Maybe it's funny … or maybe not. Think about Job for a second.
He took a real beating from Satan. He lost … everything. (Well, almost everything.) He still had a wife who told him to curse God and die, and three friends who figured he must have done something terrible to deserve this. The story itself takes a couple chapters to set up. Then Job spends a long stretch—dozens of chapters—going back and forth with those friends about whether he's secretly sinned or not.
Eventually Job says he's going to demand answers from God. And in chapter 38 … God answers. Sort of. He doesn't directly explain Job's suffering; instead, He lays out who He is. He points to creation and basically says, "Can you do that?"
It's the most thorough dressing down I've ever read—without God actually insulting Job. "Where were you when I was doing all this?" From chapter 38 into chapter 42, God just keeps unfolding His magnificence. And Job just takes it. Near the end, Job has a really good response.
Then Job answered YHWH and said, "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even twice, and I will add nothing more." (Job 40:3-5)Good tactical move, Job. God keeps going all the way to chapter 42, but Job made the right call here: "I lay my hand on my mouth." Like my mother prayed.
We're told to "be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger" (James 1:19). That's good advice, and we should heed it. But I think we also need to be very careful about being quick to speak—and quick to be angry—with God. Sometimes the best first move is to remember who God is and who we are, and say with Job, "I lay my hand on my mouth." Or, as Psalm 46:10 puts it: "Be still, and know that I am God."
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