The Lord Answers Our Humble Prayer

Beloved People of God,

In the eye of the hurricane, swept up in the majesty of God, Job says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you,” (Job 42.5). That must be one of the most striking verses in the Bible. It confesses a heartfelt belief, something held, something heard; and confirms it to be true.

Naveen Rao interprets Job’s confessional words through the cultural lens of smriti and shruti. Rao sees God’s arrival in the whirlwind, asking questions and pressing Job’s positions, as the Lord showing his servant—and us—the difference between smriti and shruti. Smriti is what we remember. It’s human memory and traditional understanding. It’s our Sunday School theology. Shruti goes beyond smriti. Shruti is divine revelation. It is the personal experience with God that transforms us.

Drawing to the end of the book of Job and the many smriti takeaways we will carry with us, bits of information, scraps of new perspective, what we need most of all is shruti. As followers of Jesus (who will experience pain and suffering), we need a divine encounter with God that transforms us more and more into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3.18). 

One place we can start is to recognize that the Lord answers our humble prayer. Through the entire book, we’ve heard Job crying out for his day in court with God. We’ve heard the voices of his friends, weighing him down with condemnation. In the whirlwind, we not only hear the Lord, but we see His presence. Centuries later, a group of disciples would gather in an upper room to join their voices in humble prayer, not knowing what was to come after, they obediently waited for the promise of God the Father. There, among men and women, young and old, gathered in humble prayer, the whirlwind of God’s presence swept into the room, and the disciples, empowered by the Spirit of God, were never the same (Acts 1.4; 2.1-4). 

Friend, what was true for Job and for Jesus’ disciples is true for you and me. Smriti got us here, but only shruti will guide us where we’re meant to go. So, the question is: are you ready?

For His Name’s Sake,

Brett