From the beginning verses of our study, Job has longed for an opportunity to plead his innocence before God. Finally God appears in Chapter 38 and gives Job that opportunity. And what does Job do? He remains silent. It had become clear to Job that it was no longer necessary for him to speak. In his first address, God challenges Job with the magnitude and grandeur of His natural creation. From the stars to the ocean to the desert, what does Job know about anything? Job is humbled and ashamed and he concedes his unworthiness. But God is not done….
God moves now beyond the creation and supervision of the elements to the animal kingdom and his care for it in order to further demonstrate how limited Job’s knowledge really is. God has filled the earth with living creatures that are absolutely dependent upon Him for life and for the sustenance of life. God’s zoology lesson was not intended to end with a quiz, but to allow Job to become fully aware that the God who cares for every creature on the earth would most certainly make adequate provision for the one He had created in His own image!
God’s zoology lesson begins and ends with lectures on animals of prey – the animals that in today’s world are considered injurious and of no value. Yet, God cares for them with unerring wisdom. (Do you consider some things in life valueless? God doesn’t.) He speaks of the mountain goat that inhabits the most inaccessible and rugged mountain areas of the earth. Job could hardly miss the point here. Was Job himself not climbing over rugged rocks of adversity? God continues. . . He speaks of the life cycle of the animals -- the moment of birth and the moment of death. Something - again - that God knows and we do not. God moves on to the ostrich – a most unusual and brainless bird as it is devoid of any maternal instincts at all! (Know anyone that fits that description?”) A mistake on God’s part? Hardly! God provides for the young eggs’ protection in the most amazing way and provides food for the young bird in the very eggshell from which it hatches. Chance? No. Proof again of the wisdom of God in caring for his creation. The examples and lessons go on and on. And on. . . . As anyone who has studied the animal kingdom knows, God’s creation is truly vast and incredible and inexplicable.
God had shown Job once again that as a limited human being, he has neither the ability to judge the God who created the universe nor the right to ask the why of anything. God’s actions do not depend on our lack of understanding. God’s challenge to us then, is first to be awed by the natural creation and our insignificance within it, and secondly to realize the magnitude of the task he has in bringing both righteousness and judgment on both his creation and those created in His own image. It is ours to question the rocks of adversity in any way at all? Are you getting the point?
- Pastor Mark
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