Read Job 38:1-7, 34-41.
For the first time since the second chapter of this book, we finally hear from God once again. In the intervening chapters, it has been a conversation between Job and his friends. His friends insist Job has done something to deserve the calamities of his life – that if he would only repent, his good fortune would once again return. Job is unwilling to accept the blame for what has happened to him and demands an audience with God.
Rather than answers, though, God responds with a series of questions that serve to remind Job that God is God and Job is not. Sometimes the answers are not for us to know. That can be hard for us to accept when we live in a world that demands answers to everything and when we have so much information right at our fingertips.
To what extent do you believe it is possible to learn to live with difficulties when there is no explanation for them? When answers cannot be found, how easy is it for you to trust that God is, in fact, in control of the universe?
Today in prayer, offer up situations – both good and bad – that seem to be inexplicable. Affirm your trust that even when these situations are beyond your control or understanding, God is still at work in them.