Psalm 119:126 Wednesday

It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken.” Psalm 119:126

I ask God, "God, what are you doing?" And he tells me to look at Job.

Job in all his misery, like the Psalmist in Psalm 119, cries out to God saying, “I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.” Job 30:20

When I remind God it’s time for him to act, his law is being broken, it's much like Job telling God he needs an explanation for his misery. We know, because we know the rest of the story, what God was doing. Before God appears on the scene Elihu, in my opinion, speaks to Job some of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.

“God thunders wonderfully with his voice, he does great things beyond our understanding.He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth!’ – likewise to the light rain, also to the downpour.He brings all human activity to a stop, so that everyone he has made can know it.Then the animals go into their lairs and hibernate in their dens.

“Out of its chamber comes the storm, with cold out of the north.By the breath of God, ice is given, and the wide waters freeze over.He weighs the clouds down with moisture, and they flash forth his lightning.He, by his plans, turns them around, so they do what he commands them anywhere on earth;He brings them forth on the earth sometime to punish, sometimes to express his grace.

“Listen to this, Lyov [Job]! Stop and consider God’s wonders.Do you know how God puts them in place, how he causes lightning to flash from his cloud?Do you know how he balances the clouds?These are marvels of him who knows everything!

“Out of the north comes a golden glow, fearsome majesty surrounding God.Shaddai, whom we cannot find, whose power is immense, in his great righteousness does not pervert justice. excerpts from Job 37 Complete Jewish Bible

Since 09/11/01, I have used this passage, especially verse 7 -- “He brings all human activity to a stop, so that everyone he has made can know it,” -- to point out what happened when the twin towers came down. He brought all human activity to a stop, got everyone’s attention and made man look at HIM; the same usually happens in times of natural disasters; he did this to Job.
I find it very interesting that Job questioned God about Him doing nothing, while God stopped Job from doing anything, so Job could see that God was doing it all.

“In his book Wishful Thinking, Frederick Buechner sums up God’s speech. “God doesn’t explain. He explodes. He asks Job who he thinks he is anyway. He says that to try to explain the kind of things Job wants explained would be like trying to explain Einstein to a little-neck clam . . . . God doesn’t reveal his grand design. He reveals himself. The message behind the splendid poetry boils down to this: Until you know a little more about running the physical universe, Job, don’t tell me how to run the moral universe.

“Why are you treating me so unfairly, God?” Job has whined through the book. “Put yourself in my place.”

“No!!!” God thunders in reply. “You put yourself in my place! Until you can offer lessons on how to make the sun come up each day, or where to scatter lightning bolts, or how to design a hippopotamus, don’t judge how I run the world. Just shut up and listen.”

“If one world exists inside another world, it will only make sense from the higher world’s point of view.” Disappointment with God, page 217

I cannot, nor will I ever, understand God, his will and his ways.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8 says.

I know, like Job, when I see God's hand-I-work, that His hand-WILL-work, in His time.