Burunche’s Blog

God Continues to Challenge Job

“Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? They bow down, they bring forth their young, they deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain; they depart and do not return to them.

 “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager, (A species of wild donkey) whose home I have made the wilderness, and the barren (salt) land his dwelling? He scorns the tumult of the city; he does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

“Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? Will you trust him to bring home your (seed) grain, and gather it to your threshing floor?

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.

“Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting.

“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.”

 Wild mountain goats, deer, wild asses, wild donkeys, wild oxen, ostriches, horses, and hawks – all these are but a few of God’s creatures. Now God is challenging Job. Does Job know the secrets of these animals and birds? Can Job control them in any meaningful fashion? Again, the answer is “No.” Once more, God wants Job to realize the depth of his ignorance. Why, when Job knows so little, should he be demanding answers from God?

APPLICATION: So many times when tragedies strike, we hear people complain, “Why has God allowed this?” Recently a series of powerful tornadoes tore through the Mid-South, destroying homes and even the small Tranquil Methodist Church in Amory, Mississippi. The small town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi was virtually wiped off the map. The citizens of these areas might well ask, “Why has God allowed this?”

The short answer is that we live in a fallen sinful world in which even the weather misbehaves. But there are far longer answers. Nobody except God knows the details of the lives these storms have disrupted. Nobody except God knows the effect rescue efforts will have on both the rescued and the rescuers. Only God knows the end from the beginning.

In 1965 the farm on which my family was living was devastated by an early morning tornado that reduced a large barn to splinters and tossed big pull – together hog houses around as if they were wood chips. The tall maple trees that lined the yard and the barnyard were torn up by their roots. The only reason the house survived was because it was so poorly built that once the windows had been sucked out, the pressure inside the house was the same as the pressure outside and so the house remained. The barn exploded from the inside out when the pressure outside was less than the pressure inside. My family survived because my mother awoke with a terrible sinus headache and realized that the wind was switching directions and the chimney bricks were hitting the roof. Mom woke up the rest of the family and they made it to the basement just as the lights went out. It was partially as a result of that storm that my family concluded the purchase of a nearby farm and moved there a few months later.

That storm marked my family in many ways. We learned to hold things more lightly and to value one another more. Only eternity will reveal the full effects of that storm.

Millenia ago, God challenged Job to assess his knowledge of the creation. Even though we have enormous amounts of information, many of the things about which God challenged Job remain mysteries. As we read through God’s descriptions, let us remember His greatness and power!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we know so very little about Your wonderful creation. Help us to worship You and praise You for all that You have made. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

This entry was posted on April 15, 2023 at 12:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.