Daily Devotion for Wednesday 16th September 2026
Wednesday 16th September 2026
Reading Job 38:1-7; 39:1-4
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?…
‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
Can you number the months that they fulfil,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
and are delivered of their young?
Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;
they go forth, and do not return to them.
Reflection
It takes thirty-seven chapters before Job finally gets what he has been asking for. Finally, after much lament, anger, and complaint, he is answered. God speaks to him.
What God says isn’t what Job was expecting, though. Rather than an explanation, or even an apology, God takes Job on a tour of the cosmos. He is questioned on his understanding of natural phenomena and confronted with descriptions of a variety of animals. In Chapter 41, God even extols the magnificence of the mythical beasts Behemoth and Leviathan. Everything in the world is addressed – except Job’s complaints.
In all of this, humanity is decentred. The animals that are described are wild animals that have little concern for humans. They mostly exist far away from human eyes and are born, live, and die with no input from humans. Creation flourishes under God’s care and humans are, quite simply, irrelevant.
This is perhaps a strange response to Job’s complaints. It can be frustrating for the reader, let alone for the main character. We have journeyed with Job through his despair, have explored profound theological questions and, at the climax of the book when we expect some answers, we get… a goat.
This response, whilst frustrating, can also be comforting. The scholar Ida Glaser made connections between her own experience of trauma and the divine speeches in Job. She wrote that, given that trauma rips control from a person, the presentation of God as in complete control of creation and with no need for human input can provide a safe place for the trauma survivor. She writes: “There is relief in acknowledging my smallness. The world is NOT going to collapse if I am too traumatized to function. I’m not in charge – God is. So, it doesn’t matter too much if I don’t understand what’s going on. All I really need to know is that God is in control, and he is good.”
Prayer
Creating and Sustaining God
You care for parts of the world that are beyond our imagining.
You can do all things:
things beyond our comprehension.
I lay down my burdens.
I cast off my worries.
I do not need to carry the weight of the world
for You already do that.
I will simply be here
present
alive
and give thanks for the world you have made.
Amen.