11/05/2008
Job 38:1 - 11 (HCSB) 1Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
2 Who is this who obscures [My] counsel
with ignorant words?
3 Get ready to answer Me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform Me.
4 Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell [Me], if you have understanding.
5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its blanket,
10 when I determined its boundaries
and put [its] bars and doors in place,
11 when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?
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Job has been tested two times. God allowed Satan to take everything that Job had, and then He allowed Satan to afflict Job’s body, but spare his life. Job’s friends and even his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. His friends accused Job of some unconfessed sin. But Job stood fast for a long time.
Then, he questioned God. And God answered.
The verses above are the opening passage of God’s answer. I am fascinated by these verses as God compares the creation of the universe to a construction project on earth—drafting the conception, drawing straight lines with a string, and laying a cornerstone. But what I really like about this passage is verses 8 – 11. God describes the oceans and how He determined their boundaries but then as if it were, He drew a line in the sand of the shore and said, “this is your limit.”
The reason I like this passage is not so much that God had the authority to do such things, but that all things, including the oceans, are subject to and obey His commands. We see the ocean as a mindless mass of water molecules that simply do what water does. Ebbing and flowing, dancing in waves and reflecting the sun in limitless sparkles. But at God’s command, this “mindless mass” obeys with strict precision.
Remember that Jesus even walked on the water. At His command, the “mindless mass” supported the weight of His earthly form as He walked on the water to meet the apostles.
We must remember that all of nature is at the beck and call of God. At His command the trees became alive and at His command, they bring forth their fruit. He is the cause of all things and the sustainer of all existence. All this He did for us.
How shameful it is of us to reject His authority. Take a few minutes to read the verses above again and consider God’s authority and the liberties He has granted us – even the liberty to reject Him. Shouldn’t we give such a God our complete devotion?
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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