Grace, mercy and peace are yours through our gracious Lord who speaks to us out of the storm. Amen.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ² "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? ³ Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. ⁴ "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. ⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶ On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? ⁸ "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, ⁹ when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, ¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, ¹¹ when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?

Roy Campanella was one of the first African Americans to play in the US Baseball major leagues. In a distinguished career he won the Brooklyn Dodgers Most Valued Player award many times, and in 1955 was on the team that won the World Series. But in January 1958 his career was cut short after a car crash left him a quadriplegic. After he was injured he spent a lot of time in the Institute of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City. One day he stopped to read a gold plaque upon one of the walls, and for someone who had been blessed with such athletic gifts it resonated deeply within him:

"I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey… I asked for health that I might do great things. I was given infirmity that might do better things… I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise… I asked for power, that I might have the praise of others. I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God…I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things… I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among men, most richly blessed!"

Roy Campanella must have wondered, at least for a time, "where is God when I’m suffering." He learned in the words of that plague that God is always right here with us, working everything out for the good of his beloved children. We may not always be able to understand God’s wise and infinite plan. We simply have to believe he has a plan. We must believe that our God is greater and wiser than ourselves.

That was something Job had to learn. We always hear about "the patience of Job." And for a time he was very patient. He had lost his sheep, camels, cattle, donkeys, and servants. His ten children were killed when a house collapsed in on them. Then Job was afflicted with painful sores from head to toe. After all this he was still able to pray: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21) And, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10)

But after time and listening to his so-called friends, Job had had enough. He was patient no longer. He demanded answers. He demanded that God give an answer to his suffering. "Let me speak, and you reply!" (Job 13:22) And, "Let the Almighty answer me!" (Job 31:35) Job tried putting God on trial for his actions. Job was the plaintiff. God was the defendant.

Job had no idea what he was doing. As a parent, you know there is no way you would let your kids talk to you like that and demand anything from you. And if you answer them with a "because I said so," that should be good enough for them. It wasn’t good enough for Job.

God certainly didn’t let Job get away with this lack of respect. Job had confronted God. Now the Lord confronted Job out of a storm. But it was a confrontation unlike any Job had expected – or wanted. God says nothing to Job about his suffering. There is no discussion about why God was allowing Job to suffer. There is no dialogue about Job’s perceived injustices. Instead of answering questions, God asks them. God continues to ask them for four chapters.

It is okay to ask God, "why," but we do it with respect and not really expecting an answer. I spoke with someone in the nursing home the other day. She asked me if it was wrong to ask God why she was still here and ask him to take her to heaven. I assured her those are fine questions to ask, just don’t expect an answer. Don’t demand that it be done your way instead of God’s way.

God rebuked Job’s way of questioning by challenging, "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?" Job had charged God with evil and treated God as the enemy. Job had no way of knowing or understanding everything that goes into running the universe. "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me." Job was to be alert and prepared for a difficult task – that of explaining God’s ways in nature. Because Job had questioned God’s way of doing things and accused him of wrongdoing, now he was challenged to support his claims. Job was now the defendant!

"I will question you, and you shall answer me!" God asked Job who marked off the dimensions of the earth’s foundation; how was the sea shut up and kept separate from the clouds; where is the storeroom for the snow, rain and hail; does he know how to control the stars and constellations; does he know how to satisfy the lion or the raven or the mountain goats; can he tame the dinosaurs of Leviathan and Behemoth; does he know how to bring justice to the proud and wicked? Job would have to answer with a very humbling, "No. I have no clue how any of this works. I don’t understand. Please forgive my ignorance and ineptitude."

How does all of this relate to us and our relationship with God? Don’t we at times feel exactly like Job? We have questions. We want answers. And we want them now. Why do I have cancer? Why does my spouse have Alzheimer’s? Why did I lose my job? Why did Mom have to die? What good could possibly come out of all this?

We don’t know why God allows us to suffer. Sometimes we may be able to look back at events in hindsight and be able to guess at God’s plans. Maybe he is allowing us to suffer because when things are going well we tend to put God to the side. When we suffer, we need God more. We find our strength and comfort in him. When our suffering gets so bad that it forces us to our knees, we might as well pray while we are there.

God may give us challenges so that we may overcome and succeed. We may be forced into the hospital in order to be a Christian witness to a nurse, a fellow patient, or to a family member. Sometimes our suffering may not have much to do with us at all. Maybe God wants to use your illness so that others may have the opportunity to demonstrate Christian love in their care, compassion, cards, phone calls, and prayers. I told some of the homebound I visited yesterday that if they weren’t homebound, I wouldn’t know them as well. It’s good for me to get to know them, and hopefully good for them, too. Someone I visited yesterday said that her comfort is that God has something left for her to do yet. Then she added, that at 98, she just wants God to let her know what it is so she can do it and go to heaven.

God is saying that he is unlike us. God knows what will happen tomorrow, next week, next year, next decade, and for all eternity. He says, "I am God, and there is no one like me, I make known the end from the beginning." (Isaiah 46:9) God is the one who controls the seas, the storms, and the stars. If he can do that, surely he can take care of our little lives as well. God knows what will happen in the universe. More importantly, he knows what will occur in your life and can be there for you. He tells us that he is "our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble." (Psalm 46:1)

We will suffer terrorist attacks. Our loved ones will go to war. There will be violence in our streets. But there is a peace and a strength that God's presence gives. One follower of Jesus Christ put it this way: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8) Reality tells us that we will experience problems in life. However, if we go through them while knowing God, we can react to them with a different perspective and with a strength that is not our own. No problem has the capacity to be insurmountable to God. He is bigger than all the problems that can hit us, and we are not left alone to deal with them.

God is unlimited in power and wisdom. Though problems seem insurmountable to us, we have an incredibly capable God who reminds us, "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind, is anything to hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27) God is able to take horrible circumstances and bring about his plan anyway. You can rest on his promise that "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

And understand that God is not asking you to suffer any more than he asked his Son to suffer for you. God knows firsthand the pain and suffering we encounter in this world.

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly - not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. "Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?" snapped a young Albanian. He removes his shirt to reveal a bullet scarred back. "In Kosovo we endured terror... shootings... torture!"

In another group an aged aboriginal woman pulls a crumpled, tear-stained photograph from her pocket. "What about this?" she demanded, "This is my precious child. I have not seen her since the day she was stolen away for no crime but being black!" In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. "Why should I suffer," she murmured, "It wasn't my fault."

Far out across the plain there were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in this world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that people had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth - as a man!

"Let him be born into a hated race. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. At the end, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it."

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. And when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

Often when bad things happen to us, we are tempted to doubt God's love for us: "God, if you love me, you wouldn't let me suffer like this." We can't let our situations determine God's love for us. "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). That is the one thing we must look at to determine God's love. Not our blessings or absence of them.

Where is God when you suffer? The God who controls the sea, the storms, and the stars, the God who allowed his Son to suffer, is the God who is loving you during your suffering, allowing your problems to help you mature and grow, using your difficult life to force you to look forward to the next, better, perfect life, and working everything out for your eternal benefit. Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)