Job

"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

that a flood of waters may cover you?

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go

and say to you 'Here we are'?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts

or given understanding to the mind?

Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

when the dust runs into mass and the clods stick fast together?"

This is found in Job 38 and it strikes me that God's answer to Job is both a confrontation in that he asks Job, "Who are you to question me?" and an expresion of mercy in that he proclaims "You have no need to question me." Based on the beginning of the story we know that Job was not being punished, in other words he was not suffering the consequences of his sin. However, Job's attitude towards God in his suffering shows a lack of acknowledgment of God's might and his sovereignty. God answers this powerfully by asking Job all of these questions about what Job is capable of. I think that these questions serve a duel and merciful purpose in that while they confront Job they also comfort him. Facing God's holiness and his might is challenging but profoundly freeing. When we face these attributes of God, acknowledge them, and truly believe them, we have no need to fear anything. Things may not go as we planed, they may even be extremely painful, but when we truly believe that God is the sovereign God of the universe and that he is ordering our steps, then we will be able to move forward with boldness.