Thursday, May 28, 2009

job 38

this is one of the most amazing passages in Scripture. job has, as we know, lost everything. he's been given horrible counsel from his wife and his friends have not helped either. he asks God why all these things have happened to him. and what does the Lord say?


Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 
    "Who is this that darkens counsel
         By words without knowledge? 
    "Now gird up your loins like a man,
         And I will ask you, and you instruct Me
    "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
         Tell Me, if you have understanding, 
    Who set its measurements? Since you know.
         Or who stretched the line on it? 
    "On what were its bases sunk?
         Or who laid its cornerstone, 
    When the morning stars sang together
         And all the sons of God shouted for joy? 
    "Or who enclosed the sea with doors
         When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; 
    When I made a cloud its garment
         And thick darkness its swaddling band, 
    And I placed boundaries on it
         And set a bolt and doors, 
    And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
         And here shall your proud waves stop'?
    "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
         And caused the dawn to know its place, 
    That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
         And the wicked be shaken out of it? 
    "It is changed like clay under the seal;
         And they stand forth like a garment. 
    "From the wicked their light is withheld,
         And the uplifted arm is broken. 
    "Have you entered into the springs of the sea
         Or walked in the recesses of the deep? 
    "Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
         Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 
    "Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
         Tell Me, if you know all this. 
    "Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
         And darkness, where is its place, 
    That you may take it to its territory
         And that you may discern the paths to its home? 
    "You know, for you were born then,
         And the number of your days is great! 
    "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
         Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 
    Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
         For the day of war and battle? 
    "Where is the way that the light is divided,
         Or the east wind scattered on the earth? 
    "Who has cleft a channel for the flood,
         Or a way for the thunderbolt, 
    To bring rain on a land without people,
         On a desert without a man in it, 
    To satisfy the waste and desolate land
         And to make the seeds of grass to sprout? 
    "Has the rain a father?
         Or who has begotten the drops of dew? 
    "From whose womb has come the ice?
         And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? 
    "Water becomes hard like stone,
         And the surface of the deep is imprisoned. 
    "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
         Or loose the cords of Orion? 
    "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
         And guide the Bear with her satellites
    "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
         Or fix their rule over the earth? 
    34"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
         So that an abundance of water will cover you? 
    "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
         And say to you, 'Here we are'
    "Who has put wisdom in the innermost being
         Or given understanding to the mind? 
    "Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
         Or tip the water jars of the heavens, 
    When the dust hardens into a mass
         And the clods stick together? 
    "Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
         Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 
    When they crouch in their dens
         And lie in wait in their lair ?
    "Who prepares for the raven its nourishment
         When its young cry to God
         And wander about without food?


the Lord puts job in his place.  have you ever been there?  have you questioned God's reason, His timing, His plan?  i have, from time to time, failed to understand the "why" of a situation.  thankfully, i am not God!!  i would do a terrible job!  i am so selfish.  i have found, time and again, that His mercies truly are new every morning (lam. 3:23) and that His ways are higher than mine (isa. 55:9).  

once again, i resolve to let God be God!  i'd love to take the backseat.  

2 comments:

Kristina said...

Steven Curtis Chapman has a song about that.

God is God

Thanks for the food for thought.

CG said...

Well, I saw the title and thought you had good news that you had landed your 38th job! But this is good news, too. :) And yes, He does love to put us in our place and remind us who HE is, doesn't He?