“So, the Lord said to Satan... Did you pay any attention to my servant
Job?”
–Job 1:7-8
“Then from the heart of the tempest, the Lord gave Job His answer.”
--Job 38:1
From the heart of the tempest, the Lord gave Job His answer. Out of the heart of the tempest comes the
Lord’s answer. This feels key.
There are two aspects of the Book of Job that are
particularly troubling to me:
1. What
kind of God would do this or allow this to happen to His beloved servant? To
anyone? Is He malevolent, or just an underachiever?
2. The
Lord’s response. What is the meaning of
God’s “answer” to Job? Or, to put it more concisely: what is God’s answer?
Speaking out of the tempest (aka. storm; whirlwind) God
makes no defense of His actions (or inaction).
He offers no explanation of what has happened to Job, to his family, his
slaves, his livestock; though God allowed all of it –even instigated it (in some interpretations). No. Instead of defending or explaining Himself,
God shows up in the midst of some great storm wind, and presents Job with a series
of unanswerable questions:
Where is the storehouse of snow? The house of light? Darkness? Can you
fasten the stars? Untie them? Will rain fall at your command? Lightning come at
your call? Will the wild ox be your pet? Behemoth? Leviathan? What about the
glorious horse—did you make that? Surely you did!
At times He even takes an ironic tone, taunting and
challenging Job to let it all hang out; take your best shot!
“Come on, display your majesty...
let the fury of your anger burst forth...” (40:10-11)
Though, God never explains Himself, somehow these
confounding questions seem to satisfy Job.
How? I’ve been wondering about
that. There are a couple of possible
answers that come to mind: first, that Job is so intimidated by God’s
awesomeness that he covers his mouth and retreats—basically acknowledging that
he can’t compete with God. In other words, on some level he’s been beaten into
submission. Or, second, that somehow God’s response actually satisfies Job, answers
the essential question he’s been asking for app. 37 chapters: Why? Why would God do this to his faithful
servant?
For the longest time I fell somewhere in the middle of all
this. I had kind of stumbled around the edges of this beautiful ancient text assuming
that on some metaphorical or allegorical or spiritual level what satisfied Job
was God’s awesomeness. That –yes, he was
frightened into submission; putting his hand over his mouth as a way of
acknowledging the vulnerability of his position: I’m not worthy… BUT, somehow
the inscrutableness of God’s presence not only intimidates Job, but also
satisfies him.
Now, however, I find myself stuck on that tempest, caught by
the image of God’s answer coming “from the heart of the tempest.” Is it possible that where God speaks from is
part of the answer that satisfies Job? That God’s answer comes “from the heart
of the tempest…”
Let me put this into a
little context. Last week my wife was
preparing to teach the beatitudes to her classes, and on the way home we were
talking in the car, trying to recall all 8 beatitudes and see if we could put
in teachable words the blessedness that arises out of each. Pretty quickly we got hung up on
mourning.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” –Matthew 5:4
Inspired by Pope
Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth books and The
Ladder of the Beatitudes by Jim Forest, I was speculating on how
mourning was somehow positively attached to the identity of Christ, to His
presence. He mourned (& wept), and therefore to be like Him… But I couldn’t even convince myself. I couldn’t make the connection stick in my
own head. That whole night I was
troubled by a kind of sour feeling of my own failure; as if I knew something
was true but couldn’t prove it and it was eating at me. I suspected that somehow I was just wrong; my
whole idea of Jesus and the beatitudes was wrong. And there was also that sting of
embarrassment. Here I was trying to say something profound and yet… I
couldn’t. Of course, that isn’t news to
anyone who reads these posts. But, the
next morning, I opened my Bible and read:
“Then from the heart of the tempest, the Lord gave Job His answer.”
--Job 38:1
And I almost slapped myself. That was what I was trying to
say! It is from the storm, from the
heart of the tempest that God speaks to us.
Why is it blessed to mourn?
Because when we are mourning, we are entering into the heart of the
tempest. There –in the midst of life’s storms,
in the heart of the tempest—the Lord will speak to us; He gives us His answer. It comes out of the heart of the tempest. Which says to me, that God’s long list of
awe-inspiring questions and imagery is only part of His answer to Job. God
reveals Himself not only through this series of questions, but also through how
He shows up. God reveals Himself through
the storm, through the strife, in the heart of the tempest He reveals
Himself. On the road to Calvary, He
reveals Himself…
So—of course—Yes! Blessed are they who mourn; of course,
they will be comforted –because in their mourning God reveals Himself to them. It is in the mystery of mourning that God’s
mysterious nature may be glimpsed; and our insufficiency made ineluctably
clear.
Which sends me back to my other question: what kind of God would do this to His
beloved servant? I guess the same
kind of God who would send His only begotten Son to die for the sins of others. That cry from the cross: My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me? is prefigured in the questioning
of Job, the demanding of God to show Himself.
So, in our suffering, in our mourning, perhaps we are being
offered a chance to see Christ, to see God, and to be comforted by knowing we
too have a part in His cross. We share
in His grace. We share in His mystical body.
And to know that, is to be blessed.
