Things Too Wonderful for Me

There is a time to lament. There is a time to voice your questions to God. When Job was tested, he asked God why he was born if he was destined for misery, and God did not fault him. Yet, there is a time to consider the vastness, complexity, and terror of the universe, and say, “God created all this. He orchestrates every detail. He rules over every part. He is God, and I am not.” There is a time when you must stop lamenting and questioning God and simply trust him.

When we ask God why the just suffer, we might as well ask how he laid the foundation of the earth, or how he holds the stars in formation as they move through the sky, or how he gives life and instinct to every wild animal (Job 38-40). The depths of God’s wisdom are much, much deeper than ours. When we consider the natural world, we trust God to govern processes beyond our comprehension, yet we assume God’s reason for our mysterious suffering must be simple. It is curious that we wait for God to explain the unfathomable instead of covering our mouths to worship him in awestruck silence.

When God answered Job, he didn’t give him an answer for why he suffered as a righteous man. Instead, he gave him a list of wonderful things he does. Job responds,

“…I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

‘Hear, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

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 42:3b-6)

At the end of the story, Job trusts God more because of his unanswered painful questions, not in spite of them. We can too. Creation testifies that God exists and is all-powerful (Rom. 1:20), and the cross shows that he loves us generously (Rom. 8:32). If these truths hold, then behind every cloud of mystery is something that would make you say, “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom. 11:33a).

You don’t know how God will make the sun rise tomorrow, or the trees blossom in spring, but you trust he will do it, and you trust him more because he can do it. If you can trust him with these natural wonders, you can trust him with your life, however twisted or broken. In his timing, the sun will rise, and the sun will set. Seasons will change. Flowers will grow. Leaves will fall. How or why, I don’t know, but God is in control.

Lament. Ask your questions. If you receive your answer, rejoice. If you don’t, rest in your all-powerful, all-loving, all-too-wonderful-for-us God.