For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Job 38:1-11

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 ‘Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.

4 ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone –
7 while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted for joy?

8 ‘Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, “This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt”?

A. Find Out

1. Who now speaks from where? v.1
2. What does the Lord say Job has been doing? v.2
3. What does He tell him to do? v.3
4. Of what does He first question Job? v.4-7
5. Of what then did He question Job? v.8-11

B. Think:

1. What appears to have been Job’s only fault?
2. How does the Lord answer him?
3. Why do you think He uses that approach?

C. Comment:

Elihu had previously spoken about a storm, and it appears that the Lord now speaks from this storm (v.1), perhaps creating a picture of power to accompany His words. He challenges Job on a number of fronts.

First of all, He asks who has had the effrontery to speak without knowing what he is talking about (v.2). That is the big accusation made against Job although the Lord does not major on it. Come on He says, get yourself ready. You want to challenge me? OK but get ready to answer my questions (v.3). Let’s see how you’ll get on. Note that the Lord doesn’t answer Job’s queries. He wants to leave him in a place of faith, a place of trust in the Lord, and before he can reach that he has to appreciate the Lord, he has to regain perspective. So the Lord simply asks him questions that indirectly speak about the Lord but make Job realize how small he is.

He asks Job where he was when the Lord created the world (v.4-7). Did he have any part in it? No! Who did? The Lord! No Job, you didn’t set its foundations (v.4) or decided its size (v.5), establishing its magnitude (v.6) along with the angels (v.7). The Lord then scales it down to speak about the oceans. No Job, you didn’t create the seas (v.8) or the clouds bringing rain (v.9), you didn’t establish the seas in place (v.10) and you didn’t establish their boundaries (v.11). You didn’t but the Lord did! Got it? Perspective coming?

D. Application:

1. Never think too much of yourself.
2. Never speak without knowing what you’re talking about!

Passage: Job 38:12-30

12 ‘Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
    and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
    its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
    and their upraised arm is broken.

16 ‘Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know all this.

19 ‘What is the way to the abode of light?
    And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
    You have lived so many years!

22 ‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
    or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
    for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
    or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
    and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
    an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
    and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
    Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
    when the surface of the deep is frozen?

A. Find Out

1. What does the Lord next ask Job & what does that do? v.12,13
2. How does He explain that further? v.14,15
3. What three things does He next ask Job about? v.16-18
4. What does He ask him if he understands? v.19-21
5. And what else? v.22-24
6. And what next? v.25-30

B. Think:

1. How would you summarize v.12-15 & v.19-21?
2. What about v.16-18?
3. And what about v.22-30?

C. Comment:

It seems as if the Lord now pounds Job with question after question, questions that are designed to help him realize his smallness and, by implication, God’s greatness.

He starts by asking about day and night. Does Job have power to bring the dawn (v.12), the light that brings everything into focus (v.13a,14) and reveals the wicked (v.13b,15). No! Have you ever travelled to the depths of the seas (v.16), or seen the gates to death (v.17), have you traversed the immensity of the earth? (v.18) No! Again, do you know how the light comes and goes? (v.19,20). Surely you are a wise man who knows these things because you have lived for ever? (v.21) A resounding, ‘No!’

Do you know where I bring snow storms from (v.22) that I use to thwart my enemies (v.23), or where the lightning comes from (v.24) or where the winds blow to. Do you provide rain that runs down and waters the desert (v.25,26) so that it springs to life (v.27)? Do you have any say in the provision of rain or dew or ice (v.28-30)?  And, of course, the answer to all these things is, No, of course not, I am not God.

And there it is. That is the point of the questioning, to help Job distinguish more clearly between his own smallness, ignorance and vulnerability, and God’s greatness and wisdom and power.

D. Application:

1. Have we allowed ourselves to think too much of ourselves?
2. Do we think on God’s greatness and worship Him?

Passage: Job 38:31-41

31 ‘Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
    Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
    or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
    Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

34 ‘Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom
    or gives the cockerel understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
    and the clods of earth stick together?

39 ‘Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
    and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
    when its young cry out to God
    and wander about for lack of food?

A. Find Out

1. About what does the Lord next question Job? v.31-33
2. What does He next ask him if he can do? v.34,35
3. What then does He ask about? v.36-38
4. What then does He turn to? v.39,40
5. What does He conclude the chapter asking? v.41

B. Think:

1. In questioning Job, how do the subjects the Lord covers go from the great to the small?
2. What, again, is the point He is making?

C. Comment:

There is a repetition in these chapters that is almost like the pounding of a drum. It doesn’t feel edifying, but it fills our consciousness. The Lord continues to pound Job with rhetorical questions, questions with obvious answers, answers that are designed to ensure we have a right perspective.

The Lord has Job look upwards and realize that he had nothing whatsoever to do with establishing the constellations in the night sky (v.31-33). It is so obvious, but the implication has to be stated: no, Job, you didn’t do this, but God did!

Job, have you the power to speak and it rains? (v.34). Do you have a say over when or where lightning strikes (v.35)?  No? You are quite powerless aren’t you really! Are you able to convey wisdom and understanding (v.36); do you know how all these things work (v.37,38), how to bring rain to break the drought? Can you call an end to such a drought? Well, let’s try something more simple: do you provide the food for the lions (v.39,40) when they are hungry? OK. Is that a bit difficult? How about providing the food for the ravens then, when their young need provision (v.41)?

Again and again the Lord continues to highlight the difference between Job and Himself. Job needs his perspective bringing into focus to avoid wrong speaking!

D. Application:

1. Look at the greatness of God’s creation and worship Him.
2. Marvel at the wonder of His creation and praise Him.