In Job 40, the Lord describes the display of his power. Do we trust in ourselves or him? This is a Bible study teaching for “Power Displayed” on Job 40:1-14 from the “Explore the Bible” series from Lifeway.
The theme of today’s Bible study is “power displayed.”
I think before we get started, a good question to ask is What is the purpose of power?
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the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality. “the power of speech”
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the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. “she had me under her power”
I think a short definition, particularly in relation to God is the ability to cause something to be.
We are in week 6 of our study of Job. The book of Job is 42 chapters, and we’ve touched on the highlights of the book. As we’ve talked about before, the Book of Job is about the problem of evil … the question that we all ask sometimes, “Why does God allow bad things happen to good people” … and especially, why is he letting these things happen to me.
In the first two chapters of Job, we learn Job’s story. We know he has it all: wealth, influence, and friends. Then we see behind the scenes and read of Satan challenging God about Job, to put Job’s faith on trial because Satan is certain that Job will deny God. He doesn’t, but the fact that he stays faithful to God doesn’t make his suffering and pain any less.
Job loses all his wealth and possessions, his family, and the support of his wife. But he has three friends that come in his hour of need to comfort him. This is in chapter two. Now, I realize that a lot of people think that Job’s friends had bad advice, but I think in many ways, we don’t give Job’s friends enough credit. They were there. They may not have said all the right things, but at least they came when no one else would. This is in chapter 2.
The next 36 chapters are a dialogue between Job and his friends. Back and forth they go, Job’s friends speculating on what brought about Job’s troubles, and Job insisting on his innocence.
I came across an article that said that Maimonides, a medieval Jewish rabbi, believed that the friends represented different views on God’s providence. Providence is
The providence of God refers to God making all the events of the physical and moral universe fulfill His original design.[1]
Maimonides believed that
“Eliphaz represents the biblical or rabbinic tradition—Job is being punished for his sins; Bildad expresses the view of the Mutazillites—Job is being tested to receive a greater reward; and Zophar presents the view of the Asharites—Job suffers because of God’s arbitrary will”[2]
The Mutazillites and Asharites were groups known in Maimonides’s time. And these different positions are ones that people still argue over today isn’t it?
Now Job has come quite a way from when his first calamity hit. In chapter three, he was in complete despair, wishing he were dead, and thought that God wasn’t interested in his troubles. Then he progresses to wishing that God would answer and that he had a mediator to speak on his behalf. Until finally, he is insistent that he has done nothing wrong. A fourth friend, Elihu, who was not mentioned up until now, speaks up and defends the justice of God and tells Job that he cannot possible make a judgment on what is “just” because he is not God and doesn’t know all the circumstances.
This section, chapters 32 through 38 reminds me of when I used to organize a community Easter event in Kingwood called Picnic on the Park. I got involved when it first started because a friend asked for help. None of us had any idea what we were getting into. We saw all these other community events going on and thought, “How hard can it be?” What we didn’t know that up until the year that we first started that event, all the rest of the events at Town Center had operated at a loss, but there was a business person that covered the loss. We didn’t have a backer with deep pockets, it was a great event, but we spent a lot of time pounding the pavement raising money to put it on … because it was a free event, there was no admission charged.
To be honest, doing that event made me realize not only how clueless most people were, but how ungrateful. I would hear so many complaints by people who didn’t think that these events, which they paid nothing for and contributed nothing to, met their standards. They were under the mistaken impression that the events were funded by their taxes or homeowners fees … which they weren’t … at all.
People would say, “You should do ….” And I would think, “You have NO idea what you are talking about. You don’t know the situation and you don’t know the requirements. You have NO idea the way things work.”
This is basically what Elihu is telling Job … you just have no idea.
But then, in chapter 38, the climax of the story comes … God himself speaks to Job … and God is really the only one who can answer the question isn’t he?
I’m not going to read all of God’s response to Job, but we are going to read chapter 38 and part of chapter 40.
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 “Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!In an earlier chapter, Job had wished that he could speak to God one on one … now he is getting his wish.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
5 Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
6 “On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?8 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
9 When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
11 And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?
12 “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 “It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand forth like a garment.
15 “From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the uplifted arm is broken.16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea
Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 “Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 “Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its home?21 “You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle?
24 “Where is the way that the light is divided,
Or the east wind scattered on the earth?25 “Who has cleft a channel for the flood,
Or a way for the thunderbolt,
26 To bring rain on a land without people,
On a desert without a man in it,
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate land
And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?28 “Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 “From whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?
30 “Water becomes hard like stone,
And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
32 “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
33 “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth?34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?
35 “Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’?36 “Who has put wisdom in the innermost being
Or given understanding to the mind?
37 “Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
Or tip the water jars of the heavens,
38 When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together?39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens
And lie in wait in their lair?
41 “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment
When its young cry to God
And wander about without food?
All of these things that God is questioning Job about are things that Job is aware of and is familiar with. These are things that Job knows and has at least somewhat of an understanding of. But does he really understand them and does he have any power at all over them? No.
Many of these same illustrations are those that Job lists in chapters 9 and 10 to illustrate the majesty of God. But it’s almost like there is a disconnect between Job acknowledging that God is in control and has power over all these things … and he doesn’t … and recognizing that there is so much that he knows that he doesn’t understand or have power over that maybe it follows that there might not be things about his own situation that he doesn’t understand either.
In chapter 39, God describes the intricacies of creation and then in chapter 40, God asks Job the big question.
40 Then the Lord said to Job,
2 “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who reproves God answer it.”3 Then Job answered the Lord and said,
4 “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 “Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more.”6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said,
7 “Now gird up your loins like a man;
I will ask you, and you instruct Me.
8 “Will you really annul My judgment?
Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
9 “Or do you have an arm like God,
And can you thunder with a voice like His?10 “Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
And clothe yourself with honor and majesty.
11 “Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
And look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.
12 “Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him,
And tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 “Hide them in the dust together;
Bind them in the hidden place.
14 “Then I will also confess to you,
That your own right hand can save you.
The right hand and the right arm refer to the power of God, God as acting agent. Job doesn’t think what is happening to him is just, and is in essence, challenging the wisdom and justice of God. God is saying, “Okay, if you’re so smart and powerful, put up or shut up. Show your power and save yourself.”
If we are know everything and have perfect understanding, then we wouldn’t have to ask God for help would we? We would already know the answer to the question of why the things that are happening to us are.
But we don’t.
And we too often say that we want God to help us, but we want him to submit to us. To submit to our terms and the way we think things should be done. That’s not the way it works. If our way worked, we wouldn’t need his help would we?
We need to submit ourselves to his will
Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:6b-10
What does that humbling of ourselves look like? It is admitting that we don’t know everything. It is repenting when we are wrong, and it is acknowledging that our way, probably most of the time, isn’t the best way.
It is saying, “Okay God, I know you are good and perfect, and I want to walk in whatever path you have laid out for me.”
It is only then that we can be “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10)
This Bible lesson was originally taught by Carla Alvarez on July 11, 2021 in the Kingdom Citizen Bible study Class at the Second Baptist North campus in Kingwood, Texas.
Endnotes
[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_1373.cfm
[2] https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/bible/book-of-job/eliphaz-bildad-zophar