Job 38

***Warning: LONG POST...but there is some really "good stuff" at the end that you won't want to miss! *** :)

In a blog a couple days ago, I referenced my very favorite passage in Scripture, Job 38. Right out of high school, I had a couple of years where I really struggled with my faith- with whether I REALLY BELEIVED what my parents had taught me my whole life. Is there really a God, or did all of this just kinda evolve into what it is, like all my science teachers were saying at the time? I remember that as I allowed my first questioning of God to enter my mind, and be tossed around, I had a lot of anxiety. I knew that if I didn't come to some real, solid answers for myself, I might never have peace again.

Anyways, I had a lot of good people in my life who encouraged my questions, rather than just try to stuff them back. My mom, especially, understood me. She wasn't afraid of my doubting, and said that if I would really search for truth, I WOULD find it. I did lots of studying that year...of all kinds of beliefs, religions, and faiths. When I finally determined that yes, I did believe in the existence of god (as persuaded by the logic of C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity), I then had to decide if I believed that god was intrested in humanity, or ME, at all. When I dug deeper, I decided, yes---I believe this being is trying to reach us...as is evident by the fact that all civilizations that have ever lived have tried to have a relationship with a higher being, a god, in most cases. And when I determined that 1)There is a God and 2) He wants to know me...I came quickly to believe that the true God of the universe has probably already revealed himself to mankind, so I started studying all major world religions...Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity. Again, it was C.S. Lewis on the second go round that persuaded me that there are holes in all of the other religions of our world. They do not add up 100% of the time. And while believing that God became man, incarnate, and died on a tree to cure His creation of their sin is not the easiest thought...it cannot be disproved. I attended some really cool Christian conferences, one being Acquire the Fire with Josh McDowell, and was thoroughly convinced that night, for myself, that the likelihood of Jesus Christ fulfilling all of the prophecies He did, outside of being who He said He was- is simply impossible. And there---I HAD IT, my truth.

I believe that there is a wonderful God of this universe who has the greatest imagination and created everything. Period. And I believe He gives us a glimpse into JUST HOW MUCH HE KNOWS AND SEES in the fabulous 38th chapter of Job...(with my favorite bits highlighted!)

Job 38
The LORD Speaks
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?

3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-

7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels [a] shouted for joy?

8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,

11 when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?

12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,

13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?

14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.

15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.

16 "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death [b] ?

18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.

19 "What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,

23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?

24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,

26 to water a land where no man lives,
a desert with no one in it,

27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?

28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 "Can you bind the beautiful [c] Pleiades?
Can you loose the cords of Orion?

32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons [d]
or lead out the Bear [e] with its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God's [f] dominion over the earth?

34 "Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?

35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?

36 Who endowed the heart [g] with wisdom
or gave understanding to the mind [h] ?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?

39 "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?

41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?

Job 39
1 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2 Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labor pains are ended.

4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.

5 "Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied his ropes?

6 I gave him the wasteland as his home,
the salt flats as his habitat.

7 He laughs at the commotion in the town;
he does not hear a driver's shout.

8 He ranges the hills for his pasture
and searches for any green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will he stay by your manger at night?

10 Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?
Will he till the valleys behind you?

11 Will you rely on him for his great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to him?

12 Can you trust him to bring in your grain
and gather it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.

14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,

15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
19 "Do you give the horse his strength
or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

20 Do you make him leap like a locust,
striking terror with his proud snorting?

21 He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength,
and charges into the fray.

22 He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
he does not shy away from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against his side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.

24 In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground;
he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25 At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!'
He catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 "Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
and spread his wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and build his nest on high?

28 He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is his stronghold.

29 From there he seeks out his food;
his eyes detect it from afar.

30 His young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there is he."

...See what I mean? Doesn't that just make you want to PRAISE HIM??? Did you ever realize all of the little "moments" He experienced while creating everything---that He TOLD the waves of the seas how far they were allowed to come??? He saw all of the morning stars dance together and the angels singing for JOY as He started the whole process!!!He gives orders to the morning...He knows where darkness "resides"...and where hail and lightening are "stored"...This same God, who has the power to loose the cords of Orion still cares about watering lands where no one lives...feeding ravens and lions...and knows when every single mountain goat gives birth!!! And if this were all not enough---He even loves me...and you! How humbling. Next time you start doubting, or think about gettin up on a "high horse"...read Job 38. :)