How Can We Have Faith in God and the Bible When We Have So, Many Questions About Reconciling Science to the Bible?
In the first 37 chapters of Job, Job asked many questions. In chapters 38 through 41, God answers Job’s questions with questions.
For example: Job 38:2-12: “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?’ Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?”
He goes on like this for five chapters, then we finally see Job’s reply in chapter 42:1-6: “Then Job replied to the LORD: ‘I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
In other words, God’s thoughts are far above man’s thoughts. Consequently, there are many things that man cannot understand, although we continue to learn more through scientific study. So, God was telling Job that even if He answered Job’s questions, Job wouldn’t be able to comprehend. God was saying, “OK, I’ll be glad to answer your questions, but first, in order to qualify yourself as one who will be able to understand the answers, let me ask you some questions. Then, after you answer My questions, I will answer yours.” Then Job had to admit, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know… Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
This makes perfect sense to me because I realize that there are so many things that I do not understand. These things strengthen my faith, rather than weakening it, because they remind me of how big God is, and how small I am. My lack of knowledge actual brings me comfort rather than anxiety, knowing that God is taking care of the things that I cannot even comprehend.