From the Whirlwind

The answer? Presence and proximity.

I’ll try not to go on and on about Job 38, but it’ll be tough. Forgive me.

After 35 long chapters of human speeches, we finally hear from God. The narrator says, Then the Lord answered Job…

But be careful not to look for answers. The word here does mean that God took the next turn in speaking, but it does not mean that God will directly answer all of Job’s questions. God’s tactic in responding feels a lot like when people ask Jesus questions. He responds with more questions and paints word pictures - not quite a full parable, but certainly parabolic in nature. Literally (and literarily!).

For almost four chapters, God will speak.

In this first one, the first half of his longer speech, God speaks about the keys of the universe, asking Job if he holds them. There is a sense of spoken sovereignty here. It can feel like it has a twist of sarcasm, perhaps annoyance. However it feels emotionally, it is clear and it is direct.

I need this speech right now. Badly. The word here from God doesn’t provide answers to all our problems. Not exactly, at least. But it does feel like God is answering as if to say, “Job, there’s a lot going on and you can’t handle it all.”

The first verse says, Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. Maybe this is not just frilly, poetic imagery. I would like to say that it is descriptively theological in character.

The whirlwind.

Does life ever feel like that to you? You feel it and touch it, but you may not grasp it. Yet God speaks from it. That is not a specific answer for your suffering or my confusion. But it is a general one. And if we sit with it, it can help.

Jesus sends his disciples out with authority to heal and proclaim the kingdom, and they return having seen real, tangible results. Yet even there, clarity is not complete. Crowds gather, questions remain, and people are still trying to figure out who Jesus is. It’s a different kind of whirlwind - less cosmic, more human - but just as full of movement, need, and uncertainty. And still, Jesus speaks and acts within it. Perhaps that is the connection: whether in the vast mystery of creation or the pressing needs of daily life, God does not wait for things to settle before engaging. God speaks from the whirlwind, and sends us into it as well.

Luke 9:1-11

Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Herod the ruler heard about everything that was happening. He was confused because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. Herod said, “I beheaded John, so now who am I hearing about?” Herod wanted to see him.

When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. When the crowds figured it out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God’s kingdom, and healed those who were sick.

Job 38

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

Who is this darkening counsel
with words lacking knowledge?
Prepare yourself like a man;
I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
Tell me if you know.
Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
On what were its footings sunk;
who laid its cornerstone,
while the morning stars sang in unison
and all the divine beings shouted?
Who enclosed the Sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment,
the dense clouds its wrap,
when I imposed my limit for it,
put on a bar and doors
and said, “You may come this far, no farther;
here your proud waves stop”?

In your lifetime have you commanded the morning,
informed the dawn of its place
so it would take hold of earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
Do you turn it over like clay for a seal,
so it stands out like a colorful garment?
Light is withheld from the wicked,
the uplifted arm broken.

Have you gone to the sea’s sources,
walked in the chamber of the deep?
Have death’s gates been revealed to you;
can you see the gates of deep darkness?
Have you surveyed earth’s expanses?
Tell me if you know everything about it.
Where’s the road to the place where light dwells;
darkness, where’s it located?
Can you take it to its territory;
do you know the paths to its house?
You know, for you were born then;
you have lived such a long time!
Have you gone to snow’s storehouses,
seen the storehouses of hail
that I have reserved for a time of distress,
for a day of battle and war?
What is the way to the place where light is divided up;
the east wind scattered over earth?

Who cut a channel for the downpours
and a way for blasts of thunder
to bring water to uninhabited land,
a desert with no human
to saturate dry wasteland
and make grass sprout?
Has the rain a father
who brought forth drops of dew?
From whose belly does ice come;
who gave birth to heaven’s frost?
Water hardens like stone;
the surface of the deep thickens.
Can you bind Pleiades’ chains
or loosen the reins of Orion?
Can you guide the stars
at their proper times,
lead the Bear with her cubs?
Do you know heaven’s laws,
or can you impose its rule on earth?
Can you issue an order to the clouds
so their abundant waters cover you?
Can you send lightning so that it goes
and then says to you, “I’m here”?
Who put wisdom in remote places,
or who gave understanding to a rooster?
Who is wise enough to count the clouds,
and who can tilt heaven’s water containers
so that dust becomes mud
and clods of dirt adhere?

Can you hunt prey for the lion
or fill the cravings of lion cubs?
They lie in their den,
lie in ambush in their lair.
Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry to God,
move about without food?

Prayer

God,

Make yourself known to us. Speak to us like you do to Job. Make yourself known. Put us in our place. Remind us of our humanity. Show us again the limits. Make our Babel-ing folly once more.

I just don’t have great interest in theological nuancing and systematic precision these days. Life is too real. Darkness, too close.

So God, speak. Even if it’s just questions to put me in my place.

Make yourself known.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.