A Voice from the Whirlwind: a devotional thought

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said…”
Job 38:1, ESV

Usually, when I think of God speaking out of the whirlwind, I think of it as a literal display of His power. This makes sense when juxtaposed beside the deluge of questions He bids Job answer; every one is a reminder of His sovereignty and awesome might. But I recently came across a verse in Proverbs that made me consider it a little differently.

“…when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”
Proverbs 1:27, ESV

And suddenly I began to think of the wider implications of a whirlwind, not just its terrifying strength, but the fact of its chaos; how it whips up the air and matter around it and throws things every which way, and how much every calamity in my life has felt, very much, like a kind of whirlwind. I cannot help but think that Job felt the same way. Loss upon loss upon loss had whipped up his heart into a foaming torrent of anguish. His life was set spinning with tragedy, and now he stood amidst the debris, at a loss to know how to proceed with even his next breath.

And out of the midst of that whirlwind, that chaos and calmity, God spoke to Job.

Proverbs 1:27 comes out of a section that personifies Wisdom as a voice calling out in the street. The call is to leave folly and seek the spirit of good counsel. Just so is the call of the LORD from the whirlwind of both Job’s calamity and our own. In the chaos of our struggles, our Father speaks to our hearts of His sovereign care over our every day, just the same as when Job was deluged with questions about the order of the natural world: about the storehouses of snow, the place of the dawn, and the birth of a tender fawn. Each moment of our questioning the LORD’s kindness amidst our struggles, we find Him calling us, both in nature and from His Word, to a higher level of wisdom and faith.

God does not tell Job about Satan’s attack. God does not tell Job the “why.” He merely reminds Job of who He is. And Job, in humble repentance, accepts God’s authority to do as He deems best. His fear and trust in the mighty power of God overcame his despair of circumstances and gave him the guidance he needed to take the next step.

In the midst of our whirlwinds of pain and fear, let us walk in the light of our LORD’s sovereignty, one step at a time, heeding the call to a higher plain of wisdom.