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Only Questions · Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: You are listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Please visit online at backwardmutters.substack.com.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: There you can subscribe via your favorite podcast player and read the newsletter.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: This poem is a response to Job chapter 38,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: verses 1 to 7,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: where after pouring out his grief to the Lord,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: and in a manner of speaking,
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: cross-examining the Lord,
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Job gets a response.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord answers Job,
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  SPEAKER_01: but he answers with a series of questions,
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  SPEAKER_01: and we read in chapter 38,
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Dress for action like a man.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: I will question you, and you make it known to me.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me if you have understanding.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Who determined its measurements?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Surely you know.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or who stretched the line upon it?
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  SPEAKER_01: On what were its bases sunk?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or who laid its cornerstone?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think these questions are merely the Lord putting Job in his place.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think they actually beg other questions.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Especially, how does Job get to the resolution in chapter 42?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And here's my response.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Only questions.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I have no answers, Lord, only questions.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why come with a storm into the chaos of my storm?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: How is one to know which is the help, which whirlwind is caused by sin, which rescuer finish me?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And why have you stood off silently?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I have no answers, only questions.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, I was not there when you laid the foundation.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was not by my skill or strength that it was made square and plumb.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I did not stretch out a line its length to measure your wisdom and love.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I did not pour into the earth with my hands the footing upon which every last thing
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: that stands now stands.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: I did not mark the depth, breadth, and height of your cornerstone's wisdom.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: I did not lay it in place, by it make all true and right.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nor did I choose the keystone which holds the arch,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: fills the breach,
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  SPEAKER_01: holds in place the pillars of sky,
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  SPEAKER_01: holds all these things leaning together,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: even the answers just out of reach.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: as I lean towards you, one whom I thought I knew, one who is now unknown.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: But where else can I go with these questions?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like when the morning stars sang in the first day's pre-dawn light?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: What was the sound of the song which you taught when you led the heavenly band?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Who called the contredance?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Who led the grand march, the reel and swing of the alamand right and left?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: How did the cosmos resound when the sons of God shouted for joy?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: What was the noise when the lifeless void gave way to the dawn, the break of day?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: What was that like?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Sound filled with sparks when delight became light.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: I only have questions.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you who now comes to me in the ruin of ash, to the dust of the death in which I sit?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: What do you know of loss?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: What to you did faithfulness cost?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And will I ever see the point of this?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hold and see if there be end
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is Randy Edwards.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: You've been listening to the Backward Mudders Poetry Podcast.