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Today's reading
December 8, 2025
Job 38:2-7; John 1:1-3,14
As Job sits with his friends, he reckons with their accusations against his character. He has listened and rebutted all they have said while also processing the traumatic experience he has undergone. Words pour from his mouth as he tries to make sense of the mess he is in. He loves God and has a high view of His sovereignty, but he is still left with questions:
Why do the righteous suffer harm?
Where is the wisdom that can illuminate this problem?
Why is my character under attack?
His final words are recorded in chapter 31. He builds a case for his righteousness. He explains that he has
been faithful to his wife, generous to his friends, benevolent to orphans, and transparent with God and others
about his sin.
This time, his words are not simply processed by his friends or left to hang in silence —
they are answered by God.
Job’s skin prickled as the light was dimmed by clouds the color of an angry bruise. The entire atmosphere changed at the arrival of the whirlwind of God. Out of the fierce clouds, God thundered His answer to Job’s questions:
“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer me.”
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?”
Job 38:2–7 (NKJV)
This is a surprising response. John Piper explains:
“God does not give Job an explanation. He gives him a revelation — of the God whose wisdom is unsearchable.”
God continues firing off a relentless list of questions:
“Were you there when I carved the canyons?”
“Did you command the morning to appear?”
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?”
“Can you loosen Orion’s belt?”
Question after question, God shows Job the truth:
The world is not held together by your understanding — it is held together by My wisdom.
This is why creation becomes God’s classroom.
The rhythms of the sea, the migrations of animals, the rising of constellations, the violence of storms, the delicacy of snowflakes — none of these are accidental. They reveal a God who thinks on a scale Job cannot imagine.
As John Calvin wrote:
“…God humbles Job, showing that His governance of the world far surpasses human understanding.”
This wisdom isn’t far off or inaccessible — it visited mankind on Christmas.
John writes:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
John 1:1–3 (NKJV)
The term Word comes from the Greek Logos, meaning intelligence, reason, divine wisdom. John is saying that Jesus is the Wisdom of God. And he goes on to say:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1:14 (NKJV)
God’s response to Job was to let creation’s song display His ultimate wisdom and control. He wanted Job to know that there is a reason for all he was going through — and that God had the power to redeem the dark night of his soul.
John writes so that we would know that Jesus is the wisdom sent from God. Jesus was there at creation and knows the answer to every question God asks in Job 38. He is the only light that can pierce the darkness humanity wallows in. He is the wisdom that perfectly satiates the justice of God with the love of God.
And this is where the songs of Job 38 and John 1 meet:
the Wisdom that formed the world became flesh to redeem it.
The One who spoke out of the whirlwind stepped into human weakness.
The One who asked Job, “Where were you?” became God with us.
The One who orders the constellations became the Light of men.
Why?
So that the God who governs creation with infinite understanding
could govern our lives with infinite compassion.
Jesus is the Wisdom of God —
the only One who understands every mystery,
knows every reason,
and holds every moment of our story together.
In Him, the chaos of our suffering finds a home.
In Him, the questions we cannot untangle rest.
In Him, the story we cannot trace becomes something beautiful.
Nature sings that God is wise.
Advent sings that Wisdom has come near.
If all of this is true:
Our life is not senseless.
Our suffering is not unseen.
And our souls can be redeemed.