God and Job and me

I decided to try to read the entire Bible in 1 year. This has always felt like an out-of-reach goal for me that I knew I wouldn't achieve so I never committed to it in the past. But 2026 is the year!! (she says on January 13th of 2026...)

I have this neat-o set of books that is put together to guide me through the whole Bible in a year. There's room for gratitude and prayer and notes and a checklist where I mark off each section of the Bible after I read it. This is my favorite part: putting an X through the little circle that shows the 3 chapters that I read that day. Satisfaction!

But this set of books starts of with a few chapters of Genesis and then jumps right into Job. JOB. What a way to start the year. The only thing I can think is that maybe it was written this way so that I can get Job out of the way in the beginning of the year? Whatever the reason is (the reason is probably written in this neat-o book's introduction that I neglected to read because reading the Bible in a year was daunting enough - why add in 8 pages of introduction?), I did it. I finished Job today. And it left me confused.

Here's a guy who had so much taken from him. I can't blame him for having an attitude towards God. But then his friends come to try and get him out of this funk and he keeps arguing with them. And then this younger guy comes along and spits truth about God. Then it's God's turn. And what does God do? He talks about the weather and about Behemoths and the Leviathans (dinosaurs and water-type giant serpent dragon things?) Then Job does his big 180 and God is angry with Job's friends and then blesses Job abundantly more than he started out.

The book of Job is a whirlwind. (Speaking of whirlwinds, that's how God speaks to Job! Out of a whirlwind!)

So the first full book of the Bible left me feeling unsettled. So I started doing some research because I wanted it to make a little sense. (I don't need all of the Bible to make complete sense to me - God is pretty big and smart and omni-everything. The fact is that I'm just not going to get it all.) And the funny thing is that is essentially what God is teaching in this book of the Bible!

Life does not AND WILL NOT always make sense. But boy, do I want it to. I have numerous conversations with my husband on a regular basis about why this thing has happened in life and what God is trying to teach me through this scenario. And why me? How come I have to deal with this thing too? I'm not equipped for all of this. And it just doesn't make sense. (I throw my hands up in the air frequently.)

God doesn't need it to make sense to me, a mere human.

He wants me, a mere human, to understand that He is GOD.

Not understanding why, but understanding Who.

Trusting the Who.

Walking through the tough stuff because of the God who is still present, listening, and knows me, a mere human, personally.

So I'll keep walking forward, like Job. But maybe I'll stop asking the whys (probably not). Maybe I'll start answering my own whys with: it doesn't matter, God is bigger.

God is the biggest.