In our last visit we saw that though most small groups don’t always function efficiently, God chooses to work in lives when people do get together. This is especially true when one of the members experiences a tragedy or crisis in their lives. This happened in the small group of Job and his three friends.
After they got tired of talking and listening to each other without getting anywhere, God finally broke through. He answered Job out of the storm with a barrage of questions in Job 38-41.
Graciously but firmly God brought Job to the point where he confessed in Job 42:2-6, “I know that you can do all things (God); no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Wow! What a breakthrough! Job and his friends thought they knew so much about God and how He worked, or should work. They had put their theology database to work, hit the solution button, and got nothing but added stress and frustration. But in the midst of the storm they had created God spoke directly to Job’s questions and arguments.
While silencing Job with relentless questions I’m sure the other three felt they should have kept their mouths shut as well. They all were humbled by seeing that God was bigger than Job’s problems. He had a totally different answer than they could ever have anticipated.
