READ: Job 9:10-13
CHALLENGE: Trust God Come What May
Today I would like to cover some verses that talk about how God directs the world and some truths worth holding onto when times are tough.
- GOD IS AWESOME
- Our Awesome God is Impressive
V10 – He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
He performs wonders and miracles. And they can’t be fathomed. You can’t examine all of it or search it all out. It’s beyond us.
God does stuff. We do stuff too. We build things. We make things. We move things. We plant things. But the wonders come from God. I can plant a seed and I did something, but I did nothing miraculous because I can’t make it grow and bear fruit. Only God can. That’s the amazing part, right?
One can plant a seed of the gospel and someone can water the seed of the gospel but only God can make it grow. Planting and watering aren’t the wonder, the growth is. I can tell you the gospel but have no power to change a person’s life. The salvation of the soul is clearly a God miracle because we go from death to life. God is rebuilding people’s lives and getting us to be exactly where we need to be.
And God’s wonders are plural – way more than one. God does things beyond our ability to tally. He does things we don’t even know about. Later on, Job talks about God watering a desert where mankind never goes. God still waters it. He does great things in history. He does great things in nature. He even turns ashes into beauty.
The word “miracle” refers to things that are “wonderful and incomprehensible”. It refers to things that “are unusual and beyond human capabilities. As such is awakens astonishment in man”. It’s the stuff that makes you realize that God is there because only He could do it.
When Israel left Egypt there were the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding by manna, the pillar of fire to guide them by night. He did many things for the people including water out of a rock. Wonders. All things that humans could not do.
We see the evidence. He fixes situations. He opens doors. John said that if every miracle that Jesus did was written down. All the libraries in the world could not hold everything that he did. He did SO much!
You could never count all the things that God has done in your life. Saving you from danger perhaps. Bringing a person into your life at just the right time. Situations he changed, problems that he works out, ditches that he pulled you out of – they are beyond knowing or numbering.
This fact should encourage us in the trenches of life. Look for God to do wonders.
- Our Awesome God is Beyond Us
V11 – When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him
He can walk right by us and we not know it. We know that He is everywhere simultaneously and we take comfort in that. But this doesn’t mean that we know what He’s up to at every minute of the day or that we can ask him about it.
Perhaps he’ll be at your work this week. Or passing by us along a sidewalk on the way to do something in someone else’s life. We don’t perceive all that God is doing, we just trust Him.
Ever had that with a friend! Hey, I was waving at you and you drove by and didn’t even see me. Perhaps we were focused on something else, like driving.
Let’s be encouraged that God is moving in the world even though we don’t always know it. Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Our Awesome God Decides in Issues of Life and Death
V12 – If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, what are you doing?
He snatches people away. If he decides your time is up, it’s up. You’re not going to prevent that. You can’t even ask Him what He’s doing because you’re gone and gone without recourse or remedy.
Think of the man who had the bumper crop and he said he was going to build bigger barns and then eat and drink and be merry. He was hoarding it for himself. God said, “Today your soul will be taken, fool”. The man with all that money could not prevent death from claiming his life.
When death came for Lazarus and the rich man, who stopped God? No one did and no one could. James reminds those taking business trips, your life is a vapor. Don’t brag about what you’ll be doing next year. You’re not sovereign over how many years you’ll live and you don’t know if you’ll even be here.
James 4:14-15 – “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
God is sovereign over that which is the most precious to us.
- Our Awesome God is a Consuming Fire
V13 – God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab cower at his feet
What a reason to live rightly? I don’t want to upset God. You know that pride and lying and mistreating others really get him upset. He’s patient so He doesn’t always treat us as our sins deserve but when he does drop the hammer, watch out.
His anger will be poured out until even the “cohorts of Rahab cower at his feet”. That’s a reference to a mythical sea monster which represented all chaos and evil that opposes God. Even chaos and evil will submit to God. All the things outside of our control are not outside of God’s control.
Be careful if you ever think that you’re beyond God’s grasp or ability to rein you in. God will work even the bad stuff into His ultimate plan.
Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.
He’s working out everything that I’m going through for His plan. I can’t figure all that out, I just entrust Him. Joseph learned this. He said that his brothers intended to harm him, yet God intended it for good.
There will be days when you wonder why you’re going through what you’re going through. You’ll wonder what is the point of what we’re experiencing? What is God getting at? We just trust that it’s something. God has some purpose that He is working.
I’ve always believed that God could take the blackest of threads and make something wonderful of it. He can weave those dark threads into a beautiful tapestry.
- GOD WATCHES OVER US
Job 10:12 – You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.
You gave me life and showed me kindness. Even in pain, Job realized that God gave him life. Do we recognize that God is the author of life? People really ponder this question. How did we get here? How did we start? What’s the origin? God! Since God is the source, look to God!
Eric and Bethany are parents of Jaci and that little child will look to them. My grandson asks, “Where’s dad”? “Where’s mommy”? I had to watch him as Jeri ran an errand for this epic project we are doing. And guess what? He was calling for grandma. “Grandma”! “Grandma”! It’s instinctive to look for our parents and grandparents.
Shouldn’t it be instinctive to look toward God? It’s natural to love our parents. May it be natural to love God as well. Since God allows us to live in his world, you’re here for a reason. Certainly, to glorify God is part of it. It’s not about you.
Paul said in Acts 17:25 – And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
Yet another reminder that God gives everyone life and breath and everything else. Not only does God give life but he showed kindness. How has God shown kindness in your life? Let me count the ways. Answers to prayer. A grandson. Health. Blessings. Job. Family. Friends. Finances. My church family. The Word and the Spirit. Blessings on ministry and work. All these are a great kindness.
Job could look at his life and recognize that God was kind. Even in pain, he can still think back to the kind things that he experienced in life. It’s like Jeremiah is a super sad book saying, “Your faithfulness is new every morning”. Wow! There was death all around him, yet God’s faithfulness was new every single morning. There continually even in the smoke of pain and grief.
He says, “In your providence, you watched over my spirit. If I watch over something that means that I’m paying attention and safeguarding it”. God watched over his spirit which means life.
If God is guarding my spirit, doesn’t that mean He’ll strengthen me to make is through all that I face? He’s going to make sure that I get the breaks that I need when I need them. He’s going to protect my life.
- GOD IS MYSTERIOUS
These are the words of Zophar, the third friend.
Job 11:7-9 – “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”
There has to be some mystery, right? Can you fathom it? Probe it? You cannot figure out God, not completely. We can comprehend what he tells us but we can never understand God completely. What we know is a thimble. What God knows is the ocean by comparison. You can never dump the entire ocean into a thimble. It’s impossible. Your brain doesn’t have enough capacity to understand God and all that God is doing. We understand a fraction of reality and that’s a good thing.
God’s limits are far above us – what can you do? Obviously we have no ladder to heaven. The information that we’d like to have at times is on a shelf we’ll never reach. It’s like when the helium filled balloon gets away from the child while outdoors and they say, Daddy, get it! What? I can’t get that. It’s out of reach, what can I do? God’s ways are too big to truly understand.
The full knowledge of God runs deeper than the depths below, what can you know. What can you truly know about the Lord and everything He decides to do? About angels. About the next life. About God’s plan. There’s nothing you can do or know that goes past what God knows or does.
We are doing a bathroom re-model and there are so many details to it. The information that went into this church building was incredible. The literal pages and pages of blueprints and schematics just to build this one building was amazing. This is one building on the planet of many buildings. I couldn’t explain every building pyramids to nuclear power plants.
We don’t even grasp the world. We don’t fully understand gravity. How do monarchs know to migrate from Canada to Mexico? How do they know to wait for the winds? How does a salmon navigate back to the water where it was born? How does a spider know how to make a web? They don’t go to spider-tech and learn how to do it.
How can there be so many different types of rocks? How did so much oil get formed? Why do people fall in love and where does that come from? We don’t even understand the earth and everything that we encounter here. We’re certainly not going to understand God and his mysteries. You have to be OK knowing that some things are beyond understanding.
- GOD IS IN CONTROL
12:10 – In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Life is in his hands. Your very breath is by His allowance. Every creature owes life to God. As Jesus says, God knows every sparrow that falls and you’re worth far more. The very air that I breathe is from Him. So, all glory should go to Him. Every day that we live is another day to thank God for all that He has done.
Vv12-15 – Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? 13 “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. 14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released. 15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
I try to make the best decisions possible and some are clearer than others. But I never have perfect knowledge as I can’t see down the road. He has wisdom and the power to make it happen. He understands how all of the pieces fit together.
If he tears something down and decides it won’t be rebuilt, it won’t be. Look at Jericho. If God decides for it not to rain, it doesn’t rain. If he imprisons someone, they will be imprisoned. They could not possibly escape. If he turns the rains loose, then the lands are devastated.
God can do anything that pleases Him. And when He’s got a mind to do something you’re not going to change it. This is what being sovereign means. He makes the calls.
We might be king of our castle but not many of us can make every decision even there. If nothing else, we’d run out of money! We certainly can’t impact weather or what happens outside of our own little kingdoms. We only control only ourselves. And no literal kingdom on earth is outside of the influence of his power. None.
And since he acts with wisdom and power and counsel and understanding, He knows what He’s doing. And we must trust Him.
- WE COMPLETELY HOPE IN GOD
13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely[a] defend my ways to his face.
This is an amazing statement but because of God’s sovereignty, we can expect God to work. We trust Him! He wants to meet God and defend his actions which may lead to his death, but regardless, his only hope is in the Lord.
This is where trials lead us. It leads us to the only place we can go and that’s to God. So perhaps you don’t understand what happened in life but you know where your hope is and it’s in God. You don’t like what happened in your life – hope in God. Your life has become unmanageable? Hope in God. You don’t know how you’ll make it. Hope in God. Your marriage isn’t great … hope in God.
No matter how knocked around you get in life, keep it simple. You can slay me God, but I’ll still hope in you. I’m not giving up on You!
The hope is so profound because he had a lot of questions and complaints. He didn’t understand why he was experiencing utter misery but he still looked to God. And throughout a rather depressing book, you find these snippets of hope. A connection with God that could not be altered.
Satan’s entire ploy for Job was that he would curse God. Satan wanted nothing more than for Job to walk away and disown God. He didn’t foresee how tenacious Job’s faith was. Satan thought, “God won’t be Job’s hope, God be Job’s whipping boy … the object of his hate. But that didn’t happen. Job didn’t run from God, He was clinging to God. There was no one else to turn to.
Don’t just hang in there. Hope. Don’t just survive another day. Look for God.
Psalm 121:1-2 – I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
This time of year there is a thing called Spring. And Spring is hope embodied. I saw a photo of flowers busting up through the snow and it amazed me to contemplate this new life. It reminds us that warm temperatures are right around the corner. I walked out into the snow and checked on my plants. I looked for buds, for signs that they’re still alive. I have an expectation.
When Elijah was praying about the rain in a drought. He kept sending his servant to look for a cloud. Do you see one yet? He prayed in hope and with expectation that God would do something amazing!
We all go through tough spots and they don’t always end right away. We realize that we have to keep pushing forward and eventually there’s a thing called light at the end of the tunnel. And light at the end of the tunnel is a beautiful thing.
What are you expectantly looking for right now?