Day 243
Job 37:1-39:30; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10; Psalm 44:9-26; Proverbs 22:13
Hidden in Plain Sight
As Christians, our understanding of God is based on what Jesus said about God and about what God reveals about Himself in Jesus. The Old Testament writers had a different understanding. For them, the designs of God were bound up in the destiny of Israel. So the exile of Israel was a deep source for reflection. What did the path to salvation look like? Could Yahweh always be counted on to deliver His people? In the book of Job, we find related questions. Could the righteous person count on the justice of Yahweh for deliverance? God’s justice was called into question.
In the passage we read today, God addresses this issue. He brushes aside the discourse of Elihu and presents to Job a very different (and somewhat unsatisfactory) explanation. God says, “Is it your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings to the south?” (Job 39:26). God is saying, “If you cannot explain even the design of nature, how can you begin to understand my ways?”
Through science we have unlocked much of what was once hidden. But have we come close to explaining the purpose of God? The Bible and our traditions seem to point to several purposes. But in our everyday world the face of God often seems hidden. The daily purpose of God is as inscrutable as a circling hawk. But the heart of faith sees the essential goodness of God and rests. Are you prepared today to love the God that seems hidden?
David Somers, Deacon