Job 42:5-6 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I
reject myself, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
The recent typhoon once again challenged the faith of many. It was an unfortunate event, and no one
finds favor in it—especially not God. During such crises, people often wonder, Where is God when you
need Him? How could a loving God allow such a disaster to impact innocent lives? Do our prayers even
reach Him?
Let me first say that even the most faithful, the most devout Christians, have experienced such
calamities in their lives. What happened during the typhoon was not a special case or a lapse in God’s
oversight; nothing escapes His presence. However, as finite beings, we sought answers because we
cannot perceive the end from the beginning.
I am reminded of Job, whom Satan accused before God of being faithful only because of his blessings.
God permitted Satan to test Job, sparing only his life. Satan then afflicted Job with calamities, hoping he
would recant his faith, but Job continued to praise God and did not blame Him. As Job’s suffering
deepened, he grew weary and sought an explanation from God. In response, God revealed His
magnificent works in creation, asking questions that highlighted His wisdom, power, and control (Job 38-
41). While this didn’t directly explain Job’s pain, it reminded him of his limited understanding and of
speaking about things he couldn’t fully grasp (Job 42:2-6).
This is the same with us, right? When faced with life’s problems, we often see them as so overwhelming
that we feel nothing is in our favor. We may begin to demand an explanation from God, as though He
owes us one. Perhaps we are so focused on the problems before us that we forget who is sovereign over
all things.
We should go back to a knowledge of who God is so that we might reach the same conclusion as Job.
Knowing God as the Creator of all things—the One who brought everything into existence and sustains
it—should make us realize that not everything in this world is comprehensible to us. We need to trust
God not only in clear situations but also in vague times. This may not be the answer we want to hear
(and I’ll be sharing more answers in future articles), but it’s the answer we need to remember first and
foremost: God is the Creator, He is in control, and we can trust that He knows what He is doing-for indeed, He does.
