The Surprising Comfort of Divine Rebuke
ARTICLE • Job’s heart was transformed by a humbling encounter with God, illustrating that our awe at God’s power and wisdom is foundational to true comfort even in the midst of profound suffering.
Read time: 5 min
Everything he owned was stolen from him in a single day. Everything. All ten of his children died in a violent windstorm the same day. All ten. His health soon failed, and for relief he lanced with broken pottery the boils that covered his body. He lost all social status, becoming a pariah nearly everyone avoided—except for his closest friends, who falsely accused him of harboring dark sin that had ostensibly brought such calamity upon himself. Finally, even his wife begged him to curse God so he could be struck dead to end his misery.
We’re taking about the biblical character, Job. He wrote of his plight like this:
"And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest” (Job 30:16-17).
God is “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3–4), and he cared for and highly esteemed Job. He called him his own “servant,” a “blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). So, how would God comfort his grieving child? What words would God choose to lift Job’s spirit and restore hope amid such loss?
The answer is surprising, even shocking, yet insightful.
What God Did & Didn’t Say
Notably, God didn’t answer Job’s questions about why he was suffering. He didn’t even assure Job that greater good was coming from his pain, though this is biblically admissible (Rom. 8:28). He didn’t lessen Job’s grief by promising that one day he would be twice as wealthy as he once was—though that proved to be true (Job 42:10). He didn’t mention that he’d be given ten more children and have his social status restored, which also came to pass (Job 42:11–17).
God’s first words toward grief-stricken, confused, self-justified, and angry Job was a rebuke.
No, not the kind of rebuke you may be thinking of. God didn’t scold Job for not being good enough, tough enough, or not trusting Him enough.
Instead, God sternly exposed and rebuked Job’s small, frail, and inadequate view of God’s indescribable power, glory, and intricate purposes. And nothing could’ve been more comforting.
The (Un)Surprising Comfort of God’s Unfathomable Greatness
Job had requested—and eventually demanded—answers from God. I don’t blame him for a minute. I’ve personally asked impatient questions of God through tears and gritted teeth in much, much milder trials. Yet God answers Job in a way that repositioned him in the seat of a humble servant tossed on the high seas of the mysterious Providence of God, who is infinitely ‘out of Job’s league’ in every way possible.
“You demand answers from me,” God essentially begins. “Now, I’ll ask you a thing or two” (Job 38:3).
In Job chapters 38–41, God takes his grieving son on a tour de force around the cosmos, demonstrating that Job can’t sit in God’s seat for even a moment. He bankrupts Job’s self-confidence in human wisdom with sweeping surveys of the wonders of the world He had created out of nothing.
God begins by questioning Job about the creation of the earth, asking if Job was present when its foundations were laid. He speaks of the sea, challenging Job to control its boundaries. He inquires if Job can command the morning or bring daylight. God further questions whether Job has journeyed to the depths of the sea or seen the gates of death and whether he can comprehend the vastness of the earth. He speaks of light and darkness, snow and hail, storms, wind, rain, lightning, ice, and frost, challenging Job’s control over these mighty phenomena. God demands to know if Job can bind the constellations or command the clouds and lightning.
Turning to the animal kingdom, God challenges if Job can control wild donkeys, wild oxen, or the ostrich, whose strange behavior is beyond Job's capacity to manipulate. God invokes the majestic fearlessness of the horse in battle and questions if it is Job who commands the hawk to soar or the eagle to hunt from on high. Finally, God describes two mighty creatures, Behemoth and Leviathan, pointing out their strength and ferocity, asking if Job can tame such beasts.
This rebuke should lead us to doubt God’s kindness. For James reasons that God’s purpose in Job’s suffering was ultimately compassionate:
“Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).
A Needed Heart ‘Reset’
The grieving, demanding, and now humbled man responds with telling words:
“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. . .. Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . .. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes’” (Job 42:1–6).
Nothing at this point in the story has changed in Job’s circumstances. But his heart has changed. He has experienced a fresh vision of the greatness of God. And this changes everything.
A Word of Caution and Advice
My point is not at all that friends, pastors, and counselors should seek to emulate God’s litany of put-you-in-your-place questions to “comfort” a grieving soul. God alone is in a position to do that.
However, as suffering sinners in the middle of being sanctified by our wise Father, we learn that standing awestruck at God’s power and glory is the foundation of true comfort and God-glorifying responses of faith even in profound suffering. The smaller our view of God’s wisdom, power, and love, the bigger and more unbearable our burdens feel.
So, while our tact as fellow humans will be much gentler than God’s unique approach in this instance, we should—and must—draw our gaze to the majesty of God's greatness when pointing ourselves and others to the true Source of all comfort.
The Comfort of Humility Before God
If God is not great and in control, then there is no reason to blame Him for our troubles, no point in calling out to Him in prayer, and no reason to expect Him to deliver us. But God is, in fact, mind-bogglingly great, intimately involved, and unspeakably wise.
Only when we come to know in a fresh way that the might and wisdom and love of God are far, far beyond our wildest comprehension do we enter treasury houses of comfort, peace, and patient joy that invite our trust, lift our eyes above our troubles, and promise that true deliverance can and will come from one Source alone.
Let us never tire of contemplating the greatness of God, humbling ourselves before him, and inviting others into this right vision of our Maker.
As the apostle Peter wrote to believers experiencing their own fiery trials,
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:6–7).
True comfort lies therein. ❖
