Life throws us into a variety of dynamics: job crises, divorce, betrayal, life-altering medical diagnoses, or unanswered prayers. In such struggles, like Job, we can be tempted to conclude that God doesn't care. We want to force our logic to work in the midst of divine mystery and when it fails, we are disappointed. But like Job, we need to come to a point of silence. The point when we are no longer busy defending ourselves or blaming the divine, but simply say with full awareness, "Forgive my ignorance. I thought You were absent, but it turns out You are still taking care of me." Job once felt this way. After losing possessions, family, health, and even pride, Job felt that God no longer cared. He cried, questioned, and even challenged God to answer his suffering. In that crunch, Job tried to formulate justice according to his own logic — a justice that requires God to answer “ why do the righteous suffer?
However, when God finally answers from within the storm (Job 38 & 40), Job does not get a cause-and-effect explanation, but rather an encounter that both shocks and soothes. God did not come to judge Job for his complaints, but to show that the world is far more vast and mysterious than humans can comprehend. Job was shaken. He realized that his words were too rash. He said, "I am too lowly" (Hebrew: קַלֹּתִי – qalalti). This was not a confession of moral sin, but rather an expression of humility born out of the realization of man's limitations before the great God. He closed his mouth, not because he lost the debate, but because his heart was touched by a divine reality that surpassed his understanding. Had Job been able to summarize his heart at that time, perhaps this is what he would have said: "Forgive my ignorance. I thought You had abandoned me, but I was wrong. I should have endured a little longer, I should not have felt ashamed to be a mockery, for You still take care of me even though I do not understand Your ways.
God did not scold Job for struggling. Instead, He invites Job into a dialog that shapes and changes his perspective. God shifts Job's focus from "my righteousness" (מִשְׁפָּטִי — mishpati) to "my justice" (מִשְׁפָּטִי — mishpati) that encompasses all of creation. Job no longer demands total understanding, but rather submits himself to a God who knows better.
Friends of the Bible, sometimes when we are in the midst of suffering we feel that God is distant, and we are tempted to measure God's love by our circumstances. But Job bears witness that God's silence is not His absence. Even in the storm, He still speaks. In our complaints, He still hears, even teaching us to see from a broader angle & that not everything has to be answered, but everything can be lived with Him.
