When God Responds to Our Laments – Job : 38-39

Difficult one

Following Job’s lamentations and questionings about his circumstances, one might expect that God would finally provide a detailed justification or explanation for Job’s suffering and losses.

Instead, to our surprise, God responds by launching into an extensive series of rhetorical questions.

It’s like receiving punishment from your father for what seems like no reason, and when you ask him why, instead of explaining, he responds by discussing his authority, position, and everything he has provided for the family.

This approach may seem puzzling at first, but there’s a deeper purpose behind it

…

1. To highlight the vast gap between divine and human knowledge

In the earlier chapters, Job questions God’s justice and makes repeated demands for an explanation of his suffering. Throughout the book, Job has expressed his belief that his afflictions are unjust, saying things like:

• “Show me where I have erred” (6:24)

• “Why have you made me your target?” (7:20)

• “I am innocent, yet God denies me justice” (throughout chapters 9-10)

• “I desire to argue my case with God” (13:3)

In chapter 31, Job presents a comprehensive defense of his righteousness, challenging God to answer him and explain why such suffering has befallen someone who has lived virtuously.

God’s response in chapters 38-39 doesn’t directly address Job’s specific complaints, but instead reframes the entire conversation by highlighting the vast difference between human and divine knowledge, wisdom, and power.

God opens His response to Job with a powerful declaration: “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” (38:2-3).

Kon hai tu?

—the contrast between limited human knowledge and God’s infinite wisdom. God’s questions to Job reveal this knowledge gap in several ways:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (38:4). Job wasn’t present at creation and lacks the perspective to understand God’s purposes from beginning to end.

God asks about controlling lightning, storing snow, and directing rain – all natural processes beyond human control or complete understanding.

God isn’t trying to make Job feel small or stupid. Instead, He’s helping Job see things differently.

While our human understanding is valuable, it has clear limits because we’re confined to time and space, unlike God, who exists beyond these limitations.

It’s like we’re placed in a square room with just one window. What we see is limited. We might observe a dog chasing a boy and draw many conclusions about what’s happening, but we can never know the complete truth until we step outside that room and see beyond that single window’s perspective.

Gospel

The same vast gap between divine and human wisdom that we see in God’s response to Job is also powerfully displayed throughout the Gospel narratives. Consider these examples:

• The disciples repeatedly misunderstood Jesus’ mission, expecting a political Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule, while Jesus knew He came to establish a spiritual kingdom (Mark 10:35-45)

• Peter rebuked Jesus for predicting His own death, prompting Jesus to respond, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mark 8:31-33)

• The religious leaders, despite their theological expertise, failed to recognize God incarnate in their midst (John 1:10-11)

• The disciples were confused by Jesus’ teaching that the first shall be last and the last first (Matthew 20:16)

Jesus Himself emphasized this wisdom gap when He prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25)

Paul later articulated this profound truth in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, explaining that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The cross itself—God’s ultimate solution to human suffering and sin— appeared as foolishness to human wisdom.

This Gospel perspective reinforces what Job learned: that divine wisdom operates on a plane far beyond human understanding, and that salvation comes not through comprehending God’s ways fully, but through trusting the God whose ways transcend our understanding.

Application: When faced with suffering or injustice, we naturally demand explanations.

These chapters remind us that our perspective is limited. This doesn’t mean we should stop seeking understanding, but it calls us to humility – recognizing that some divine purposes may remain beyond our comprehension in this life.

2. To reveal that creation operates on principles beyond mere human justice and retribution

“Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let my accuser write out the charges against me.” (Job 31:35)

This was Job’s boldest statement, essentially demanding that God appear in court to justify the suffering inflicted on him. Job was so confident in his innocence that he signed his name to his defense and challenged God to respond with specific charges against him.

In chapters 38-39, God does respond – but not with the legal proceeding Job expected.

Instead of addressing Job’s specific complaints or explaining why he suffered, God shifts the entire framework of the conversation.

God demonstrates that Job’s expectation for divine justification based on human standards of justice was fundamentally misguided.

One of the most profound insights from God’s speech to Job is that don’t you see creation doesn’t always follow the simple cause-and-effect relationship that humans expect, that righteousness leads to prosperity while wickedness leads to suffering.

Consider God’s descriptions of:

• The rain that falls “on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man” (38:26) – God’s provision extends beyond human need or desert

• The ostrich that “deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers” (39:16). Animal behavior that seems illogical or even cruel by human standards

• The hawk that “soars by your wisdom” (39:26) – Natural instincts that operate according to divine design rather than human instruction

These examples demonstrate that creation follows God’s wisdom rather than human expectations of justice.

Javed Akhtarʼs observation:

Have you noticed there is no concept of justice among animals in the natural world? They hunt, kill, and consume one another according to their instincts and survival needs, without any moral judgment being applied to their actions. The predator isn’t considered “evil” for catching its prey, nor is the prey viewed as “innocent” or “deserving of protection.” Animals simply follow the natural order established at creation, operating within ecological systems designed by God, and no creature faces punishment or moral condemnation for fulfilling its natural role in this divinely orchestrated balance of nature.

The universe isn’t organized primarily around human concerns or moral categories. The lion hunts prey not because the prey deserves punishment, but because God has designed an ecological system with predators and prey.

God describes animals whose behaviors puzzle human observers, demonstrating that even within the observable world, much remains mysterious.

Application: When we face suffering, we often instinctively ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” God’s speech suggests this may be the wrong question. Instead of always seeking moral causes for our circumstances, we might better ask, “How can I encounter God within this situation?”

Job’s suffering was not a punishment for sin, but instead became the context for a deeper revelation of God’s character and wisdom. Similarly, our sufferings may serve purposes within God’s creation that transcend simple moral causality.

3. To invite Job into a relationship based on trust rather than understanding

Throughout God’s response to Job, we see an invitation to trust rather than merely understand. This is evident in several ways:

• God’s questions don’t provide explanations for Job’s suffering but redirect his focus to the trustworthiness of the Creator

• God reveals His intimate knowledge and care for creation, suggesting that this same care extends to Job despite appearances
• Rather than defending His justice in abstract terms, God demonstrates His wisdom through concrete examples of provision
• God doesn’t rebuke Job for his questions but invites him into a deeper contemplation of divine wisdom

The essence of God’s response is captured in His repeated refrain: “Do you know?” and “Can you?” These questions aren’t meant to shame Job but to lead him toward a profound realization: even without understanding the “why” behind his suffering, Job can trust the “who” – the God whose wisdom orchestrates the universe.

This invitation to a relationship transforms Job’s experience.

Before God speaks, Job demands answers and justification. After encountering God’s wisdom, Job declares, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (42:5).

The transformation isn’t from ignorance to knowledge but from knowledge about God to knowing God personally.

Gospel Connection: The Gospel narrative itself invites us into a relationship based on trust rather than complete understanding in several profound ways:

• Jesus frequently taught in parables that puzzled even His closest disciples, who often asked, “Explain this parable to us” (Matthew 13:36). Rather than making His teaching immediately clear, Jesus used stories that required reflection and trust.
• When Thomas demanded physical proof of the resurrection, Jesus gently responded, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” John 20:29), highlighting the value of faith that transcends empirical verification.
• In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus modeled trust amidst suffering when He prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42), choosing submission to the Father’s wisdom rather than demanding to understand the necessity of His suffering.

“We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

“Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Ultimately, the Cross itself stands as the supreme example of God’s invitation to trust beyond understanding. To human wisdom, “the word of the cross is folly” (1 Corinthians 1:18), yet through this seemingly foolish means, God accomplishes our salvation. We are invited not to fully comprehend how Christ’s death atones for our sins, but to trust that it does.

Application: In our suffering, we often prioritize explanation over relationship. We demand to know why God allows pain, assuming that understanding would bring comfort.

God’s response to Job suggests that even complete theological understanding wouldn’t satisfy our deepest need, which is for God Himself.

Rather than exhaustive explanations, God offers His presence and the invitation to trust His wisdom even when it remains partially veiled to us.

True comfort comes not from having all our questions answered but from knowing the One who holds all answers.

Conclusion

When faced with life’s inevitable sufferings and questions, we can apply several key principles from God’s response to Job:

1. Embrace Mystery as Part of Faith

God never condemns Job for asking questions, but He does invite him to recognize the limitations of human understanding. In our information-saturated age, we often demand complete explanations. True wisdom includes the humility to acknowledge that some aspects of God’s ways remain mysterious to us. This isn’t a call to blind faith but to a mature faith that can hold both questioning and trusting together.

2. Find Comfort in God’s Detailed Care

Notice how intimately God knows each creature He describes—from the lion’s hunting patterns to the eagle’s nesting habits. This same God who attends to the needs of wild animals surely attends to our needs with even greater care. When we feel forgotten in our suffering, we can remember that the God who counts the stars also counts our tears.

Jesus beautifully illustrates this principle in the Sermon on the Mount when He says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

(Matthew 6:26). Similarly, He points to “the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28-29). Through these natural examples, Jesus reinforces the same truth God revealed to Job—that the Creator who attends to the smallest details of nature surely cares for His human creation with even greater attentiveness and love.

3. Shift from “Why?” to “Who?”

Job began by asking why he suffered. God redirects him to consider who governs the universe. This shift doesn’t trivialize our questions but places them in a larger context. Rather than fixating on explanations that may elude us, we can anchor ourselves in the character of God revealed throughout Scripture and creation.

4. Seek God’s Presence, Not Just Answers

The ultimate resolution to Job’s suffering wasn’t an explanation but an encounter. God’s presence, not His explanations, brought Job peace.

In our struggles, the deepest comfort comes not from having all our questions answered but from experiencing God’s presence amid our questions.

In the end, what Job received was greater than the answers he sought—he received God Himself. And this is the great promise extended to us as well. Our unanswered questions may remain, but they need not prevent us from experiencing the presence of the God who holds all wisdom and who invites us into a relationship with Him.

Let us respond as Job eventually did—not with continued demands for explanation, but with humble worship of the God whose wisdom permeates every aspect of creation, including our own lives with their joys and sorrows.