The drama began on an ash heap (Job 2:8), and it ends on an ash heap (42:6). As someone once wrote: we have a birth date and a death date, but our entire life unfolds in the dash between these two dates. For Job, the dates were reversed. In chapter 2, Job thought his life had ended. “Why was I not stillborn, buried without a second thought, a child that never saw the light of day?” he asked in 3:8. His life story sounded like a lament psalm, with the refrain, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me and stayed far away when I cried for help?” (Ps 42:2). Why? Why?
But near the end, Job’s story sounds different. He declares, “I had only heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes” (42:5-6). Almost as if he’s saying, “If only I had known You earlier as I know You now!” The psalm that surely best describes this “new” Job’s life sounds like Psalm 131:1-2: “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. I have found peace and calm. … I have found contentment.”
Job did not receive answers from God to his questions about suffering; Job received much more. Answers usually only raise new questions. There is only one way in which the “peace that transcends all understanding” can come upon you, and that is through meeting the One who dares to say, “Be still and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted in the earth” (Ps 46:10).
When you get to know this God, nothing else matters.
PRAYER: You are our refuge and our protection. From Job’s time until now!
MUSIC:
We watch a live video recording of the Psalm group Shane & Shane’s performance of Psalm 46.
From the lyrics:
Oh, come behold the works of God, the nations at His feet
He breaks the bow and bends the spear
And tells the wars to cease
Oh, mighty One of Israel, You are on our side
We walk by faith in God who burns the chariots with fire
Lord of Hosts, You’re with us
With us in the fire
With us as a shelter
With us in the storm
You will lead us
Through the fiercest battle
Oh, where else would we go
But with the Lord of Hosts
Oh, God of Jacob, fierce and great
You lift Your voice to speak
The earth, it bows
And all the mountains move into the sea
Oh Lord, You know the hearts of men
And still You let them live
Oh God, who makes the mountains melt
Come wrestle us and win
Oh God, who makes the mountains melt
Come wrestle us and win
Though oceans roar, You are the Lord of all
The One who calms the wind and waves and makes my heart be still
Though the earth gives way, the mountains move into the sea
The nations rage, I know my God is in control