The Eye of the Storm

I'm intrigued by the TIMING of God's interaction with Job -- in the middle of a storm -- quoted from Job 38:1-3, in the New International Version:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

Who is this that darkens my counsel with words about knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will answer me.

Then again in Job 40:6, it says the same thing again. "Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm..."

If you look at this passage on BibleHub.com, you will see that 26 English language translations say that God spoke to Job out of the Whirlwind. Three use the word Storm, but the Aramaic Bible in Plain English calls it a hurricane, and The Message states that God spoke to Job from the eye of the storm. If you combine those last two descriptions, you get God speaking to Job (at last!- after 37 chapters of silence!) out of the eye of a hurricane. Wikipedia tells us that the strongest winds are surrounding the eye of the hurricane, but that the winds are calm in the center. That's good, right? That's where you want to be, right? Actually, no.

"Though the eye is by far the calmest part of the storm, with no wind in the center and typically clear skies, on ocean it is possibly the most hazardous area. In the eyewall, wind-driven waves all travel in the same direction. In the center of the eye, however, the waves converge from all directions, creating erratic crests that can build on each other to become rogue waves. The maximum height of hurricane waves is unknown, but measurements during Hurricane Ivan when it was a Category 4 hurricane estimated that waves near the eyewall exceeded 40 m (130 ft) from peak to trough."

I am thinking of the monster waves that are seen in the movie Master & Commander: the Far Side of the World, when their ship is passing Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America in the Southern Ocean, which consistently has the worst weather for sailors. Could it be that God is WITH us in our storms, and sometimes waits to speak to us until we are in the Eye- in the middle of the worst of it?

When these English translations say God spoke to Job out of the Whirlwind, was the whirlwind SURROUNDING Job? Like the three men thrown into the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, walking around with flames all around them?

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw in the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

In Mark 4:37, Jesus was with his disciples in the boat and a furious storm came, waves were breaking over the boat so that it was nearly swamped, and Jesus was STILL asleep. I own small boats, and have had some of them take on water. This is the scariest moment- when the boat is full of water and is wallowing in the waves. The center of buoyancy has changed, and the boat is extremely unstable- barely in control. At any moment, the balance could change just enough so that the boat capsizes and tries to turn turtle. At THIS moment, the disciples finally decided to wake Jesus up. "Teacher," they wailed, "Don't you care if we drown?" And then Jesus calms their storm.

You know, there are a number of places in the Bible where the TIMING of God speaking to us is either during or after a storm. For example, God spoke to Moses and the children of Israel in the desert at Mount Sinai out of the storm (Exodus 19), and to Elijah (I Kings 19 after a hurricane wind, an earthquake, and a great fire passed by.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave..."

See, Elijah knew that whisper. He knew that Voice, from long familiarity and previous conversations.

We all get storms in our lives. My own storm is coming, and It covers my whole horizon. It is Inescapable. But that's ok, because God will be with me through it. And he is telling me that His Grace Is Sufficient. I am looking forward to hearing what He has to say in the days ahead, while I am taking on water.

Maybe you are in a storm right now. Divorce? Death of a loved one? Terminal illness? Addiction? Bankruptcy? Estrangement? Unemployment? Need someone to talk to, to pray with? Message me.

May God speak clearly to you in the Eye of your Storm. And be your Peace.

For more reading, check out Melinda LeBlanc's below post. https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/in-the-eye-of-the.../

photo by Pixnio