A Penetrating Reproof from the Almighty, Part 1

Guest (Male): Chapter after chapter in the Old Testament story of Job, Job waited. Waited for God to break the silence and answer the anguished questions of his suffering heart. Finally, at last, God spoke. But what Job heard was nothing like what he expected. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll brings us to this long-awaited moment and reveals a God whose ways are far above our own. On today's program, we'll be reminded that God's surprising presence often comes right in the middle of a storm. We'll begin by reading the passage together.
Chuck Swindoll: Well, God finally speaks to Job. What he says is surprising, as you're going to discover this morning, but that's fine. God's full of surprises, which we will affirm again and again in the message today. Job 38. I'll read just a few verses and then we'll jump to 40. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, verse one begins, and said, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now, gird up your loins like a man and I will ask you and you instruct me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who set its measurements since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" If you were to list the questions between here and the end of the book, you'd find 77 that Job is asked. None of them able to be answered by Job. Humbled and broken, Chapter 40, Job responds in verse three. Job answered the Lord and said, "Behold, I am insignificant. What can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I've spoken and I will not answer. Even twice and I will add no more." It's an old Hebrew colloquialism that means, "I have already said more than I should."
Guest (Male): You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into Job's story, be sure to purchase a copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message, "A Penetrating Reproof from the Almighty."
Chuck Swindoll: God's ways are often so surprising, and when he does show up, if you will, his message is so often unexpected and unpredictable. Sometimes it's a close call and we realize after the fact that he has been there all the time protecting us, even when we didn't know we were in danger. That occurred to me this last week when I read a report that came from Montgomery County, Maryland. In the city of Wheaton, Maryland. The report reads, "The first bullet fired in a shooting spree that killed five people in Montgomery County Wednesday and Thursday, narrowly missed Ann Chapman, who was working at Michael Arts and Crafts store in North Gate Shopping Center. It's a miracle no one was hurt after the bullet cut a dime-sized hole in the display window, nicked a light fixture, pierced two poster board signs, and hit a metal rack holding rows of many books at 5:20 p.m. Wednesday. But the amazing thing is what the bullet stopped next to," the store's employees said. "A book called Inspiration for the Heart from The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson." If you were to open the book flap, you would read, "A simple daily prayer from the heart can inspire you to seek God's constant favor, power, and protection." The bullet has not been recovered. Ann Chapman had no idea that she was that close to being shot. You and I think we know what is best for ourselves when in fact we do not. And sometimes when the Lord does come on the scene, we are downright not only surprised, but shocked at how he says what he says and at what he says. I came across this week two prophets from the Old Testament who verify what I'm talking about. The first one we're not familiar with at all, and the other we're rather familiar with. So let's turn first to the less familiar, Nahum. Just between Micah and Habakkuk. Doesn't help, does it? It's page 1437 in my Bible, and it's the seventh of the Old Testament minor prophets. If you're not familiar, that's okay, most of us aren't that familiar with the Old Testament minor prophets. Nahum, chapter one, verse three. I came across this this past week and was reminded again of how surprising the presence of God can be. Nahum 1:3. "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." Now, it's this part that intrigues me. "In whirlwind and storm is his way. And clouds are the dust beneath his feet." Look closely, put your finger on that last part of the third verse and notice, he's referring to a strong wind, a storm that may include thunder and lightning. And that which frightens us and drives us away is often, in fact, the reminder of the presence of God. One man writes, "The power and majesty of God are evidenced most dramatically in the forces of nature." So I suggest the next time lightning flashes and thunder rolls and the rain begins to fall, rather than slamming your door and closing everything up and pulling the blinds and staying away from it, that you stand and stare. Remember that the clouds are but the dust of his feet. God is there and very present at times like that. When he gave the law at Sinai, Moses writes that the the mountain was surrounded by thick, heavy clouds. There was thunder and there was lightning. When Elijah stepped out of the cave in his depression to see what was there, there was the passing of a strong whirlwind that came by the cave. The same happened with Ezekiel. When Jesus walked toward the disciples, frightened in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, it was at a time of storm that he stilled the storm and spoke peaceful words to his disciples. I read Martin Luther while pursuing a law degree as a young man in Erfurt, Germany, was caught in a thunderous lightning-stricken storm, and the storm so humbled him. He realized he should not be pursuing law. This was God's way of saying to him, "You need to pursue ministry." Now, every time we're in a storm, that's not what the Lord is saying to his people. But there was a sense of God's presence in that frightening moment, and his heart became unusually sensitive and tender. And aren't we all glad he was not an attorney, but became a monk and ultimately discovered what became for us the roots of the Reformation. God has his way in the whirlwind and the storm. This is called a theophany. T-H-E-O-P-H-A-N-Y. Theophany. It's a disclosure of God's presence. A theophany. Nahum says that God is present in the storm and in the midst of the storm, he's having his way. Now, with that in mind, go back to Isaiah. Isaiah is just before Jeremiah, chapter 55, verse six. I know, we're in Job, but we're moving in that direction and just give me a moment to set it up, okay? Job speaks of some of this, at least the chapter we're looking at, and I want you to see something ahead of time. Isaiah 55:6. "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." That part we understand. The next part is so surprising. "For my thoughts," this is God speaking now. He steps in as Isaiah continues to write. "My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "Well, are they really that different? Are they really that far apart?" Verse nine. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As far as the distance between heavens and earth, so is the distance between my thinking and God's thinking. Your ways and God's ways." If you were raised like me, you were usually taught that God speaks in a still, small voice. That he comes tiptoeing on the scene. And he always sort of whispers. But Nahum says he has his way in a whirlwind and a storm. And the clouds are but the dust of his feet. And when he does speak, what a surprising message. Often it is a shaking of our shoulders in the storm. Sometimes it is a reproof that levels us. We prefer the quiet setting. We prefer the calm and peaceful surrounding. But sometimes the storm is a doctor's report that's frightening. Sometimes the storm message comes in in a rehabilitation center. Or in the emergency room. Or in a prison cell. Or as we're standing on the other end of the room and we're reading a note from our mate who says, "I cannot stay any longer. I'm gone." And we think in moments like that, "Where is God? Where is God when I need him?" He is there in the storm and in the whirlwind. God's whirlwind messages are never forgotten. Most of us could testify that our lives began to be changed because of some reproof that came through some enormously significant event, usually stormy. Now, Job 38 brings us to the place we've been waiting for for some time. Quite some time. Got a letter from one of the men in our church this week, good letter. He said, "I just want to thank you for Job, but could we do something in another book that isn't quite so character building?" he said. He said, "If my character gets built anymore, I'll need to have another office space, another room in my office to put some of this character that's getting built." He names one thing after another, and it's like the wheels have come off the cart. And so it has for Job. And adding insult to injury, not only does Job lose his ability to make a living, and along with that his home and his entire family of ten grown children. He now has lost his health, and these so-called friends have come alongside to preach their sermons and to deliver their messages, all of which are off-target and they don't help. And Job has stood toe-to-toe with each one of them. Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and lately Elihu. By the time he gets to Elihu, he just doesn't bother to answer. He is out of energy and he is so determined that he is going to wait for God to speak. Well, God speaks in chapter 38, verse one, "The Lord answered." But he doesn't tiptoe and say, "Psst. Job, it's me, God." He comes in a whirlwind. As if Job doesn't have it tough enough already, he's got to go through a whirlwind. And in the midst of the whirlwind, as his hair is blowing and his beard is blowing, oh, he doesn't have any hair, he's bald. As his beard is blowing, and as his clothes are being pulled off, he realizes this must be some significant moment, and he hears the voice he's been waiting to hear. But it isn't a voice of comfort. Now, if you and I had come, we would have come, hopefully, with comfort in mind. We'd have brought Job something to read, we'd have maybe something to eat and we'd sit down with him and, "Oh, it's tough." But God doesn't do that. Why? His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts different than our thoughts. Remember that. Get out of your mind the idea that God is just like us, just a lot older. And God understands like we understand, but he just, you know, he's been at it longer. He's not this old man with long white hair blowing wind from the north to make the boat sail across the ocean. He is totally and completely and absolutely different from us. Therefore, his ways are full of shocks and surprises. The first word out of his mouth is a reproof. Well, why would he do that? Here's a man covered with boils, waiting for comfort and needing help, and along comes the living God who has known the whole story from start to finish. He doesn't give Job any answers to his questions. He doesn't apologize for having been silent so long. He doesn't give a hint about the whole thing between himself and Satan, way back when when it all started. He doesn't acknowledge that Job has been through deep struggles. When he finally speaks, he speaks in a reproof. Frankly, having thought about this for some time, I think Job by now has gotten in his defense a little arrogant. You get like that when you defend yourself too long. When you've had to stand against the attacks of the others, you tend to get a little cocksure. And God is going to communicate a number of things to Job, but he has to get his heart right to begin with. And how does he do that? He comes with a clipboard full of questions. His opening line is, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" Now, you've got to understand, there's not a whole group of people standing there. It's just Job and God. So, "Who?" is a pretty simple answer. "Now, gird up your loins like a man." It's singular. He's not talking to the friends, he's talking to Job. "Gird up your loins like a man. I will ask you and you instruct me." And he starts. He begins with the creation of the world. He moves to the stellar spaces, to the deepest seas. He goes ultimately into the animal kingdom. One question after another, after another. The first set of questions asks, "Can you explain my creation? Let's even add control it. Can you explain or control my creation?" Just answer the question, Job. And that ends with a statement of humility when Job answers in verses three, four and five of chapter 40. God isn't through. The next set of questions ask, "Can you change or subdue my creation?" And that's ended with Job's answer of repentance. We'll look at that sometime from now. But right now, let's think about this first set of questions, which is answered with humility, thankfully. Now, watch closely. He begins with the creation. Verse four, chapter 38, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Well, obviously, he wasn't anywhere around. All of us were gone at that time. "Tell me if you have any understanding. Who set its measurements?" He doesn't know that answer. No one knows how the earth is measured or the or the universe about us or the multiple galaxies beyond that. "Who set its measurements since you know, or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Who laid its cornerstone? How did it all get all of this get flung into space? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." That's a reference to the first stars. Those morning stars sang together. Perhaps at creation the stars could sing. Maybe it's poetic writing and it doesn't literally mean singing, but again, maybe the heavens were in harmony with one another. We don't know, we weren't there. Writing this account, he refers to the morning stars singing together. Maybe they were the angels as they sang at the time of creation. These angelic creatures were witnessing all of this with open mouths, staring with this incredulous look about them. And then he moves to the sea. "Who enclosed the sea with doors when bursting forth it went out from the womb?" This is poetic. "When I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it. I said a bolt and doors and I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther. And here shall your proud waves stop.'" Could you do that, Job? Were you there when that happened, Job? "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place?" Now he moves to the sun, this greater light by day, "That it might take hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it." Verse 16, "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell me if you know all this." Quite a set of questions, isn't it? You know what happens when you're asked questions like this? You get even more silent. You're already silent, but you just as he says at the end, he puts his hand over his mouth, lest he be tempted to give one answer. You are totally out of it. It's like a classroom. And the prof is way ahead of you. And you and you you duck behind the head of the person in front of you, so the prof can't see you. You've done it. You're you're you're there. And then he begins to ask questions, and you you know you're outclassed. Not only do you not know, you are aware that others know you don't know. So you are doubly silent. And yet God goes on. The expanses of the sea. In my research, it may be dated, but the book I read talked about the deepest place of the sea has been revealed to be 6.78 miles. There may be deeper places, but at that point, that particular authority said, "We've come a little over six and three-quarter miles deep in the deepest place of the sea." And how about the stellar spaces? You may remember one of our space probes spent 12 years going 4.4 billion miles, passing within 3,000 miles of Neptune's cloud bank. But that's only in this immediate galaxy. There are millions more. Who knows but what ours is the smallest of the group? It's mind-boggling. It makes you quiet. So he carries him to the telescopes and then he takes him back to earth and he invites him to visit the darkness, 19 through 21. And then he says in 22, "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? Have you seen the storehouses of the hail?" What a poetic way to put it. All of the heavens that hold the the waters that will drench the earth and the ice that will fall and and will form. And the hailstorms yet to come. He said, he's reserved those for a time of distress. I mean, Job is just standing there. Suddenly, the boils don't seem quite as significant. And the answers he was giving his friends with such dogmatism don't flow with such eloquence anymore. He even asks him to verse 31, "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?" Now he's describing some of the constellations. "Or loose the cords of Orion. Can you lead forth a constellation in its season and guide the bear with her satellites?" Another of the star formations in the shape of a bear. Many of you are familiar with that. "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth?" It's like being invited to one of these great telescopes and you take a look and you blink and you you watch this entire world beyond our present familiar surface. You don't turn and start instructing the person who runs the place. You stuff your hands in your pockets and sort of walk backwards to get out of the place. It is enormous. It's especially enormous because the one who could answer every question is talking to him and was there and has put them in motion and keeps them in motion. Who, how, can you, do you, will you, are you? If God's ways are higher than mine, then whatever he allows, I bow in submission. And that makes me humble. How needed a humble spirit is in a person like Job.
Guest (Male): If God's ways are truly higher than ours, higher than the heavens are above the earth, then perhaps the wisest posture is to simply bow down in humble submission, to stop instructing and start listening. So here's the bottom-line question that Chuck Swindoll has invited us to ponder: Where is God inviting us to trade our questions for trust? When like Job, we're sitting in an ash heap, suffering from physical ailments or reeling from the insensitive input from family and friends, it causes us to second-guess God's presence. Does he even know what we're going through? That's the question Chuck answers in a book he's written. It's called Finding God When the World's on Fire, and it's our featured resource today on Insight for Living. Maybe you're feeling discouraged today. Perhaps you've suffered through a sequence of unwanted surprises. Nothing seems to quell your confusion or alleviate your fears. And God feels very, very far away. Chuck's book, Finding God When the World's on Fire, was written exactly for that moment. We'd love to send you a copy today. It's yours when your request includes a contribution toward the ministry of Insight for Living. We're grateful for you, and we believe this book will be a gift to your soul. Again, it's called Finding God When the World's on Fire. Call us at 800-772-8888, or go to insight.org/donate. Thanks so much for your voluntary gift. No matter the size, it'll be used to provide hope to those who feel hopeless. Plus, your generosity allows us to provide Chuck's teaching on your station and on the Insight mobile app and all the other platforms where Insight for Living is freely heard. To send a contribution in the mail, address your envelope to Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034, or call us at 800-772-8888. Online, go to insight.org/donate. What does it really mean to surrender our will to God? I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll presents a biblical answer Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, "A Penetrating Reproof from the Almighty," was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.