Listen

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me if you know. Who set its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched a measuring tape on it? On what were its footings sunk; who laid its cornerstone, while the morning stars sang in unison and all the divine beings shouted?

Job 38:4-7

Think

Our scripture for today contains just a few of the things that God sarcastically asks Job. (Of course, God already knows Job wasn’t there as creation was coming into being.) Ultimately, Job acknowledges that there’s a lot he doesn’t know, saying, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know,” and God restores much of what Job has lost (42:3,10). But Job has to make it through four solid chapters of questions to get there.

Maybe uncertainty is unsettling to you. Nerve wracking. Or maybe you feel like not knowing takes the pressure off and makes it easier to focus on what’s in front of you. Either way, this part of Job’s story reminds us that we don’t have to have all the answers to follow God. We don’t need to know everything to appreciate the gifts of creation or to trust that God is at work in and through them.

Allison Wehrung

Question to Ponder:

Where do you see, or wish you saw, God in your times of uncertainty?

Pray

All-knowing God, be with me in my questions.

Today I am questioning…

Reassure me when I wonder, and lead me in your ways, even when it’s one step at a time.

Amen.

Go

God be the love to search and keep me

God be the prayer to move my voice

God be the strength to now uphold me

O Christ, surround me

O Christ, surround me

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, “O Christ, Surround Me”