Over the previous 35 chapters (since Job 2), God has been directly absent from the account. We read nothing of God’s direct role in comforting, speaking to, or sustaining Job in the midst of his crisis. Over that time, Job has ached repeatedly for a word from God.

1. Elihu saw the coming storm and spoke about God’s presence in such powerful phenomenon (Job 36:22-37:24). Yet now we hear God Himself speak to Job.

2. God will indeed settle this dispute, but He will do it His way. Job wanted God to settle it by proving him right and explaining the reason for all his afflictions; Job’s friends wanted God to prove them right and for Job to recognize his error. God will not satisfy either one of these expectations. Significantly, God did not obviously answer Job’s questions.

Repeatedly the whirlwind is associated with divine presence. It speaks to us of the powerful, unmanageable nature of God; that He is like a tornado that cannot be controlled or opposed.

* God brought Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1-11)

* God’s presence is in the whirlwind (Psalm 77:18; Nahum 1:3)

* God’s coming is like a whirlwind (Isaiah 66:15; Jeremiah 4:13 & 23:19)

* God appeared to Ezekiel in a whirlwind (Ezekiel 1:4)

3. Job's troubles begin with a big windstorm. (Job 1:19)

The questions God had for Job were simply unanswerable and were meant to show Job that he had no place to demand answers from God.

In addition, God's questions point out his eternal everlasting timeless nature. God will exist for or through eternity, or always, having already existed for an infinite amount of time and continuing to exist for an infinite amount of time. ... God refers to himself as “the beginning and the ending” and “the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

God answered Job by reminding Job who God is and of God's incredible power.

Hebrew -- From anav; condescension, human and subjective (modesty), or divine and objective (clemency) -- gentleness, humility, meekness.

Greek -- Tapeinóō– make (become) low, to humble.

Paul, an apostle and an incredible missionary, had a humble attitude.

Humility and a passion for praise are a pair of characteristics which together indicate growth in grace. The Bible is full of self-humbling (man bowing down before God) and doxology (man giving praise to God). The healthy heart is one that bows down in humility and rises in praise and adoration. The Psalms strike both these notes again and again. So too, Paul in his letters both articulates humility and breaks into doxology. Look at his three descriptions of himself quoted above, dating respectively from around A.D. 59, 63, and 64. As the years pass he goes lower; he grows downward! And as his self-esteem sinks, so his rapture of praise and adoration for the God who so wonderfully saved him rises.

Cultivate humility and a passion for praise if you want to grow in grace:

1. Surrender to God

2. Rely on God.