"I BELIEVE IN GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"

Cherylyn Radford, Bowridge Interim Site Pastor

Job is one of my absolute favorite books in the Bible. Apparently that is weird. Or at least that is what is reflected on the faces of people when I tell them my favorite book is Job. They give me this quizzical, “have you lost your mind” look most times.

I cannot blame them. Because Job is a book of suffering. A book where for the most part, people misunderstand God and his purposes. But it is also a book of poetry, a detailed painting of the glory of God and this book heavily features my love language, sarcasm, which Job uses liberally with his so-called friends.

Job in a nutshell is a story of a man who had it all. And God in his sovereignty allows it all to be taken away. In the aftermath, Job dares to question God. He basically stands up, shakes his fist and asks God to explain himself.

And in chapters 38-41 God speaks. He does not answer Job’s questions. Instead He declares things about himself and he reveals so much of his character and his nature in these chapters.

When I read the first line of the apostles' creed: "I Believe in God, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth” I immediately think of what God says about himself in those chapters.

At this point in the story Job and his friends have misunderstood and misrepresented God for most of the book. Job insists that he has not sinned and asks God to explain himself.

And God rebukes him by saying “where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4). He then goes on to describe the things he has done, but he does it by asking Job where he was when he (God) was doing all these things.

God declares himself the creator of all of the earth. (Job 38:1-11). He alone laid the foundation of the earth and set the limits for the sea. He alone has control over the water and land.

Job is then informed that only God is omnipresent, the one who is everywhere and that he is also all knowing, as he alone knows the secret of day and night and how they were created and he alone has power over the light and the dark. (Job 38:12-21).

God continues listing off all the things that he controls and orders and reminds Job that to Job, they are actually just a mystery. Job doesn’t know how they were done or what causes them to occur. God alone has control over the weather, the skies, and everything on the earth. Every last creature, no matter how weird, or unknowable or fierce, is all under the command of God.

Finally God goes on to describe Leviathan and while scholars debate whether this is a real creature or not and what it might be, let us not lose sight of the point God is trying to make, it doesn’t matter how wild, how mysterious or how chaotic something might be, God is in control and command of it all.

This is truly God, the almighty. The creator and commander of heaven and earth. He did not have to answer Job, but he did. He took the time to stoop and talk to him and remind him of his power and his care for his creation.

And because he does not change, he is still the commander of everything. He is still the almighty. And he still takes the time to stop and talk to us.

This is why I believe.

I would encourage you to read and reflect on Job 38-41 this weekend and as you do I have linked to a song based on these chapters that speaks to both the questions we have and the answers our mighty God provides.