What the Whirlwind Said to Job

"Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,"  Job 40:6

God speaks to us in different ways.

To Moses, We see a fiery bush.
To Elisha, We hear a still small voice.
To Samuel, We know it sounded like Eli his pastor/mentor.

I could go through scripture and demonstrate the manner and way in which God chose to make himself known and understood varied at times in different ways with the same people and that variation changes with the changes in people.

However, one thing is sure.   If you give yourself to the medium of communicating with God, God will speak to you.

The reason more people can't hear the voice of God is they are not listening.

If you say, you can't hear from God.

Let me lead you through a few tried and tested methods.

1. Are you praying, and in that prayer? Are you listening?

2. Are you reading the Word of God and looking for its application?  

3. Not a verse a day approach, but giving yourself to the study of scripture.

4. Are you faithful to the house of God and engaging your mind and heart in the worship, fellowship, prayer, teaching, and preaching.

5. If so, stay engaged, the voice of the Lord will come.  Be listening.

Four messengers came bringing the worst news to Job.
Job lost everything in a day. 
His response was a study in the wisdom of a righteous soul.

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."  Job 1:20&21

After this, his wife advised him to curse God and die.
After his best friends gathered around and gawked at his calamity and then for near 40 chapters criticized him and judged him.

Forty chapters of darkness, pain, sadness, and angst.  After going through what may be the worst set of circumstances recorded in scripture, he finally heard from God.

The Lord himself spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. 

One of the four calamities that took his most prized and loved people in his life; from this imagery, the Lord spoke to him.   God gave him a straightforward choice, though in my mind was a task of monumental personal challenge.

Some would say, "These were not great friends."  Maybe.  However, they were there with him, even if their company was full of less than wise words.   Some people God puts in your life and it may be, they are not there for you.  God put you in their life for them.   It could be, that God wants to use you to bless them, even if when you need them most, they may not really bless you like you wish.

Remember this.

"Pray for your friends."

It was this selfless and charitable act of intercessory prayer that ended the darkness for Job.
It was this outpouring of spiritual energy for others that began a process of recovery and reclaiming what Job had lost.  In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before.

There is marvelous wisdom here.

Praying for others will lift your darkness.  

Debating the questions of the universe or the unfairness of it all will do nothing but pull you in deeper into the dark.  However, reaching out, praying beyond yourself will lead you to a growing light and never-ending blessing.

Listening to the whirling wind, for I hear the sound of a wise God telling me.

Pray for your friends.

In Him, By Him, Through Him,

Scott Phillips