Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

The Old Testament man of suffering, Job, struggled to comprehend why such bad things had happened to him. It didn’t make sense according to his own understanding of how things should be. That happens to us, too. Whether it is flood, fire, illness, or death, oftentimes we want to know why, because if we had the power, we wouldn’t have let it happen. If we were in charge of the drainage system, or if we were in charge of forest management, or if we had power over nature or disease or death, then we would do things differently, whatever that might look like.

 

Job’s three friends, who did not suffer themselves but witnessed the suffering of their friend, also had their own ideas about why and when these things should happen to people. They thought these things should happen to those who have gravely sinned and need to repent and confess; they should happen to those who have lived a life of ease at the expense of others; they should happen to those who defy God and live their lives as if He did not exist or as if He did not matter. That seems logical to me.

 

In our Old Testament Reading for today, we hear the words of the LORD when He finally replied to Job’s complaints. And He demands a statement from Job and from us, after we have experienced and thought about and reflected upon our suffering: “You tell Me who is to be trusted with determining what is right or wrong for you? You tell Me into whose hands should your possessions, your health, your life be entrusted?”

 

But before you give a thoughtless answer, consider: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?... Who determined its measurements?... Who laid its cornerstone?” (Job 38:4-6). The LORD exposed to Job and He does so to us, that our complaints about why things happen are an assertion that we would make a better god than He is. So the LORD responds by highlighting the “you” and the “I”.

 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” If you think you would be a better manager of floods and fire and other natural disasters, then consider that you are trying to dethrone the one who designed and created all these things. Where were you? You weren’t there in any tangible sense. You were not there in any way that could have positively contributed to a better creation.

 

You were there, but only as one whom God had chosen from before the foundation of the earth, to save from sin and death and a fallen creation. The only human beings who were physically there when all things were new and very good were Adam and Eve, and it was their sin that corrupted the good creation of God and brought death, not only to themselves but also to the created world which was made perfect and saafe for them (Genesis 3). When we complain as if we could have made things better for everyone, we are foolishly claiming that we know better than the creator and architect of all life and creation. Then, who is to blame but the One who sends the rain? And do you think that you could do a better job than He?

 

Just as we have no control over where the rain falls or how much, so we have no control over our mortality. We may try to take things out of the hands of God by taking life-threatening risks, or by bringing about or arranging for our own death, or by resorting to unethical treatments in order to extend our lives. It is a false sense of control because we have no preventative measure or solution for death.

 

Neither do we have a way to control the punishments that we deserve because of our sins. We cannot undo them through good works toward others or by personal self-improvement in holiness. We cannot appeal to others, living or dead, to lessen the sufferings we deserve or to heap more sufferings upon others. We have to confess not only that we do not have control over these things, but also that it would not be good if we did.

 

The LORD exposed this hard truth to Job as well. “Who shut in the sea with doors... when I made clouds its garment... and prescribed limits for it... and said, ‘Thus far you shall come, and no farther’?” (Job 38:8-11). You cannot stop the advance of disaster or death. But He can. The LORD can let it go so far and no farther. He stops the sea. He stops the rain. He stops the fires. They go only so far as He permits them. And still we question why thus far? Why didn’t you stop it sooner?

 

In Job’s case we learn that the LORD did not Himself afflict Job with his losses. Rather, it was Satan who desired to drive Job to despair and to give up his faith that the LORD would save him. The LORD set limits for Satan. He told the devil that he could only go so far in his attacks on Job. Along with Job we still wonder why did he let it get as far as it did? Why did he let Job suffer so deeply and for that long? Why does He allow such things to happen to me?

 

The LORD did not respond to Job with condescending scorn, but with the desire to reassure Job that his salvation was in the hands of someone greater than himself. If it was all due to Job’s sins or his faith or his weakness or his strength, then there would be no comfort or hope for him at all. But because things were not in Job’s hands but in the LORD’s hands, Job could suffer these things with the knowledge and hope of salvation in the hands of an Almighty God who is also full of mercy and compassion.

 

Why do these things happen? Why did they happen to a faithful man like Job? Why do they happen to us? Why do they happen to others? “Have you commanded the morning... that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?... From the wicked their light is withheld and their uplifted arm is broken” (Job 38:12-15).

 

One of the reasons God allows things to go thus far is to shake the wicked out of their worldly comfort in sin and disgrace. That might not be the reason all people suffer all of the time, but in a general sense all kinds of affliction and suffering that we experience should remind us that we are sinful, fallen creatures. We deserve no mercy from God and yet He only allows things to go thus far and no farther.

 

He shakes the earth like taking the corners of your shirt to shake out the crumbs after lunch. He is not primarily trying to shake the wicked off of the face of the earth, but rather shaking the wicked sins out of your life by bringing to your contemplation the extent of your sins and their effects on you and others, while also demonstrating that although this is all out of your control, it is under His, and there is no one better to have the control.

 

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” (Job 38:16). This brings to mind our Gospel reading for the day when Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples who were struggling in the boat (Matthew 14:22-33). He had no trouble walking on the waves of the tempestuous sea and in order to allay the fears of the disciples He called out to them, “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid” (v. 27).

 

But rather than taking Jesus at His word, Peter thought he had a better idea for Jesus to prove Himself. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (v. 28). Peter tried to control the situation. He thought it would be better for Jesus to prove Himself in a miraculous demonstration to Peter’s benefit. What a boost it would give to Peter and the rest of the disciples. After such a display, we think they would be so much more bold and confident in what they would be able to do for the Lord.

 

But after a few steps Peter sinks and has to cry out, “Lord, save me” (v. 30). Jesus had determined not only for the proud waves, but also for the proud Peter, “Thus far you shall come, and no farther.” Many people take Jesus’ question to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (v. 31) to be an indication that Peter would have been able to keep walking on the water if his faith was strong enough. But it more accurately reflects the way that God works in the world if it is a question about why Peter wanted to get out of the boat in the first place.

 

Jesus had told them, “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.” Why wasn’t His Word enough for Peter? Instead of trying to take things into our own hands, and to be in control of our prosperity or our adversities, we need to learn to say, “Lord, save me.” We need to be content and at peace with the knowledge that all things are in His hands: flood, fire, illness, and even death.

 

Yes, death. “Have the gates of death been revealed to you?” (Job 38:17). Job had to say no. We have to say no. But Jesus can say, yes. And not only because He is the all-knowing God, but also because He has died. He went through the gates of death in order that those gates might not hold us. He died on the cross for our sins so that their penalty would be paid and all who place their salvation in His nail-scarred hands, will be sprung from death and march out of those gates on the day of the resurrection. Even to death He says, “Thus far shall you come and no farther.”

 

Jesus walked through the gates of death as easily as He walked on the water to the disciples. And on the day of His resurrection, He said again to His disciples, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10). So, He will say to you when death comes your way. So He says when any affliction or threat comes your way. When the flood water rises, when the fire approaches, when illness takes hold, when death draws near, when you become aware of your sins of trying to take control away from Him, He says, “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.” “It is I who hold you in My nail-scarred hands.”