This is Episode #163 and today we’ll read Job chapters 38-39 together. Oh, dear. God Himself shows up. And He has some questions of His own.
Transcript
Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast. This is Episode #163 and today we’ll read Job chapters 38-39 together. Oh, dear. God Himself shows up. And He has some questions of His own.
Welcome
Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2! I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together. We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament. But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New. So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work. I’m really glad you’re here!
Job Chapter 38
The Lord Speaks
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
Who is this who obscures my counsel
with ignorant words?
Get ready to answer me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform me.
Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and total darkness its blanket,
when I determined its boundaries
and put its bars and doors in place,
when I declared, “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning
or assigned the dawn its place,
so it may seize the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
Light is withheld from the wicked,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.
Have you traveled to the sources of the sea
or walked in the depths of the oceans?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the extent of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
Do You Know The Laws of Heaven?
Where is the road to the home of light?
Do you know where darkness lives,
so you can lead it back to its border?
Are you familiar with the paths to its home?
Don’t you know? You were already born;
you have lived so long!
Have you entered the place where the snow is stored?
Or have you seen the storehouses of hail,
which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,
for the day of warfare and battle?
What road leads to the place where light is dispersed?
Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth?
Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain
or clears the way for lightning,
to bring rain on an uninhabited land,
on a desert with no human life,
to satisfy the parched wasteland
and cause the grass to sprout?
Does the rain have a father?
Who fathered the drops of dew?
Whose womb did the ice come from?
Who gave birth to the frost of heaven
when water becomes as hard as stone,
and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?
Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?
Can you bring out the constellations in their season
and lead the Bear and her cubs?
Do you know the laws of heaven?
Can you impose its authority on earth?
Can you command the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?
Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Do they report to you, “Here we are”?
Who Put Wisdom in the Heart?
Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave the mind understanding?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven
when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?
Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions
when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?
Who provides the raven’s food
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Job Chapter 39
Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you watched the deer in labor?
Can you count the months they are pregnant
so you can know the time they give birth?
They crouch down to give birth to their young;
they deliver their newborn.
Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.
They leave and do not return.
Who set the wild donkey free?
Who released the swift donkey from its harness?
I made the desert its home,
and the salty wasteland its dwelling.
It scoffs at the noise of the village
and never hears the shouts of a driver.
It roams the mountains for its pastureland,
searching for anything green.
Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?
Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness?
Will it plow the valleys behind you?
Can you depend on it because its strength is great?
Would you leave it to do your hard work?
Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s?
She abandons her eggs on the ground
and lets them be warmed in the sand.
She forgets that a foot may crush them
or that some wild animal may trample them.
She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,
with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.
For God has deprived her of wisdom;
he has not endowed her with understanding.
When she proudly spreads her wings,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.
By Your Understanding
Do you give strength to the horse?
Do you adorn his neck with a mane?
Do you make him leap like a locust?
His proud snorting fills one with terror.
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
he charges into battle.
He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;
he does not run from the sword.
A quiver rattles at his side,
along with a flashing spear and a javelin.
He charges ahead with trembling rage;
he cannot stand still at the sound of the ram’s horn.
When the ram’s horn blasts, he snorts defiantly.
He smells the battle from a distance;
he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.
Does the hawk take flight by your understanding
and spread its wings to the south?
Does the eagle soar at your command
and make its nest on high?
It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;
its stronghold is on a rocky crag.
From there it searches for prey;
its eyes penetrate the distance.
Its brood gulps down blood,
and where the slain are, it is there.
Close
Did you notice that God never really addresses any of Job’s questions? I will repeat here again what we teach the kids. First key assumption of the Gospel is: God Rules. He is God and He doesn’t have to explain Himself to anyone. And it seems that no one had to point that out to Job. He was properly humbled even before God opened His mouth. I am intensely curious about witnessing God showing up in a whirlwind, but Job reminds me that my curiosity would manifest quickly into abject fear. I have to share: This is the first time I’ve ever read these words – God’s words – out loud. It was weird. I try to read them with the intonation that I imagine God would use, and it terrifies me. I am grateful for this reminder of reverence.
What stood out to you in this episode where God shows up? I would love to hear your reflections at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Thank you for joining me here today. I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed. Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions. And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there. If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know. Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you tomorrow!
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Show Notes
- Awesome Video of Solomon’s Temple
- These will help! Overview videos of all books of the Bible
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