“Who is This Who Obscures My Counsel with Ignorant Words?”
By: Lori Asher, Wichita, KS
Many years ago, I found myself walking through one of those deep and difficult valleys life here on Earth has to offer. It was one of, if not the, darkest trials in my life. Fortunately, I was able to connect with people in my life who could offer Godly counsel and wisdom. I will never forget being advised during this time to open my Bible, turn to the book of Job and just read. No other direction was given. Just read the story of this righteous man’s suffering. I want to make clear that I am in no way trying to compare my trial to that of Job’s, nor my righteous standing to his. But it was a severe trial, and I was desperately seeking comfort of any kind.
Let me reiterate, I was seeking comfort! I finished reading the book of Job in a sitting or two and I will be honest - I nearly threw my Bible across the room! Where was the comfort in this story? Where were the answers we so fiercely seek during our darkest moments? I had spent much of the time leading up to this reading asking questions and making assertions, not so different from Job’s. I reached the end of Job’s story only to be reminded that He never got answers to his many questions. What he received was a question back to him from God - “Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?”
It is a very simple question. Why is it that this is the starting point of God’s response back to Job? Job had spent many of the previous chapters wrestling with God via questions about how and why righteous people suffer. God’s response is not to explain, but to turn the tables on Job and start asking some questions of His own. All of the rest of God’s questions will provide Job with the needed perspective to answer His first question.
God accuses Job of obscuring His counsel with ignorant words. We assume from earlier chapters of the book of Job that Job was not an ignorant man. The opening chapter tells us that he was “a man of complete integrity who feared God and turned away from evil.” Job describes himself in chapter 29:21 stating, “Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my advice.” So why are his words ignorant in this context? By the end of the book, Job answers this question for us. In the final chapter Job says, “Surely, I spoke about things I did not understand.” Job was wise in the eyes of man, but his wisdom, when placed under God’s perspective, was ignorance.
The 68 questions the Lord goes on to ask Job in the last few chapters of the book provide a new lens for Job to view his particular sufferings and life. It is all too easy for us as humans, especially in the midst of trials, to feel like the center, not only of our universe, but the universe. God leaves no room for that error in Job’s thought. In this beautiful and terrible speech, God pulls the curtain back in order for Job to see the wild and mysterious workings of a world stranger than Job could ever have imagined. This strange world is also conspicuously full of elements of both grandeur and danger no one can hope to control but the Lord Himself.
About two thirds of the way through His speech, the Lord demands some response from Job, and this response gives us great insight into the effect God’s questions had upon him. He replies in chapter 40:4-5, “I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.” He immediately understands his place in this world. But more importantly, he understands God’s place in this world, as the good and benevolent creator and sustainer of all of life.
While I have always understood the result of feeling insignificant and inadequate following this series of questions, I, as a modern reader, also maintain the need for an explanation of why this story had to play out the way that it did. Our modern way of life has conditioned us to expect to know the purpose behind everything. We think we could deal better with our trials and suffering if only we could know the reason behind them. That may or may not be true, but it is not the lesson intended in the book of Job.
Perhaps what has always been the most surprising and, dare I say, most frustrating aspect for me of this book of the Bible has been the lack of clarity given by God in the end of the book. But it is interesting to note, and something I clearly missed in reading the book through all those years ago, Job did not seem to share in my frustrations. Despite his earlier unfiltered questions and grievances with God, Job’s tone changes dramatically after the Lord questions him. He appears not only to be quieted, but truly comforted by the understanding he gained from this shift in perspective. In an essay written on the book of Job by GK Chesterton, he words it so beautifully: “the riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Many years have passed since I walked through the dark valley I referred to, and upon reflection, I can recognize God’s sustaining and comforting presence was with me, even when I could not recognize it. I can also look back with great gratitude for the Godly counselors in my life to point me toward God’s wisdom given for times of suffering and uncertainty. While I was evidently not ready to soak in the full message and comfort of this book at the time, it has remained one of those wonderful lessons of life that continue to unveil themselves slowly and with more clarity as time passes. The more years that go by, the more I realize just how insignificant I am in the grand scheme of life, and perhaps one day I will learn to “place my hand over my mouth.” In full disclosure, I’m not quite there yet, but Lord willing, I hope one day I will be.