- Prologue (1–2)
- Job's Friends Arrive (3)
- Three Cycles of Discourse (4–31)
- Elihu Arrives (32–37)
- God Speaks to Job (38–41)
- Job Answers God (42:1–6)
- Epilogue (42:7–14)
Job 1
We covered Esther's end last night so I'm focusing on Job this morning. Robert Gordis writes, “The ubiquity of evil and its apparent triumph everywhere give particular urgency to the most agonizing riddle of human existence, the problem of evil, which is the crucial issue in biblical faith.” He calls the book of Job “the most profound and—if such an epithet may be allowed—the most beautiful discussion of the theme,” more relevant than ever, “in this, the most brutal of centuries."
Christopher Ash's commentary begins by encouraging us to look at Job not as "armchair" theologians but "wheelchair" ones. In other words not detached from the text but as living human beings that are experiencing our own suffering.
Two things he calls us to note:
- Job is a long book because what the Bible has to say about suffering "doesn't fit on a postcard"
- Job is a book of poetry (about 95%) so we need to read it differently and pay attention to words. "Job is to be lived in and not just studied. So during this study let us read the book of Job itself, read it out loud, mull it over, absorb it, wonder, be unsettled, and meditate"
Job 1:1–3 tell us 5 things about Job that help us before anything bad happens: His place, his name, his godliness his greatness, and his anxiety (for his children's spiritual state).
The rest of the chapter is as unsettling as it is interesting. In Job 1, God allows Satan—his subordinate yet adversarial servant—to test Job, not because Job is wicked, but to reveal before everyone that genuine godliness can exist apart from prosperity, pointing ultimately to Christ who relinquished greatness for God’s glory. This is in many ways the "anti-prosperity" gospel.
The rest of the chapter is all about the shock after shock after shock that happens. Ash encourages us to get used to them. They are meant to disrupt us and our cozy situation.
Job is disrupted here in terrible loss. But what Ash notes is that contrary to Satan's predictions, Job doesn't curse God, he goes to God. It is his first recourse, not his last.
Ultimately this must be true for us too CBC. We need to be like the disciples who were at a loss following Jesus. What did they do? They still followed Jesus as they put it: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” — John 6:68. May you and I go to Jesus today for everything we need.
Job 2–5
In addition about the benefits of silence in the context of suffering, so much could be said here. My dad did a sermon series through the book of Job that I remember being profitable (probably 35 years ago!). If you want to listen to it, contact Michael Harvey.
So many memorable passages here that are quoted some well (like Job's anguish in chapter 3 - reflecting Solomon's stillborn birth passage we looked at on Sunday) and some terribly badly. One thing has to be established with any quote from Job and that is "who said it?" because 3 of the 4 friend are rebuked by God for having terrible worldviews! That said some of things that they say are not wrong. False teaching is almost always mixed with truth. So statements that are beautifully evocative by Job's friends can contain a mixture of truth and error. For example, Elphaz is completely wrong when he says: "“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” (Job 4:7-8) This is so so wrong in that it assumes that all suffering is a direct cause of a person's sin - bad things only happen to bad people. This doesn't hold true biblically (what did Able do to deserve being murdered?!). At the same time he says things that are beautiful and evocative poetically like Job 5:7 "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
The "heavenly court" encounter with Satan under God's sovereignty reveals a supernaturalism that we often lack in the modern church. Although I believe that this has been perhaps overemphasized in the last 10 years in some theological circles, there is a reality here that we must grapple with. Ultimately our war is not against flesh, as Paul says but against these very "principalities and powers" that truly exist as spiritual beings.
It's also suprising in many ways as we see God giving permission to Satan. Ash comments: "Shockingly (and it is truly shocking) the Lord agrees. Having rebuked the Satan for inciting him against Job without valid reason, the Lord says to the Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life” (v. 6). But the Satan is frustrated in his desire to see Job swallowed up and utterly destroyed—he is not allowed to kill him.
Nevertheless, we must think hard about this second permission or instruction. Had we been writing the story, we would have had the Lord say to the Satan, “Enough is enough. The man has suffered more than any human being in one day. He has been taken from riches to bankruptcy, from greatness to destitution, from a happy family to utter bereavement. That is enough, surely, to establish that his piety is genuine. The man worships me because he knows I am worthy of worship. End of trial.” That is what we would have said.
That the Lord disagrees with us must teach us something very deep. The glory of God really is more important than your or my comfort. When all that Job has is taken from him, we may get an approximate or provisional demonstration that God is worthy of worship. But an approximate or provisional demonstration is not sufficient for the ultimate glory of God. In the end it is necessary and right that this man should suffer personal and intimate attack upon himself, so that we see absolutely and without doubt that God is worthy of worship. It is necessary for this man to demonstrate a full and deep obedience to the glory of God."
May God give us a genuine understanding of suffering and our circumstances and His sovereign power and control and may this fuel our prayers and our pursuit of Him even as we fight against temptations and evil powers in our world that seek to distract or divert us from relationship with Him.
Job 6–8
A couple verses stand out for me in the reading today. They capture the suffering that Job is feeling in a graphic and visceral way (especially considering the attacks on his body):
"Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? "
"My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh."
These are hard to read. A believer suffering under the assault of Satan desperately crying out to God. But faithful.
Ash says this:
"...We see this again and again in church life when there is a cost to follow Christ. A Christian wants to marry a non-Christian, knowing it will be a union in which at the deepest level they will pull in opposite directions. It will cost to break the relationship off and worship God wholeheartedly. That is when true worship is revealed. It costs to be a Christian openly at school or college or in the office. Perhaps there will be a loss of face, a loss of prestige or reputation. It is loss that reveals the true worshipper and separates the fair-weather Christian from the true worshipper.
We are going to see in Job’s speeches a true worshipper revealed. And we may be surprised by the hallmarks that mark him out as the real thing. To the visible eye Job is alone, scratching at his agonized skin, sitting on the rubbish dump outside the city gate (2:8). He has no status, no job, no family, and no hope. And yet we will see here, despised and rejected, outside the city wall, the pure gold of a real believer. In Shakespeare’s words:
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
We are going to see the precious jewel of real worship in the midst of ugliness and venom. And as we see this precious jewel unveiled, we will remember a later believer hanging naked outside the city wall, despised, rejected, and yet precious beyond compare"
May God use our challenges to refine our inner souls and characters to display real beauty to His glory.
Job 9–12
What anguish Job faced. Imagine having your "comforters" laugh at your grappling to understand why something is happening to you - worse than that imagine having Zophar as your 'buddy' saying you deserve worse!
A couple verses stood out:
Chapter 12 "I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock."
And this one from Chapter 9- that just cries out for Jesus - the true arbiter between God and man. "there is no arbiter between us" - Job feels unjustly dealt with.
I appreciate Ash's commentary on Job's wrestling:
"IT IS POSSIBLE to be wrong and to be right at the same time. God will say that Job has spoken rightly about him (42:7). And yet Job says a great many things about God that are not right. How are we to reconcile this apparent contradiction? When we listen to Job’s speeches, we need to bear in mind the distinction between Job’s perception and Job’s heart. His heart is the heart of a believer, which is why the Lord commends and affirms him at the end. But his perceptions are partial and flawed. We hear in these speeches the honest grapplings of a real believer with a heart for God as he sees what he thought was a secure worldview crumble around him. This is why we will hear Job say some things that are plain wrong, and yet we hear him say them from a heart that is deeply right.
One of the big questions that begins to surface in Job’s speeches is, can Job discern the character of God from the actions of God? Job sees and experiences the actions of God. He believes in the sovereignty of God. He therefore believes that when something happens, it happens because God makes it happen. The natural but, as we shall see, flawed conclusion is that because Job sees unfair things happen, God in his character is unjust.
So the question is, when bad things happen, who does them? This question of causation and agency takes us right back to the heavenly council chamber of chapters 1, 2. We gained there an insight into the true model for understanding the government of the world. This is neither polytheism nor a kind of divine tyrannical monism but rather a Sovereign God who governs the world through the intermediate agency of a number of supernatural forces (“the sons of God”), some of whom are evil. He uses evil to work out his purpose ultimately to defeat evil."
The commentary is so good you just want to keep reading. After this he goes into the whole "David's sin in the census" issue that we addressed in CG a few weeks before. Excellent stuff. This commentary would make a great stocking stuffer. There's a Crossway e-sale around Christmas where all their ebooks go on sale for $3-$4 US each. Ash's commentary would be a nice little edition - maybe go back and read it after we finish next year!
Job 13–15
The brutal honesty of Job is hard to read sometimes as it exposes his depression and anguish: "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble." To read the glib replies of his friends just helps sensitize us to how we need to be "quick to listen, slow to speak" as we seek to help one another. Job here is rejecting the religious system that his comforters subscribe to of "God helps those who help themselves and "you must have done something bad to have such bad Providence." He realizes he must take it to God as his friends have horribly distorted and misrepresented God as he puts it "you whitewash lies"
To keep track of the flow - here is Ash's summary of chapters 12-14 (which our reading comes into the middle of today): Summary of Job 12–14
"Job 12–14 is by far the longest of all Job’s speeches to his comforters. It brings to a close the first cycle of speeches. In it we shall see Job make significant progress. He speaks first to his friends (12:1–13:19) and then to God (13:20 onward).
To his friends he clarifies in his own mind that The System of thought that he and they have shared in the past does not work. It is cruel (12:1–6), shallow (12:7–12), tame (12:13–25), and deceitful (13:1–12). As a result, Job resolves that he must take his case to God himself (13:13–19).
And so he does. He expresses his deep longing to deal with God (13:20–22) but recognizes that the problem of sin (13:23–27), with consequent mortality (13:28–14:6) and death (14:7–12), must be overcome by resurrection (14:13–17) if his search is not to end in despair (14:18–22)."
Ash also notes something about what Job is doing. It's dangerous to question God but he is in a crisis.
"Job is about to do something hugely significant. It is worth pausing to ask why. After all, he knows it is dangerous. The System of his friends tells him he must be a secret sinner because he is suffering. He knows this is not true. The evidence of his eyes tells him that God is dangerous, random, and unpredictable. The faith in his heart tells him that God is righteous and that he, Job, is a believer who is in the right before God. Knowing The System is not true, and despite the evidence of randomness and danger, Job’s decision goes with Job’s faith. This is why he appeals to God."
May we have faith to take our struggles before God - to believe his promises and "cast our cares on Him for He cares for us"
Job 16–19
So much here. In Job 16 Job's deep longing both to receive and even give comfort (16:5) is heartbreaking. Job's suffering here is on every level and it anticipates Christ's suffering.
Ash comments:
"In three parallel statements of climactic intensity, Job says God has “worn me out” (that is, debilitated me), “made desolate all my company” (v. 7; that is, my social world, from my wider reputation in the community to my intimate family), and “shriveled me up” (v. 8) into “a pathetic wrinkled wretch.” Chapters 1–3 have used the idea of a skin or “hedge” around Job, first a protective hedge (1:10, “a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side”) and then an imprisoning hedge (3:23, “whom God has hedged in”). Every human being has not only a physical skin to protect a healthy body, but wider skins or hedges of intimate relationships of hearth and home and wider family and a place in society. God has invaded each of these until all that is left is this pathetic, wrinkled, miserable apology of a man.
We see this so vividly in the Lord Jesus. In his incarnation the protective hedge of Heaven is taken away, he lives with nowhere to lay his head, his natural family does not believe in him, and even when he accumulates a large band of disciples, these too are whittled down so that most leave him (John 6:66), and even those who remain desert him at the end, and on the cross he hangs deeply alone, his skin shriveled."
It is deeply felt because Job cannot understand the reason for it as he has not turned from God -" My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure." (vv. 15–17)
But he's not without hope as we come to chapter 19:25 " For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth." Throughout this time we have seen him longing for a witness, for an interaction with God.
Ash comments:
AS WE HAVE LISTENED TO JOB, we have seen some paradoxical marks of a true worshipper. One of these is that he experiences deeply the pain of seeing a world he knows ought to be righteous but has become deeply unfair. Another is that in spite of this pain he does not become ultimately cynical but longs passionately for the God who is—or ought to be—running this troubled world. These two marks together, paradoxical as they are, issue in a life deeply marked by pain and by prayer. At the heart of the pain is the tension between the “god” who seems to be running this world and the God we hope and trust is actually doing so. The character of the one seems so puzzlingly at odds with the perfection of the other.
In a way the deepest question Job faces is, is God for me or against me? Ultimately nothing else matters. If God be for me, on my side, then ultimately nothing and no one can do me lasting harm, and I will come through it as more than a conqueror (Psalm 56:9; Romans 8:31–39). But if God is against me, then my despair is well grounded in objective reality.
This question lies beneath the question “Why?” that echoes in the book of Job (from 3:20, 23 onward) and on through the history of believers in pain.
And on v.25 Ash comments:
What does Job “know” (v. 25)? By faith he knows three wonderful truths: he has a living Redeemer, this Redeemer will stand upon the earth, and Job will see him with his own eyes.
This is our Redeemer - Jesus lives, He did stand on the earth and our eyes "at last shall see Him."
As you go to work today may your eyes be fixed on our Redeemer the author and perfector of our faith through the crooks in our lot.
Job 20–22
Notice the mixture of truth into the overall incorrect speeches of Job's friends. Like Zophar in chapter 20:4-5 "Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?" (sounds a lot like hevel doesn't it?)
Ash comments that Job's friends paint a "portrait of hell" in their speeches as they expect a level of righteousness that is unattainable by humans. How horrible to tell a suffering person it's their fault and they just need to "do better." Yet this is what most religions of the world do!! Job's friends own frustrations with the situation and Job becomes evident in their speech.
Which is instructive. Maybe sometimes our frustrations with each other don't always emanate from their failures but perhaps our own lack of grace or failure to understand the situation. A little self-doubt when it comes to evaluating others is a Christian attitude as Jesus explains in the sermon on the mount: in Matthew 7:3-5.
Job 28–30
Chapter 28 is an interesting chapter - kind of a standalone one. A selection of Ash's commentary help us reflect on the substance of the poem that is chapter 28 and prepares us for Job's final speech which comes in 29-31.
"Who Speaks in Chapter 28?
Who is speaking in chapter 28? This is a very different chapter from all that has gone before and all that follows. It is a unique chapter in the book. It has no smooth literary connection with the immediate contexts before or after; it is not explicitly addressed to any of the participants; it contains no accusations, no complaints, and no responses to anything said previously. And it has a reflective tone, which contrasts with the passionate arguments on either side. Here is a tranquil, contemplative pause for thought. If Job were read aloud, this chapter would be read in a quieter tone of voice. In a Greek tragedy it might be read by a chorus standing at the back of the stage."
....
"What is the poet doing? He is giving us pause for thought. We have been caught up in an awesome and terrible human tension. Job longs to know why. Is he right to long to understand? Yes, he is, for to understand this would be to understand the radical structure of the universe, and no greater goal can be possible for the human mind. Yes, he is right to search. But is his search doomed to failure? Yes, it is. He must seek and yet he will never find wisdom"
...
"What has this wonderful poem achieved? More than anything else it has made us stop and think. We must pause when we read this. Why this curious and seemingly irrelevant poem interrupting the passionate ebb and flow of debate? Answer: we must ponder and consider again the biggest issues of the book. What are the really big questions? And where have we arrived in unraveling them? Not far!
Indeed Job 28 may be seen as implicit criticism of the sterile arguments of Job’s three friends, whose speeches have achieved so little. In this respect (and some others) Job 28 anticipates the speeches of God at the end of the book.
But why have we not made more progress? It is not only because Job’s friends are foolish. At a deeper level this poem teaches that although the questions Job asks are big and significant (wisdom is indeed of priceless value), the search for wisdom as an object in itself is doomed. The seeking required of us is not ultimately the seeking for philosophical answers or even for practical wisdom; it is seeking after God himself. This is, we remember, one of the great marks we have noted of Job the believer. While he cannot make head or tail of his perplexities, in his heart and with his voice he longs passionately for God. And in so doing, in continuing to fear God and turn from evil, he is precisely on the right track. Job 28:28 gives divine affirmation to Job (and to us) that we need no secret of the higher life, no mysterious spiritual law to raise us to a deeper level of spirituality or godliness, no answers achieved only by some spiritual elite. We are called, as was Job, to begin our lives of discipleship with the fear of God and repentance from evil and to continue our walk with God exactly the way we started it (cf. Colossians 2:6)."
Finally he sets up Job's final speech (which we almost finish today): this way:
"In chapters 29–31 Job sums up his case before God in three parts. In chapter 29 he longs for the wonderful old days before his sufferings. In chapter 30 he laments the misery of his present sufferings. And in chapter 31 he protests before God his innocence. The shape of this final speech is like that of the Psalms of lament."
This quote from C.S. Lewis is a good reflection of the longing expressed by Job in chapter 29:
"Most people would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy.… There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality"
Job 31–33
We have a fascinating final speech from Job in Chapter 31 (it ends with his " the word sof Job are ended" that seems (and is) about self-righteousness which is easy to dismiss until you come to the end of the book and God commends Job. And then what do you make of Elihu who rebukes the other three and then Job? Ash believes that Elihu is a faithful prophetic voice who is holding Job accountable. So what's going on here what do we make of . I found this a helpful section (it's long) from Ash but I've bolded sections that help:
What Are We to Make of This Final Speech?
And so “the words of Job are ended.” But what are we to make of him and of this final speech? Sure, it is very fine and bold, but is it true? And if it is true, how can it be true for a sinner to say these things? This is the critical question, and it can only be answered by reading this speech in the light of the doctrines of justification and of union with Christ from the rest of Scripture.
First, we note that, as so often in the book, Job is a foreshadowing of a man who will fulfill these things perfectly. There will come a man whose perfect obedience will extend both to his single-hearted worship and love for his Father and to his perfectly sinless and utterly good treatment of all his fellow human beings. When we read these protestations of innocence as the words of this sinless man, we can read them with no awkwardness, for he fulfills the innocence of Job in the perfection of his obedient life.
But this still leaves the question of how the historical man Job can say these things and expect God to take him seriously. And clearly he does expect God to take him seriously, and we shall see that God does indeed take him seriously and will—in chapter 42—affirm Job as his faithful covenant servant. But how can a sinner—and Job is a sinner—claim such innocence without opening himself to the accusation of pharisaical cant? And how can he conclude his list of sins precisely by denying the sin of hypocrisy, which was the trademark pharisaical sin?
Essentially this question is the same, doctrinally, as the puzzle of how the adulterer and murderer David can so often claim innocence in the Psalms. Psalm 17 is a paramount example, where David claims not just innocence in one particular matter but a deep and wide innocence: “You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing” (Psalm 17:3). For David the answer is given explicitly in Romans 4. David has appropriated “the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works” (Romans 4:6). A righteousness from God, an alien righteousness (as Luther called it), is counted, imputed, or reckoned to him, so that when his steps are “counted” they are counted righteous. David in his faith foreshadows all who are righteous by faith in Christ today. And so does Job.Job is a man—a remarkable man, for he has so little revelation—who in his heart of trust in the Almighty is credited with a righteousness not his own. But it is more than that; like all men and women who are truly justified today, Job’s justification has life-changing consequences. This is why his actual life begins to conform to the righteousness credited to him by grace. This is why he walks with a clear conscience. This is why, when he sins, he offers sacrifice, as we saw him do for his children in chapter 1. The innocence Job claims in chapter 31 is an innocence reckoned to him perfectly by grace, through the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is an innocence beginning to be worked in his actual life, also by grace, in an anticipatory working of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Job 31 is true by grace, both in Job’s status and in Job’s life. He is, as the Apostle John would later put it, a man who is “walk[ing] in the light” (1 John 1:7).
And yet he is about to be rebuked, first by Elihu and then, climactically and twice, by the Lord himself! The end of chapter 31 is the high point of Job’s positive portrayal in the book, but it is not the end of the book. Before the book can be concluded, there is more to be said about Job, and it will begin with sustained rebuke."
One thing Job's interaction with his three friends has taught me is that "well-meaning" friends may often give unhelpful advice.
Comment:
How often have we heard from non believing friends empty words of comfort! "The universe will send you positive energy" or "what goes around comes around". These are relatively easy to deal with.
What is often harder is hearing wisdom from believers with the wrong theology or correct theology with the wrong application! A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." Proverbs 25:11
We feel the pressure of an uncomfortable silence in a way that makes us say things without fully thinking them through. Job’s friends weren’t doing a bad job as friends when they were just listening with their mouths closed,
Job 38-40
Comment: What impressed me was Job 38 where God condescended to talk with the same tone of voice as job's friends, but with the correct rebuke.
As our brother said, this is where we see God directly addressing Job. And it's a helpful corrective but the plain fact is that it doesn't answer Job's questions directly. The basic response of the Lord is to redirect the question back at Job and clearly draw the Creator/Creature distinction between them - in other words "Who are you Job to question your Creator?" This is similar to how Jesus responds to the disciples questions about God's actions in Luke 13:1-5.
----
Christopher Ash comments:
"Elihu has begun the answers to Job. He has spoken, in my view prophetically, of the justice, loving mercy, and kindness of the God who speaks and governs and whose presence is as awesome as a massive thunderstorm. No one interrupts Elihu or questions his words. The three comforters are silent and Job is quiet as Elihu reaches the end of his fourth and final speech....
What happens next is astonishing. It is what Job has both desired most passionately and feared most deeply. God speaks, and speaks directly and personally, to Job himself. Back in chapter 9 Job has cried out, “If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a tempest … he will not let me get my breath …” (9:16–18). The prospect of an audience with God is terrifying. And yet it is this for which Job longs most urgently. “Oh, that I knew where I might find him,” he has cried (23:3). “Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!),” he has called out in his final speech (31:35). Eliphaz thinks this is unimaginable. “Call now,” he has mocked, “is there anyone who will answer you?” (5:1). Even the prophet Elihu cannot imagine this: “The Almighty—we cannot find him” (37:23). And yet now it happens. Job does not find the Almighty, but the Almighty finds and speaks to him. We do not know by what physical or psychological mechanism Job heard the voice of God or whether this was an audible voice or a voice heard inwardly. The narrative simply records that God spoke to him.
Four things at least mark this speech as significant. The first is that this is recorded as unmediated speech, like God’s speech to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1, 19) in later years. If my understanding is correct, God has begun speaking to Job by the mouth of Elihu the prophet in chapters 32–37, but now he speaks directly. Just as the Ten Commandments, spoken immediately from God to Israel, are thereby designated as of great importance, so it is with these divine speeches spoken directly to Job. We need to listen to them with rapt attention....
The second marker of significance is the use of the covenant name “the Lord” (Yahweh) for the first time since chapters 1, 2...
The third feature is that God speaks directly and personally to one man. In 28:28 we have read a general word of God to humankind, but this now is a word to Job himself.
Finally God speaks “out of the whirlwind,” the awesome storm described by Elihu in chapters 36, 37, the storm that speaks of the scary and sovereign power of God, the storm that Job’s own life has become. We meet this stormy God also at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19) and in Psalm 18. Elijah was translated into Heaven in such a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Many centuries later Ezekiel in Babylon will see “a stormy wind … out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually …” (Ezekiel 1:4; cf. Ezekiel 13:11, 13) and meet with God. Zechariah prophesies that “the Lord God … will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south” (Zechariah 9:14). This great God speaks when and to whom he chooses. He “neither hurried nor humbled himself to do what Job demanded.” Such a manner of speaking humbled Job, and humbles us. In the midst of the storms of Job’s life, God speaks to him."