Job 38: Where Were You When the Earth Was Founded?

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding." Job 38:4

How often do you think your way is best? We often think the following thoughts: Surely if I were God, I wouldn't have myself in this trial. I'm sure there's something better that I could be experiencing right how. If God was really God, he would take this awful circumstance away as soon as he possibly could. Surely many of these thoughts were Job's thoughts in the first 37 chapters of the book. However, in response to all of these notions, God asks Job and us a sobering question: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?"

So often, we do think our plans are best. Like little children (teenagers?), we insist that we know what is right even though it is clearly obvious that we are both ignorant and powerless to discern what is truly best for our lives. In the Bible, we often make fun of characters who think the same thing, yet often forget that we so often believe just like they do that our way is best, if not more.

Yet, God has a sobering question for us all: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Ummm, last time I checked, I don't have an answer for that. However, maybe you do. Were you there when God created the earth? Maybe you didn't create it with him, but maybe you at least saw how it came about? Maybe God gave you a glimpse of it? No? Okay. I guess we're in the same boat then.

God's point here is that if Job had no wisdom about creation, how could he have wisdom about that which lies in creation, namely his sovereignly-appointed situation? In other words, if Job was too ignorant to know about the physical earth, how could he know better than God's immaterial, sovereign plans for his life? Likewise through the revelation of scripture, God asks us the very same question: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Answer: nowhere. Therefore, we ought not to question God's ways.

So, the application today is rather simple: anyone who does not have an understanding of creation does not have an understanding of the great and mighty ways of God, and we therefore ought not to question them. Do you really think that you could "God" better than God does? Ultimately, this notion is what led Adam and Eve to commit the original sin in Genesis 3, and it ought not to be the sin that leads to your downfall either. Beloved, let me ask of you: trust in God's ways. God can God better than you can ever imagine--don't think that your ways are better than his. Trust in his ways, for he has promised that they will go according to your good (Rom. 8:28).

Extra Credit: Whenever you think your way is better than God's way, try to lick your elbow, and you will be humbled. If you can't even lick your elbow, how will you manage the world better than God does?