Job
38:1–11—At the end of the book of
Job, God answers Job, who has demanded the opportunity to interrogate Him for
the calamities which have befallen Job. God answers with an interrogation of
His own: Who is Job to question the Creator of all things? The Lord, who laid
the foundation of the earth and determined its measurements, who prescribed
limits for the sea, knows what He is doing. How can the creature second-guess
the Creator?
The Lord says, “Gird up your loins like a man.” God is
saying to Job that he should be a man. He is to stretch himself into his being.
God wants him to answer some questions. They are to stretch his mind and
challenge him to the very depths of his humanity. God calls us to be alert, to
do our best in confronting the ultimate issues of life.
To make Job realize his
humanness, finiteness and smallness, God asks, ‘Where were you at the time of creation?’ Obviously, to be there would mean to be eternal, but a human being
is temporal. Where were you when the sea was put in its boundaries? If you as a
human were not there, how then can you know or understand God’s power and
wisdom? His ways are past finding out. God is to humans incomprehensible. Why
then does God allow a good person to suffer? No one knows, but one can trust
God that he knows what he is doing.[2]
Collect for Peace: O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good
counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the
world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and
also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace
and quietness;
Prayer for Peace: Almighty and everlasting God, King of Glory, and Lord
of heaven and earth, by whose Spirit all things are governed, by whose
providence all things are ordered, the God of peace and the author of all
concord, grant us, we implore You, Your heavenly peace and concord that we may
serve You in true fear, to the praise and glory of Your name; through Jesus
Christ, Your Son, our Lord,[3]
- 16 June 2021—
[1]-Schnorr Von Carolsfeld woodcuts “Jesus asleep in the ship” copyright © WELS for personal and congregational use
[2] Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series B, John Brokhoff © 1981 CSS Publishing, Lima, OH
[3] A Collect and Prayer for Peace, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St., Louis
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