Proper 14: Old Testament, Job 38:4-18                                   

Job 38:4-18

Have you ever been humbled? I mean really, truly humbled? To the point where you have no option but to simply close your mouth and step into “the great middle” where your voice is no longer heard and your opinion doesn’t count? That sounds so very foreign to us. If there is anything our culture prizes it is the hearing of one’s own voice. And as for humility? I would contend that most young people under the age of 25 don’t even have a category to define humility, much less practice it. It is simply unknown.

Well, pride and arrogance is something that cannot be maintained in the presence of the God of the Bible. And our Old Testament reading for the week is a great lesson on how God closes the mouths of those who think they have Him figured out. How does God close the mouths of “pretenders?” Simple. By opening His.

Job is a good man. Let’s remember that. He is in the pickle he’s in because his devotion to the LORD has caught the attention of “the Satan.” That’s really what the “tag” should look like. Satan is a title and not a personal name. It means “the one who accuses.” And he delights in calling Job to task, even if it is at God’s allowance. Job reaches his limit and begins to push back a bit. He goes over the line and I believe as a show of mercy God steps in to close his mouth and protect His servant. To protect him from the ravages of pride, arrogance, and the place that always leads, namely pushing God out of the picture.

No. God will not have that and so God rehearses His narrative of His creation and simply calls Job to find his place in it. Well, of course Job is nowhere to be found and that is precisely the point God is making. God creates everything. Visible and invisible as the great creed states. And then God makes us someone that by His grace may exhibit His gifts. But we have no standing on our own. No voice nor value. Nothing that we have not been given, as St. Paul reminds us elsewhere. Job retreats into silence and repentance and finds his rightful place. And it's good, for it is the place where we can see our Creator as He is..