Focal passage: Job 40:1-14
A few years ago, I took my kids to a Monster Jam event that featured loud and powerful monster trucks competing against each other. We were blown away at the size and sound of these trucks. When they were in action, we could feel our seats vibrate and our ears needed to be protected from the trucks’ roars. As they crushed cars and jumped ramps, it was as if the trucks were flexing their muscles. They were a force to behold.
After Job endured his friends’ accusations of hidden sin that resulted in his suffering, God finally spoke to Job. In his speech, God seemed to flex His muscles, reminding Job of His unfathomable power and Job’s finiteness. Although Job received unjust criticism from his friends amidst his suffering, Job was not innocent in his criticism of God’s justice. Thus, God corrected Job in a string of scathing rebukes “from the whirlwind” (38:1; 40:6), a place that manifested the power of God’s presence.
God asked Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” (40:2). Job responded briefly to the Lord’s question, stating that he is insignificant and that although he had spoken previously, he would lay his hand over his mouth in silence to receive the LORD’s word (40:3-5). After Job’s sobered response to keep quiet, God commences His speech. The LORD commanded Job to “dress for action like a man” (40:7) and receive a series of interrogative questions: Will you put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me? Do you have an arm like me? Can you thunder with your voice like I can? (40:7-9). Furthermore, God challenged Job that if he was as intelligent and strong as God, then he would be able to save himself (40:10-14).
What Job needed to know was that he could not save himself. Rather, only God can save from sin and its deathly consequences. In the same way my kids and I felt and heard the power of those monster trucks a few years back, Job felt and heard the power of God as God spoke. As desperate sinners, we must hear God’s power to save at the cross. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16), and all who believe will be rescued, not by our power, but by the power of the Almighty.