Here's a look at Job...and God...and their relationship.
God never questions Job's protestations of innocence. Guilt or innocence, goodness or badness doesn't seem to be of great interest to God in the book of Job. Finally, when God speaks to Job, it is out of a whirlwind, and God doesn't talk about guilt. God brashly asserts cosmic lordship and ridicules Job's smallness in the great scheme of things and never really entertains any of Job's searching questions. The God who meets Job in the whirlwind seems beyond and above any philosophical answer, certainly above easy moral calculation about the deserving or undeserving of reward or punishment. The God of the whirlwind is loud and swaggering, leaving nothing settled or stable while speaking.
I will repeat this portion tomorrow with the next brief paragraph. As for this bit of reflection, is the picture of God as loud and swaggering. It really is the swaggering part that gets me. And yet, it is God's creation. No other voice will rule here. God's voice will be voice that resound through all time and in every place. When we want to play games with God's intentions and act as though we can and do have some say in how God is to be God, God is not going to back down. Swaggering God...that's an image that is meant to turn our heads and our hearts. Right when we begin to think that our questions and our answers make the day...in comes our God showing everyone who rules through and in all things. Just try and rule the day...you'll see....it doesn't happen.
Connection: Try and take note of when you see or hear God swaggering into this day while you are in the middle of your stuff.
You lead us, O Swaggering God, into life that we do not anticipate. Remind us to let go. Encourage us to lean into your love. Grab hold of us and help us see your face in our face. Amen.
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