Job 38.1 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind…”

We cannot know God unless he reveals himself to us.

It is the height of human arrogance to claim we know God apart from him revealing himself to us.

We do not have the cognitive capacity to understand God’s character or nature. On our own, we could never imagine what God is like. (Consider, on our own karma makes sense but grace does not.)

Yet this is exactly what we do whenever we say:

• A loving God could never allow suffering.
• A sovereign God could never allow evil.
• A merciful God could never allow pain. (Contrast this with the truth found here.)

These things sound good, but they are nothing more than arrogant humanity defining what God must be like as if we have the ability to know him on our own.

For us to know God, He must make himself known. (Knowing this leads to wisdom.)

Thankfully, that is exactly what God has done. Through the ages God has revealed himself to humanity so that we may now know Him. We might not be able to know him in totality, but we can know him enough to have a relationship with him.

One of the major characteristics which God has revealed about Himself is that He speaks. He has not left us on our own in this world.

This revelation contradicts the atheist and the agnostic.

It contradicts the atheist because God has announced his presence in the world. Creation screams of a Creator. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus proves that He is God.

It contradicts the agnostic because God has made himself known. He has revealed Himself to us so we are not left to wonder what God is like.

If you do not believe God speaks, you do not believe Jesus was a good teacher or man.

If you do not believe God speaks, at least be honest about Jesus. Watch:

As Francis Shaffer said, “God is here and He is not silent.”

God speaks.

And the book of Job reminds us that one of the most likely places for us to hear God is in the midst of our suffering. (This changes how we respond to suffering.)

God has spoken through creation, Jesus, and now His Word and he most often has our ear when we are suffering.

In the midst of his suffering, God speaks to Job from the cover of a whirlwind. It seems like an insignificant fact until we remember in Job 2.19 that it was a great wind which killed the ten children of Job. With God’s permission, Satan killed Job’s children using the wind and now God speaks to Job from the wind.

I wonder if Job caught the irony. Watch:

As it was with Job, so often it is with us. He will speak to us in the midst of our greatest sorrow. The question for us is not whether or not God will speak, but whether or not we will listen.

For some, suffering seems so unimaginable, they cannot fathom that God could use it.

For others, suffering seems so unfair, they cannot fathom God could be in it.

Yet for a Christian, God has shown himself so faithful and loving that we know God can use suffering to reveal himself to us.

All we have to do is pay attention. Watch:

When we pay attention, we will see God’s sovereign control over the circumstances of our lives; we will be reminded of His great love for us; and we will see Him work all things together for our good and His glory.

For more from Job, see:

No One Made Me Do It

A Subtle Difference In the Midst of Suffering

How to Pray When Life’s Not Okay