“When God places a burden upon you, He places His arms underneath you.” —C.H. Spurgeon
Job’s response to the Lord is very honest. “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:4-5). The word “vile,” although often translated “cursed,” carries the main idea of making light of, a triviality, without much substance. Job has been arrested by his own superficial view of life. He has realized that all human attempts to resolve the problem of evil are inevitably oversimplified. In the grand scheme of things, making snowflakes and sunrises is already far outside the limits of Job’s expertise, let alone managing the seas and the stars. God’s strategy has been designed not only to silence Job, but to comfort him as well. The complexities of nature are beyond him, so what of the even more complicated interplay between good and evil in the world? It was only in life’s rear-view mirror that Joseph could see how God’s moral light had extinguished the darkness: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20). One of the underlying themes of the Lord’s illustrations is His BEING THERE. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4), He asks. In other words, I’ve been at this a long time. And I don’t miss a thing—My creatures crying for food, or their giving birth, or My sending rain on the regions that man doesn’t tend. Where do we find comfort in all this? It’s not so much in the realm of our understanding, but in God’s undergirding that we gain strength to go on in the midst of troubles. “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27). No matter how far down we go, we can always say, “Yes, but underneath…!”