Job 23
One of my favorite authors is C. S. Lewis. I quote him often, yet I sometimes hold back to avoid giving the impression that he is the only author I read! However, if that were true, I believe I would be all the better for it. The great thing about Lewis is that since he passed away many years ago, he can’t change his doctrine like many contemporary writers have done.
One of Lewis’s many books is The Problem of Pain, in which he argues that suffering and the existence of a sovereign, loving God are not incompatible. In fact, Lewis states that God uses pain to awaken and teach us. We will discuss this in more detail later.
Lewis wrote masterfully about pain and then experienced it deeply and personally. After his wife’s passing, he didn’t lose his faith. However, his mind and heart were filled with questions he recorded in a journal. That journal was later published as A Grief Observed. Here is Lewis’s first entry. If you have faced grief, I believe you will relate.
No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid….
At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me.[1]
Here’s the question that the man who wrote extensively about God contemplated while grappling with pain.
Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face…. After that, silence . . . The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this . . . Why is He so present a commander in our times of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?[2]
Like Lewis, Job was searching for God but couldn’t find him. He said,
Job 23:8-9
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.”
Even though Job couldn’t find God, he continued declaring his greatness. He acknowledges God as the Creator, the One who “hangs the earth on nothing” (26:7). God is the One who sends the rain (26:8) and controls light and darkness (26:9-10). God’s power, Job exclaims, controls vast oceans (26:12-13). In these verses, Job refers to “Rahab” and “the fleeing serpent.” These are probably references to mythological sea gods known in Job’s day.[3] But God rules over man’s myths. God “shattered Rahab” and “pierced the fleeing serpent.” God destroyed the made-up gods of man.
Job doesn’t understand what God is doing but cannot deny God’s greatness and power. He says,
Job 26:14
“Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power, who can understand?”
Job uses “the thunder of his power” to illustrate God’s all-encompassing greatness and strength. He provides elements of creation to demonstrate God’s sovereignty, but acknowledges that his best efforts can only scratch the surface. He can merely reveal the “outskirts” or “fringes” (Heb: qasah) of God’s full power. The subtle “whisper” Job perceives indicates that God’s grandeur surpasses human understanding.
Job remains in his pain, but focusing on the greatness of the Almighty opens his eyes to see God in the darkness. Job is not finished with his questions, but let’s slow down here for three observations.
- A review of God’s power results in a holy fear.
Job’s review of God’s supremacy led him to say, “This is a God I fear!”
Job 23:15-17
Therefore, I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; 17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.
Our heavenly Father is a personal God who loves us with unconditional love. And…he is God! He “hangs the earth on nothing” (26:7)! He controls light and darkness. He is in charge of the oceans. He is sovereign over all! We can never forget his majesty and might. Yet, Job reminds us that we are not silenced before him. We can share our pain, hurts, questions, and concerns with him. He is our God…even in the darkness.
- A review of God’s power drives us to his Word.
The testing of Job began when God pointed him out to Satan as a man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). Here’s what I find commendable: Satan unleashed unimaginable tragedy upon Job, yet his character and integrity remained steadfast. Job declared, “I have not departed from the commandment of [God’s] lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food” (23:12). What a statement of faith! Don’t let pain drive you away from God. C. S. Lewis noted that he wasn’t concerned his pain would lead him to stop believing in God. “The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about him.”[4] That’s why we must remain grounded in God’s Word during challenging times. Job exemplifies that for us.
- A review of God’s power confirms that he’s not finished with us.
Job had confidence that God was at work. He said, “For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind” (23:14). I love that! Job was sure that God was not finished with him. God had some things “in his mind” that he would fulfill. We can be certain “that he who began a good work in [us] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). What a promise from our heavenly Father!
We started with C. S. Lewis wondering where God was, and feeling God had slammed a door in his face and locked it. But like Job, he considered the person of God and concluded, “Turned to God, my mind no longer meets that locked door….”[5] He said, “I need Christ, not something that resembles Him.”[6]
PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read Job 23. Review the greatness of God described in this chapter.
Talking to God
Ask God to give you the strength to read his Word and reflect on his Person, even in your pain.
Have Questions?
Be sure to send your questions to our team. We are happy to assist you as you explore God’s Word. Submit your question below, and we’ll reply soon.
[1] C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperSanFrancisco, 1961, restored 1996), 3.
[2] Ibid., 5-6.
[3] In Isaiah 27:1, the prophet calls the “fleeing serpent” and the “twisting serpent” Leviathan. But we cannot be sure this is the mythological creature to which Job refers.
[4] C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperSanFrancisco, 1961, restored 1996), 6.
[5] Ibid., 61.
[6] Ibid., 65.
This study on Job is fantastic. When he is done with it, do you guys save it on something that I could purchase it? Meaning the whole thing together. I just feel that this would be a great thing to listen to when times of trouble come.
Hi Lisa, thanks for your interest in a tangible resource for the study of Job. We do plan on turning both Genesis and Job into books, as well as the rest of the studies we do this year. No details yet but stay tuned!