12/5/2011 8:42:38 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Can you explain my creation PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job 38:1-38
Message of the verses: We will pick up where we left off from the last SD and we will now look at the next eleven questions that will relate to the vast dimensions of creation. The answers to these questions can be answered in today’s world by even school children, but in Job’s day that was not the case. This section will cover verses 16-24 of Job 38.
“16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 "Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 "Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. 19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, 20 That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home? 21 "You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great! 22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle? 24 "Where is the way that the light is divided, Or the east wind scattered on the earth?” (NASB)
“16 "Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things, explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean? 17 Do you know the first thing about death? Do you have one clue regarding death’s dark mysteries? 18 And do you have any idea how large this earth is? Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer. 19 "Do you know where Light comes from and where Darkness lives 20 So you can take them by the hand and lead them home when they get lost? 21 Why, of course you know that. You’ve known them all your life, grown up in the same neighborhood with them! 22 "Have you ever traveled to where snow is made, seen the vault where hail is stockpiled, 23 The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness for times of trouble and battle and war? 24 Can you find your way to where lightning is launched, or to the place from which the wind blows?” (Message)
God asks Job about the depths of the sea if he knew how deep the sea is and many other questions that Job could not answer. We know today that the deepest part of the sea is found in the Pacific Ocean and it is 35,810 feet or 6.78 miles down. God was asking these questions so that Job would lose his pride and repent of being proud, for Job was speaking to his friends like he knew all about God, but now he realizes that he does not know much about God.
God asks if Job could calculate the reaches of the east and the west or if the horizons were too much for him to measure. (Verses 19-21)
We will now look at verses 25-28 and discover what Job knew about the rain: “25 ¶ "Who has cleft a channel for the flood, Or a way for the thunderbolt, 26 To bring rain on a land without people, On a desert without a man in it, 27 To satisfy the waste and desolate land And to make the seeds of grass to sprout? 28 "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?” (NASB)
“25 ¶ Who do you suppose carves canyons for the downpours of rain, and charts the route of thunderstorms 26 That bring water to unvisited fields, deserts no one ever lays eyes on, 27 Drenching the useless wastelands so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass? 28 And who do you think is the father of rain and dew.” (Message)
We know that God has a purpose for the rain and the storms, so He asks Job if he realized how God made all of this work, where the lightening was going to strike, where the rain was going to fall. In verses 29-30 God asks Job if he could explain why He sends rain to the places where nobody lives, and then God turned from the spring and autumn rains to the winter hail and frost: “29 The mother of ice and frost? 30 You don’t for a minute imagine these marvels of weather just happen, do you?” (Message) “29 "From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? 30 "Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.” (NASB)
“31 "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? 32 "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? 33 "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth? 34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you?” (NASB)
“30 You don’t for a minute imagine these marvels of weather just happen, do you? 31 "Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters, or distract Orion from his hunt? 32 Can you get Venus to look your way, or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play? 33 Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations and how they affect things on Earth?” (Message)
These verses speak of how the planets affect the earth. I want to look a section from the book of Genesis that give us some insight into what is being spoken about here. “14 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.” (Genesis 1:14-19 NASB)
We see from the highlighted portion above that the planets and the sun and the moon were made for signs and for seasons, for days and for years and also for lights. It takes the earth one year to circle the sun and that is where we get our years from. The sun and the moon and also the stars are lights and as the earth goes around the sun we see different stars at different times of the years. This was how people who were sailing on ships could tell where they were before the age of satellites came about. The earth is revolving and one revolution is one day and it is divided between day and night. One question that is not really asked here is why is seven days measured as a week? I believe the answer is because when you look at the creation week in Genesis one we see that it all took seven days to complete, including the seventh day when God rested from His work of creation. Not that He was tired, but because His work was complete.
“34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you? 35 "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, ’Here we are’? 36 "Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind? 37 "Who can count the clouds by wisdom, Or tip the water jars of the heavens, 38 When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together? (NASB)
“34 “Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? 35 Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? 36 Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? 37 Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven 38 when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods?” (NLT)
In these verses God is asking questions on rain and clouds and who is in charge of making it rain. Of course it is God, but He wants to know from Job how it is done. So far there is no answer from Job, but he will speak eventually, but when he does it will be far different from when he was speaking to his friends, for Job will be a lot more humble after listening to God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I get the feeling that if anyone would want an audience with God they would have gotten or would get the same questions and so since God has already asked Job all of these questions in order for Job to see that he knew little about God then no one else needs to go through what Job went through because it is already written there for us to read. Humility is what is being taught to Job here and what I want to learn, and as I have said before that goes hand in hand with contentment. I think that when all of this is over for Job and he begins to live his life afterwards that Job will be a man who is content.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Humility and contentment.
12/5/2011 9:41:08 AM
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