Has anyone spent any time in the Great American South? I hail from pretty sturdy Midwestern roots. I was raised among people who pretty much say what they mean or simply shut up and say nothing at all (which can be problematic for sure) but it does tend to keep things, at the very least, civil.
In my mid-twenties, I got married and moved to Birmingham Alabama. Where I was introduced to the phrase, “Bless your heart.” If you aren’t familiar, depending on how the phrase is delivered, it can mean something completely different. In the Midwest I had heard it when my great aunt Marge would hold my hand, look me kindly in the eye and say bless your heart—for Aunt Marge it was a blessing—a benediction. Then I got to Alabama and I heard it when I was being admonished for mowing my own yard because it was a drill weekend and Andy wasn’t around to do it. “Bless your heart” suddenly meant, “step away from that lawn mower! you are not gonna make the rest of the wives look bad. That is not how it is done around here you fool!” Or my favorite one was, “bless your heart, you’re so lucky to have a man who doesn’t care how you keep house.” 😮
I share this to invite you to look again at the Whirlwind of God speaking to Job. I don’t find it the least bit odd that in all the forms God could’ve taken, whirlwind was the voice chosen—It actually seems pretty on brand for God.
Remember last week, Job was asking for his day in court. He was sure that if he could have a word with the Almighty that his sentence would be commuted. I equate this to the bargaining stage of grief. Where we stand up and say “Wait! STOP! Do-over, God you got this wrong!” The, “Ok God, just let him walk through the door now. I won’t be mad. Just admit your mistake and make it right. I’m on board for whatever you need from me, just fix it. Mistakes happen, No hard feelings.”
This is what Job was hoping for. This is what anyone caught up in a whirlwind is hoping for: the steady feeling of solid familiar ground. So, after conferring with his “friends” he lobbies with his audience with God and here he gets it.
I wonder how he felt after he got it?!
(God)
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!”
(Me)
Oh…
(God)
Or how about “When the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy” Were you around to see that?
(Me)
Um, No…
(God)
“Can you send forth lightning, so they may go and say to you, ‘here we are’?
(Me)
Nah, pretty sure I can’t.
(God)
“Oh, how about this one, Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions?”
(Me)
Um, actually, I think that one I can do! —But probably only once and probably wouldn’t be around to tell the tale afterwards— cause I’d be the lunch.
(God)
“Enough there Wisenheimer. Tell me, Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food?”
(Me)
Um, my apologies, Ma’m or Sir. (Oh God I probably got that one wrong too and now have completely offended Him no Her—oh crap—sorry). I hadn’t considered the raven and all those implications. I’m gonna go crawl back down to my ash heap now. Sorry again. No bother…
I won’t speak for you but, I’d feel pretty small. Pretty stupid and utterly out of line. But I think that is due to my interpretation of what God says in the Whirlwind—which in reality has zero to do with God and everything to do with my ego. That’s not God talking, that’s my insecurities!
Something different happens when I actually look for the voice of God.
Come with me to the Garden for a moment, The Biblical Garden that gets this story rolling. What was the first thing God says to Adam after the apple incident? “Where are you?” “How did you know you were naked?
I have reason to believe that an omniscient God would already know what happened and had every right to rip into them. But God approached Adam and Eve as a concerned parent. “Where are you?” “How did you know that you’re naked?” Admittedly there were consequences, and God did not mince words about them. However, before their exit of the Garden, God made them clothes. God is a loving parent who cares deeply. God wants what is good for us and grieves with us when it doesn’t go our way.
So, what if we apply this knowledge of God to the Whirlwind interaction? It changes everything.
Read it again.
(God)
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
(Me)
Oh…I don’t have a clue where I was. I don’t think I was invited. But I have a new perspective on time now, thank you.
God)
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
(Me)
Oh, I hadn’t considered the vast enormity of the situation. It is all so much bigger than me. And in my grief and trauma, I had forgotten. It isn’t all about me. There is so much I don’t understand. I wouldn’t have remembered the hungry raven chicks, sometimes I forget to water my plants. It’s good that you’ve got your eye on the Sparrow God, because I get so wrapped up in the little meaningless things that I forget my tiny cozy place amongst the stars and that wide ocean.
God is not the overbearing Southern neighbor’s “Bless your Heart”. God is Aunt Marge’s deeply loving Bless your heart benediction.
Beloveds, truly— Bless your hearts.