It’s like walking into your kitchen and finding a WWE pro-wrestler in an apron, baking a batch of fresh cookies. You just wouldn’t see it coming. But there’s actually a word for that kind of surprise meeting. ‘Shekinah’. Ancient rabbis coined it to describe that moment when you meet God’s presence in a place you’d never expect to see it. See, no matter who we are, we all end up expecting God to show up in some places and not in others. We all have our own favourite boxes for God. But God won’t keep to them. He’ll keep surprising you by showing up where you least expect Him.
He’ll show up at that soup kitchen, or that champagne dinner for bankers. Or in the middle of the loneliest year of your life. That’s where God met Job, in today’s verse. Job could only remember God’s presence in his past. Back when he had a wife and kids gathered safe around him. But when all of that ended, Job thought God had left his life for good. Job’s friends were inclined to agree. After a lot of talking, Job turned his ears to heaven, and God showed up in a whirlwind. As it turned out, God was still very much invested in Job’s life. In fact, in this place of pain and gut-wrenching absence, Job met the unexpected presence of God in a far more personal and powerful way than he ever had before.
What now?
Are there places in your life where you’ve felt disappointed by God? First up, take them to God (‘repenting’), and tell Him you’d love to see Him heal those parts of you. Then ask: ‘where are You present, in those places?’
