When the Only Answer Is God

This past week while traveling for work, I had the opportunity to listen to a local Christian radio station in Birmingham. I heard a woman, who had recently lost her son when he committed suicide, call in to offer encouragement to others going through difficult situations. She offered this bit of encouragement to others asking why bad things happen in life: “What God could have prevented in His power, He allows in His wisdom.” So many times, we question God’s goodness or power, yet He is supreme in His wisdom. He alone is the creator God of the universe, and we are merely His creation. When Job questions God and asks what he has done to Him and what is his sin, God is quiet. We forget that He is under no obligations to answer His creation. In chapter 40, instead of answering all of Job’s questions, God turn the questions back to Job: “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me” (Chronological Study Bible, vs. 6).  It is easy to lose perspective when we are struggling in this life. It is easy to forget that we answer to God—not the other way around. While God never answers all of Job’s questions, He does reassure him that He is Lord of all creation, which Job unwaveringly accepts when confronted with God’s questions: “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” ( Job 42:3b-6).  When faced with life’s toughest questions and His sovereign ruler, Job understood that the only answer is God, and He is more than enough.