I have recently finished studying the book of Job, I have had more questions than I had the previous times i’ve read it. I’ve not had questions in any other book the way I’ve had with the book of Job and I think I know why. The book gives us a perspective of a person just like us, with a God like our God and people here and there who have an opinion of what or who our God is. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

It also hits home because it tells of the experience of believers in today’s reality, working with God, yet experiencing bouts of suffering and stopping to question God like “Hey, I’m doing literally all you say and ask, how is my life like this?”

I find it exciting that God didn’t speak for an entire 37 chapters of Jobs life and finally granted him an audible audience in the 38th chapter. And here’s the Almightys first question to Job (probably to us too as believers); “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” ~ Job‬ ‭38:2‬.

God asks this question after 37 chapters of Job and His friends lamenting and analysing the hand of God and His decisions. God brings it first to Jobs notice that His words have revealed a lack of knowledge that has obscured the plans of God.

And the Holy Spirit was speaking to me, He said that this is how we are when we pray or lament without knowledge and an understanding of God and His plans. We obscure them in our view and also in the view of others. From that first question, my heart began to plead, like “God, give me more knowledge of you and your plans”, I don’t want to obscure your plans to myself and also the people around me.

God then proceeded to declare to Job WHO HE IS. If you have read the book of Job, you’ll understand why that is in capital letters. God could have answered each of Jobs question from the beginning, but God took another route. A route to alter the knowledge and understanding of Himself in Job, which will help Job see His plans better.

This is what God often does for us believers, He uses circumstances and situations of life to alter the knowledge and understanding we might have about Him by answering the questions that we didn’t even think to ask.

In layman term, God used the next 4 chapters to brag about Himself, but not without a cause, but to show Job (and us) these 3 things;

1. He wanted to show Job how mindful and intentional He is with all His creation, from the least to the greatest. The creation with life and the one without. You would shiver reading the level of control God has over this universe. God used this to show Job that He was just as mindful, or even more about Him and His situation. God is mindful of you too right now, to the last detail.

2. He wanted Job to see his situation in the vastness of all the things that has Gods attention. Not to belittle Jobs suffering, but to stop Him from being conceited and proud. Sometimes our situations appear so big to us that we cannot even see other people or God clearly. God employs this strategy to show you what you worry about and how it matters in the grand scheme of things. This humbles us, hence why after Gods 4 chapters, Job could only respond in 5 verses despite having a lot to lament about in the previous 37 chapters.

3. Finally, God wanted to show Job his might and power so that it is not assumed that his situation is because of a lack of might. By now we must know that God never does anything without purpose. His nature in itself is purposeful so He has also created us with purpose which we daily live out. No situation in our lives should ever bring us to a place of questioning the power of God. It could be any other thing but never an issue of Gods power.

Job said something at the end that had my entire spirit on fire, and if it’s the only thing you learn from this blogpost or the entire book of Job, it is sufficient. Job declared to God that “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” ~‬ ‭42:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

After all said and done, in any situation we face in life, we must see God clearer and know Him better. We waste situations of life when we cannot point to how that situation helped us see God better. We must move from second hand knowledge (hearing), to experiential understanding of God (seeing). The disciples declared in Acts 4:20 that “we cannot stop speaking of what we have “seen and heard”, we also must see and hear, and you’ll find that we see best through situations and circumstances of life. So let’s embrace them, knowing that the God who knows how to number the clouds in the sky and gives the seas it’s perimeters, is also well aware of everything we face and will face.

Remember He knows the exact number of hair on your head right now, could He know that and deny knowing what troubles your heart?