(The first few paragraphs of this post reference Job 38:1-11.)
I wasn’t there.
I wasn’t there when the earth’s foundations were laid. I didn’t see their dimensions marked off or the measuring line stretched across it. I wasn’t there when God set the earth’s footings and laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang and all the angels shouted for joy.
I didn’t see God shut up the sea behind doors or make the clouds its garment, wrapped in thick darkness. I didn’t see him fix the limits of the sea and set its doors and bars in place. I didn’t hear his thunderous voice as he told it, “This far you may come and no farther, here is where your proud waves halt.”
I didn’t see or hear any of those awesome, wondrous things. I wasn’t there.
But so often I’m just like Job. I ask God questions, demanding answers and explanations for things happening in the world around me, things that I’m experiencing and don’t understand why. Why this, why that—God why are you allowing these things to happen? Why are you allowing these things to happen to me? I want an answer. I deserve an explanation.
Just like Job, God doesn’t need to give me a specific answer to any of my questions. I don’t deserve anything from him—none of us do. As difficult as it is for us to accept and understand, God doesn’t always give us the answers we want.
But, dear Christian, God gives us the answers we need.
In the Bible, God tells us everything we need to know about who he is and what he has done for us, freely out of his grace and love. Those are the answers God wants us to focus on—even while we experience the things that make us ask that seemingly all-important question, “Why?”
Focus on God and the answers he has absolutely, definitively given in his Word.
I wasn’t there. You weren’t there either.
We weren’t there when the Son of God made his way to a dark and lonely hill outside Jerusalem. We didn’t see his feet stumble across the ground he made or see his blood soak the earthen path he walked. We weren’t there when the God-man was nailed to a tree and hanged between earth and sky while his mother wept and God turned his back on his own Son.
We didn’t hear the anguished words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We didn’t see darkness envelop the earth while our Savior suffered for our sins. We didn’t hear the triumphant, final cry, “It is finished!” We didn’t see the tombstone rolled away and peer in at empty graveclothes, neatly folded.
We didn’t see or hear any of those awesome, wondrous things. We weren’t there. And yet by faith, we see and hear what our God has done for us. By faith, we know the awesome, wondrous things that our God is doing for us right here and now—even in the midst of our earthly trials, suffering, and woes.
God has taken away our sins. He has thrown heaven’s gates open wide. He says to you and me, “No matter what happens to you in life, no matter what questions may arise, no matter what troubles you may face, know that I love you. I will always love you. You are mine. This home, heaven, is yours—all because of your Savior, Jesus.”
By God’s grace, dear Christian, we’ll be there.
We’ll be there.
Looking for more gospel comfort and encouragement? Filled with profound comfort and practical takeaways for your life, in These Words Are Written: Devotions on the Gospel of John, you’ll learn more about who Jesus is, what he has done for you, and the brilliant future awaiting you as you trust in him!
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.