God Answers Out of the Storm
6Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said,
7“Now gird up your loins like a man;
I will ask you, and you instruct Me.
8“Will you really annul My judgment?
Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
9“Or do you have an arm like God,
And can you thunder with a voice like His?
10“Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
And clothe yourself with honor and majesty.
11“Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
And look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.
12“Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him,
And tread down the wicked where they stand.
13“Hide them in the dust together;
Bind them in the hidden place.
14“Then I will also confess to you,
That your own right hand can save you.
I listened to a sermon that was titled "The Ritual of Recovery" and it was a reflection on the tornado in Oklahoma. The pastor had much good and wise things to say. Basically, face your pain squarely.
Yet, one assertion of hers really bothered me and it cannot be called in any sense biblical. Essentially, she said that God did not cause the tornado in Oklahoma or the metaphorical tornadoes in our lives. As if God is down in the storm basement in fear with us waiting for the tornado to blow over. She made a larger point that God does not cause suffering in people or even allow it.
Theodicy, the term that theologians employ when trying to explain and reconcile God's infinite power, infinite knowledge, and infinite goodness, with the reality of evil, does not lend itself to simplistic explanations. Anyone who has not considered such issues is still a toddler in the faith. The storms come and demand an answer. The book of Job in the Old Testament is a classic treatment of God's purposes in evil. Towards the conclusion of the book, God does not reply that he could not stop evil. In fact, it is is just the opposite. Although God is not the Creator of evil, for it is the one thing that Satan and Man can rightfully claim as their own, it is clear that God is in no way hampered by evil. Since evil is a fact in the world, God either has dominion over it or evil has dominion over God.
So, what sound so reassuring that God does not use evil actually is another way of saying that God cannot use evil. He is strong but not omnipotent, really smart but not omniscient, and has mixed motives in causing some things to work for good for those who love Him, and some things not to. God has His purposes, inscrutable as they are at times. For instance, the destruction of pride and self-sufficiency can be a great good. For when we are weak, He is strong. And tragedy is about the quickest route from pride to humility.
Read Job 38 onward and see if the text in any way suggests God is limited by His creation in any manner. In Job 38, God asks Job a series of "Cans." Here is one:
"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt?
God is saying He can. And if He can toy with the stars in the sky, He most certainly can answer out of the storms on earth...
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