is it also sufficient that the LORD has acquitted Job, who has spoken of Him what is right? This is wisdom literature. The LORD is the subject, the primary actor, and the Author of the story. It is our choice, like it is Job’s, to engage and be satisfied.

Our verse for this week is Luke 16:13: No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Job 39 through 42. Now let’s read it!