Jan 31 – Job 40-42
On day 31, we wrap up the book of Job and I am happy about that. To begin with, Job’s suffering scares any human. It is not a lot that anyone would want to pick. He endured and made it through. I dread the bickering that happens throughout most of this book. So I am glad that we are done with this book and move on to my favorite book – EXODUS. Still, my understanding is, that people like Abraham and Job and Jacob and others, are considered righteous in God’s eyes and made it the wall of faith. They were not perfect, but they did their best with the understanding that they had about this Almighty, Holy, and Powerful God. Today we have the privilege of knowing more about our God because He graciously gave it all in writing to us in the form of Bible. Considering what they knew about God, they did their best. Abraham had tremendous faith about having Isaac, at the same time, there were moments of weakness in faith that made room for Ishmael too. He had seen the LORD but still feared that some pagan king would kill him so lied about his wife. Job got good reports from God Almighty Himself. And the suffering that he went through was tremendous for any human to bear.
The lesson I learned from this book is that we don’t have to exhaust ourselves by explaining to people who don’t want to understand us. As the saying, “It is better to be alone than in bad company”. Job started off by saying, “We who received good things from God, should we not receive bad things too”. But, over time, with the increase of the agony, and with the friends who were not of much help, he wanted to ‘plead his case with God’. God intervened in the back-and-forth conversations between Job and his friends and asked Job more than 75 questions that established His Supremacy. Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? 8. Who shut up the sea behind doors? 22. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?
Not only the LORD talked about nature’s mighty forces, but He also asked Job 39:1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?”. What an amazing God we have the privilege of knowing. He controls the humongous things that we have no insight into, like the Pleiades and Orion’s belt and the constellations. At the same time, He even cares about the mountain goats and all the animals in the wilderness. How much would He care for us whom He created in His own image and sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us? Once God started to ask the questions, Job realized that he was in no place to plead his case anymore. That is the major lesson that I learned from this Book. We exist because of God’s grace. We are saved by His grace. Who are we to ask Him anything? It is in His good pleasure that He gives us good things. So may we not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are somebody and that we can command and decree to Him.
