Real Hope: Learning From the Book of JobSample

God is in the Storm

To say ‘God is with us’ in life’s storms can feel so trite. His presence can seem like an abstract idea when we’re in the throes of panic or tragedy, wondering if He is here, or where?

The book of Job is famous for its portrayal of a man losing everything and being taken to the very edges of human capacity while wrestling with God over the hows and whys and when the suffering will end.

This verse in chapter 38 particularly stands out to me. When Job was asking God yet another question about his circumstance, God didn’t answer him ‘from on high’, He didn’t shout to him from afar, He ‘spoke to Job out of the storm’.

When Job was reflecting earlier in chapter 37 about how people question the authority and know-how of God, God didn’t reply from beyond the storm and He wasn’t next to the storm or outside of it – He was right in the midst of it.

It’s encouraging to me that in our storms, God isn’t standing idly by or waiting to see how we handle it from a distance. He is weathering it with us. Enduring our pain alongside us and present to respond.

It can seem like a small comfort when life is falling apart to think, ‘Well, at least God is here,’ when really we just want our situation to change. However, this verse in Job gives us confidence in the character of the God that we can rely on through our storms: He’s a God who’s present, available, wise beyond comprehension, and sitting completely in the center of all we face.

You may be in a storm, but you’re not alone.

Written by LAURA BENNETT