Job 42:1-6. Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything,And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak;You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself,And repent in dust and ashes.”
Besides being beautiful literature, the book of Job addresses one of the world’s greatest problems: the problem of suffering. Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1) who nonetheless experienced tremendous tragedy and suffering—seemingly without any obvious reason. Job spends most of the book defending his innocence while his friends attempt to convince him that he must have done something to deserve his suffering. While Job’s friends’ theology is not always well-informed, one of them encourages Job to appeal to God “Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number” (Job 5:9), which are detailed in verses 10-16. Surely the ways of such a God can be trusted.
Job is not convinced by the words of his friend, but he changes his mind when God Himself speaks (Job 38–41). Listening to God, Job realizes that God is greater than his problems and that God can be trusted with whatever happens in his life. After God describes His wondrous works to Job, his eyes and ears are opened, and he repents of his lack of faith (Job 42:1-6).
Meditating on the unfathomable works and wonders of God can inspire us to trust Him with our unanswered questions.
