Where Do You Experience Wonder?

God responds to Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 38).

Where do your friends find wonder? In nature? In adventure? In times with others, or times alone? Is that where you experience wonder, too?

The book of Job is centered around Job’s sufferings and questions, as well as the not-very-helpful advice of friends. After all of Job’s complaints and laments, God finally responds by pointing to earth’s wild places – mysterious oceans and birthing of creatures and earth’s very beginnings. God’s response has often bothered me. It’s not particularly soft, is it? How does it strike you?

God seems to be responding to Job at a different level than Job’s questions. God’s response comes at life from an entirely different perspective, and apparently helps Job. What helps you to notice life differently now, even with your sufferings? Is it something like a dragonfly, or a child, or someone’s hand? What helps you deal with hardship so that it does not overwhelm you?

God’s beloved, you and I may have all kinds of questions. We may hurl them at God with passionate fervor. And the book of Job promises that God cares for all of creation, even the parts we do not see, and so also God cares for you!