Job 38:4

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Ignorance of the world’s origin

God would impress on Job his utter ignorance of the world in which he lived, and his incompetency to interpret His moral administration. The moral is this--Be concerned, Job, for a moral trust in My character, rather than for a theoretical knowledge of My ways. In the text there is a Divine challenge in relation to the when and how of the origin of the world.

I. The when. His ignorance as to when He began His creation. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

II. The how. “Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?” Conclusion--The subject serves--

1. To rebuke all disposition to pronounce an opinion upon the ways of God.

2. To suggest that our grand effort ought to be to cultivate a loving trust in the Divine character, rather than to comprehend the Divine procedure. Comprehend Him we never can.

3. To enable us to appreciate the glorious services of Christianity. The question, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” confounds and crushes me. I feel powerless before it, it overwhelms me with a sense of my own insignificance. Christianity comes to my relief. It tells me that although I am insignificant, I am still a child, a beloved child of the Everlasting, and that it is not the will of my Father that any, even of His “little ones,” should perish; nay, that it is His good pleasure that I should have a kingdom. (Homilist.)

The insignificance of man as a creature

I. What is thine intellect to Mine?

II. What is thine age to Mine?

III. What is thy power to Mine?

IV. What is thy independence to Mine? He is--

1. Independent in being.

2. In action. This subject serves--

(1) To rebuke all disposition to pronounce an opinion upon the ways of God.

(2) To suggest that our grand effort ought to be to cultivate a loving trust in the Divine character, rather than to comprehend the Divine procedure.

3. To enable us to appreciate the glorious service of Christianity. (Homilist.)

The creation of the world

I. Some leading ideas respecting the Divine work of creation. Notice--

1. The hoary and venerable antiquity of the work, and its entire independence of the power and wisdom of man. Many an upstart of yesterday imagines himself capable to investigate and define every subject. The questions of the text lead us to contemplate the creating work as mysterious and unsearchable.

II. The manner in which meditations on this work of creation may be most profitably conducted. Philosophers will afford delightful aid to the more studious observer of the universe. The grand philosophy is in the Bible, where resounds the voice of God Himself, describing His own operations. But there is still needed the specially illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit of God. This influence is to be sought by prayer, while the proper means are diligently used.

III. The important ends and uses to which meditations of this kind ought to be directed and applied. The agency of the Spirit is particularly manifest in sanctifying devout meditations to their proper end. By meditations properly conducted, a habit of spirituality is acquired, and an ability to bring the mind close to the contemplation of Divine things. Here is the porch of the temple of wisdom. There is the foot of the ladder, whereby the soul at length ascends to heaven. Nor is the utility of such meditations confined to the infancy of religious wisdom; it follows us up to the very gates of heaven, yea, into heaven itself. (J. Love, D. D.)