Daily Lesson for January 14, 2020

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Job 38 verses 19 through 21:

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
20
that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21
Surely you know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!

At first reading the LORD’s speech to Job is deeply dissatisfying. There is nothing really new said. “Were you there who I laid the foundation of the earth?” “Or who shut up the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?”

The imagery is vivid, stunning even; but there is no deeper to what is said by the LORD from this whirlwind in chapter 38 than there is said by the mortal Elihu in the chapters preceding.

But perhaps we should pay attention to what is not said. Wisdom is often found not in what is stated, but left unstated and Job is a wisdom book. And the wisdom from the whirlwind is the wisdom of silence when it comes to suffering.

Yes, the LORD seems to see and know everything.  He knows when the mountain goat gives birth, and where the prey of the lion lives, and where the storehouses of the snow is hidden. This is all spoken. But what is left unspoken is why Job suffers.

All the other speakers in Job seem to have Job’s suffering figured out. They moralize it, basically saying he deserves it. But the LORD offers no light of wisdom on this. Only the LORD is wise enough to remain silent about the meaning of suffering.

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light and where is the place of darkness?” Who knows, save the LORD? And where the LORD is silent, how dare any of the rest of us presume to speak?


NOTE: Tomorrow’s Daily Lesson will conclude our reading of Job with chapters 40 through 42.