Lifting High the Cross

Job 38 NRSV

The Lord Answers Job

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Gird up your loins like a man,

    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

    Tell me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

    Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk,

    or who laid its cornerstone

7 when the morning stars sang together

    and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors

    when it burst out from the womb?—

9 when I made the clouds its garment,

    and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10 and prescribed bounds for it,

    and set bars and doors,

11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

    and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

    and caused the dawn to know its place,

13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

    and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14 It is changed like clay under the seal,

    and it is dyed like a garment.

15 Light is withheld from the wicked,

    and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

    or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

    Declare, if you know all this.

19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

    and where is the place of darkness,

20 that you may take it to its territory

    and that you may discern the paths to its home?

21 Surely you know, for you were born then,

    and the number of your days is great!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

    or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,

    for the day of battle and war?

24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,

    or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25 “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,

    and a way for the thunderbolt,

26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,

    on the desert, which is empty of human life,

27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,

    and to make the ground put forth grass?

28 “Has the rain a father,

    or who has begotten the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,

    and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?

30 The waters become hard like stone,

    and the face of the deep is frozen.

31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,

    or loose the cords of Orion?

32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,

    or can you guide the Bear with its children?

33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

    Can you establish their rule on the earth?

34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

    so that a flood of waters may cover you?

35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go

    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,

    or given understanding to the mind?

37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?

    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

38 when the dust runs into a mass

    and the clods cling together?

39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,

    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens,

    or lie in wait in their covert?

41 Who provides for the raven its prey,

    when its young ones cry to God,

    and wander about for lack of food?

In today’s lectionary, our first reading is once again from Job (38:1-7, 34-41). So far, I’ve only driven as far east as Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, my parish in the Cove, and my school, and, notwithstanding the frantic cleanup going on, I cannot imagine what the land must yet look like as one goes farther up and farther in, as Aslan invites us, east and east and eastward into HMichael eye-wall’s enraged landfall and follow, if Job is credible, the Wrath of God northward. There was a time when Marianna was a safe haven. and Dothan.

Eleven days and counting: seems like by now it’s time to quit talking, writing, whining about it and move on to other topics and concerns, doesn’t it. The hell it is.  

Theologically what to say over against The Lord’s proud boasts to Job in the face of Man’s agony and deepest grief? Today the church will respond thusly from Psalm 104

Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; *

O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!

you are clothed with majesty and splendor.

2 You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak *

and spread out the heavens like a curtain.

3 You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above; *

you make the clouds your chariot;

you ride on the wings of the wind.

4 You make the winds your messengers *

and flames of fire your servants.

5 You have set the earth upon its foundations, *

so that it never shall move at any time.

6 You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; *

the waters stood higher than the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they fled; *

at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.

8 They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath, *

to the places you had appointed for them.

9 You set the limits that they should not pass; *

they shall not again cover the earth.

25 O Lord, how manifold are your works! *

in wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

37b Hallelujah!