Tossing Peanuts to Behemoths

God makes most plain how he feels about the animal kingdom in a magnificent address found at the end of Job. Look closely and you will notice a common thread in the specimens held up for Job's edification: a lioness, a mountain goat, a rogue donkey, an ostrich, a stallion, a hawk, an eagle, a raven, and a behemoth. Wildness is God's underlying message to Job, the one trait this menagerie all share...Most wildlife writing focuses on these vanishing [Yancey previously mentioned some endangered species] animals themselves, but I find myself wondering about the ultimate impact on us. What else, besides that innate appreciation for wildness, have we lost? Could distaste for authority, or even a loss of God-awareness, derive in part from this atrophied sense? God's mere mention of the animals struck a chord of awe in Job; what about us, who grow up tossing peanuts across the moat to the behemoths and leviathans?

~ Philip Yancey

Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you...

Can anyone capture him by the eyes,

or trap him and pierce his nose?

Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook

or tie down his tongue with a rope?

~ Job 40:15,24 and 41:1

I could have--and wanted to--include many more verses from the last few chapters of Job. Actually, just read the last 5 chapters of the book. They're all good.

Chapter 38 begins with God answering Job out of the storm. He rips into Job and puts him in his place most convincingly, finally saying in 40:2, "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!"

The text continues: "Then Job answered the Lord: 'I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more'."

But then--I love this--God doesn't say, "Oh, OK, Job. Thanks for repenting and seeing it my way. Here, let me give you a hug." Oh, no. God continues to cut him down to size by saying, "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his?" and on and on and on. He doesn't let Job off easy, but He continues the conversation with him until Job is completely and permanently humbled and blown away by the glory and majesty and power of God.

Finally in chapter 42, Job reaches the point of saying, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." He was a changed man.

God's treatment of Job reminds me of Proverbs 3:11-12 (which is quoted in Hebrews 12):

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline

and do not resent his rebuke,

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,

as a father the son he delights in.

The end of the book of Job shows us God's delight in Job. God accepts his prayer on behalf of his friends, God makes him prosperous again and gives him twice as much as he had before, God blesses him with 10 children, and most of all, God says to Eliphaz, "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." High praise coming from the mouth of the Almighty!

A Sound of Abundance of Rain

I wrote about my manna for today here on my regular blog. Interestingly, during a time of prophetic prayer this morning during our church service, someone referred to this exact passage of scripture. I love when God repeats Himself! :)

Grace & Truth

Truth without grace breeds self-righteousness and crushing legalism. Grace without truth breeds deception and moral compromise. Is it possible to embrace both in balance? Jesus did.

~ Randy Alcorn

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

~ John 1:16-17

Wonder in the Sky

The light was so unique last evening. There was some heavy cloud cover blowing through, with occasional thunder and lightning; but to the west, the sun was visible and was making the colors of everything - the neighbor's field, leaves on the trees, etc. - so vivid. It was beautiful, but almost had an eerie feel to it, as if the storm could suddenly increase in tempo and fury and cause significant destruction.

Isn't the sky a marvel? The variety that is present there is mind-boggling. The shades of color, the cloud formations, the "feel" it has - these factors are always changing in seemingly infinite designs. And then there's the wonder of the things we see in the sky: sun, moon, stars, planets. I don't know much about all of that; astronomy never held my interest for too long. But now I'm thinking in particular about what I do know about the sun and the moon and the way they are perfectly created to allow for life here on earth. This is what commentary in my new Bible (The Case for Christ Study Bible which I bought with my birthday money last month) has to say about that:

As astronomers are now discovering, our sun and moon are much more exceptional than once thought. Our sun is far from ordinary; it has exactly the right mass and composition and is the ideal distance from Earth to enable life on our planet. If it were much smaller, its luminosity would not allow high efficiency photosynthesis in plants; if it were much closer, the water would boil away from the planet's surface. Similarly, our moon is just far enough away and just the right size to stabilize Earth's tilt. Without the moon's stabilizing presence, Earth would experience wild temperature swings, with devastating consequences for life.

So, yes, the factors that contribute to life on our planet are unusual - unusually ideal. The sun and the moon are only two among innumerable variables that have aligned perfectly since the beginning of the universe to set the stage for human life on Earth.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one,

and calls them each by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

~ Isaiah 40:26

My Goal? YOUR Interests!

If a marriage counselor were to ask each partner, "What are your goals?" and the answer were, "How can I best serve my husband or wife? What can I do to further his or her goals?" the counseling period would be over, the bill low. Any two people, any community of Christians who set themselves to look only to the other's interest would be a rare and radiant thing, shining, as Paul said, "like stars in a dark world" (Phil. 2:15 NEB).

~ Elisabeth Elliot

...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

~ Philippians 2:2-4

What Does It Take to Be a Servant?

Make us masters of ourselves that we may be the servants of others.

~ Sir Alexander Patterson

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."

~ Luke 17:10

Go Through the Motions? No Way!

I heard it again today.

The song "The Motions" by Matthew West came on the radio this afternoon as I was cleaning out and organizing some of my kitchen cupboards. One minute, I'm thinking about the damp rag in my hand and where to put the pottery my husband made for me; the next minute, I'm gone, lost in worship, my spirit kindled within me, yearning for more intimacy with my God. That song does it to me every time.

Here are some of the words:

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

Without Your all-consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything

Instead of going through the motions?

This blog is one part of my attempt to keep from going through the motions. In my other blog, I write about everything: being a wife, raising my children, making our house a home, feeding those who gather around my table, educating the sons God has given to me, etc. In this blog, I narrow my focus to record some of the ways my most important relationship is nurtured.

Go through the motions? No way!

Walk closely with my Lord? YES!