Sunday, December 31, 2017
Job 38:25 says, Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; God is asking Job what are basically rhetorical questions. If Job was going to question God, then Job would have needed to be the one who did these things. Like Job, we cannot take credit for any part of creation and therefore have no right to question God. Verse twenty-six continues, To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; Throughout the remainder of the chapter, God continues to ask Job if he could sustain the workings of the world. Job had been very vocal in his complaint against God, so God was clearly reminding Job that he was not the one to set the world in order. God does not need people to make it rain. Rain falls in the wilderness where there are no people. Verse twenty seven says, To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? God asks if Job can cause rain to fall so that the tender plants will spring up. God controls both the rain and the plant. Verse twenty-eight asks, Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? Then verse twenty-nine continues, Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? We watch the weather forecast today, where people use all their scientific methods to tell us what the weather is going to do, but even if the forecast is correct, we cannot take credit for the rain or the temperature. Verse thirty says, The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. God continues to remind Job that He, and not Job or anyone else, is in control of the weather. Verse thirty-one asks, Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? In verse thirty-two God continues, Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? God asked if Job if he could take credit for not only there order of the earth, but of the universe as well. Verse thirty three asks, Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Scientists today may feel that they know how the universe works, yet they continue to find things that are new to them, though they are well known to God. Verse thirty-four asks, Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Then verse thirty-five continues, Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? It would be wonderful if we could control the weather. Crops would never fail and we could put our wildfires, for example. Though we cannot do this, we should be content to put our faith in God no matter what happens. In verse thirty-six God asks, Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? Then continuing in verse thirty-seven, Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, I believe that God was reminding Job that what wisdom and understanding he had of the world came from God. We will never be wise enough to explain all the ways of the universe, but we can know the God Who created and sustains it all. Verse thirty-eight asks, When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? Again, this was just a question of controlling the rain. Verse thirty-nine asks, Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, Verse forty continues, When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? When verse forty-one concludes, Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat. People may have the ability to destroy the animals, and to a certain extent we may be able to sustain a species, but it is God Who sustains them on a daily basis. Imagine if we had to provide food for all the animals and birds. We need only thank and praise the God Who does.
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