When His presence is known
“Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?’” ~ Job 38:1–2
After chapter upon chapter of sorrow, questions, and speculation, something powerful happens in Job 38: God speaks. Out of the whirlwind, the Lord responds to Job, not with explanations, but with questions that forces Job to take his focus off his pain and onto God’s majesty.
This passage makes me think about a time when I was going through a struggle. I wasn’t angry with God, I just didn’t know the right way to deal with or process what I was feeling. I cried out to my heavenly Father for wisdom. In that moment, I sensed Him pulling me close to Him and then turning me around so that I could see things from His perspective. Suddenly, I felt small, but not abandoned. I could see the whole earth as though I was looking at it from space. It seemed like He started pointing to other things that were happening in the world around mine. Things that He was working all together for a good purpose. Nothing had changed in my circumstances, but my entire perspective shifted. I felt the closeness of my loving Father and I could see that He had His hand on my life and the situation that I was so anxious about. I felt His peace and assurance that He was still the Creator of all things and nothing that I faced was out of His reach. That precious time with Him didn’t fix everything I was dealing with that day, but it gave me a place to focus in the stressful times to come in life. I had a knowing in my heart that He was going to bring a blessed result and all the anxiety of the problem I was currently in faded away.
You can draw strength from Him too when your life feels out of control. Below is a list of steps to follow:
- Shift your focus to God’s greatness.
Instead of rehearsing what’s wrong or what’s missing, turn your attention to Who God is. Read Job 38 slowly. Let each question remind you of God’s limitless wisdom and power. When your world feels unstable, remember He laid the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4).
Start by setting aside 10 minutes to read Job 38 aloud today. Write down 3 truths about God’s power that stand out to you.
- Surrender what you can’t explain.
Job didn’t get all his questions answered. But in God’s response, he realized that understanding everything isn’t necessary to trust fully. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is: “God, I don’t understand, but I trust You anyway.”
Write out the questions that are weighing on you.
Pray: “Lord, I surrender these questions to You. Show me how to rest in Your greatness.”
- Stand in awe of the One who speaks.
Job’s encounter wasn’t casual, it was holy. God didn’t have to answer, but He did. He spoke not to shame Job, but to shift his heart back to reverence. When God speaks, even through the storms of life, it’s a gift that changes us.
Create a “God is…” list. Begin every sentence with that phrase and finish with a truth you know about His character. Hang it where you’ll see it each morning.
Today I want to encourage you when life feels like a storm and the silence of heaven is deafening, remember that your Father in heaven does speak. When He does, everything shifts. Not always the physical world, but in your heart and soul. Let His voice echo louder than your doubts. Let His greatness draw you into deeper trust. When you look up and see the One who laid the earth’s foundations, you can stand firm, even when everything else feels shaken to its core.
Today’s scripture reading: Job 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’
12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
14 As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.
15 The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.
16 “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?
17 Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
18 Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!
19 “Where does light come from, and where does darkness go?
20 Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there?
21 But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!
22 “Have you visited the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail?
23 (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war.)
24 Where is the path to the source of light? Where is the home of the east wind?
25 “Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning?
26 Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives?
27 Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and make the tender grass spring up?
28 “Does the rain have a father? Who gives birth to the dew?
29 Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
30 For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes.
31 “Can you direct the movement of the stars—binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion?
32 Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
33 Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?
35 Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?
36 Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?
37 Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38 when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods?
39 “Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
40 as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?
41 Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?
Journal:
- What questions am I holding onto that God is inviting me to surrender?
- How is He calling me to trust Him more deeply today?
The Daily Dose 