Funny that yesterday when I wrote about not trusting somebody any more, I should pick up a book written by Philip Yancey and read a lesson in trust. He actually heads this part of the chapter A Nature Lesson. Some will read this and need to give it some more thought – may even be a bit cynical. Others may dig deep and seek to trust God more. Still others may think back over their lives and be grateful that they have been led in a deeper understanding and trust of God through the trials they have endured.
This is taken from his book “Where Is God When It Hurts?” (Pages 102 to 104)
This is what he writes,
STARTS
“Much has been made about God’s magnificent speech in Job 38-41. In a passage that could be addressed to the Sierra Club or Audubon Society, God took Job on a verbal tour of all the wonders of nature. I, too, marvel at the splendid imagery, but along with my marvel comes a nagging sense of bewilderment. Why this speech, at this moment?
readers who quote admiringly from God’s speech, or needlepoint its beautiful poetry into slogans for wall plaques, may have lost sight of the context in which Job heard those majestic words: he was homeless, friendless, naked, ulcerous, in despair. What a time for a nature-appreciation course! Why did God sidestep the very questions that had been tormenting poor Job?
Before a thoroughly dejected audience, God sang out with peals of divine glee. He called to mind:
Sunrise: Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place…?
Rain & Snow. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?…From whose womb comes the ice?…Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?
Thunderstorms. Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm?….Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘here we are?’
Lions. Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in the dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
Mountain goats. Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
Wild donkeys. Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes? I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat. He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver’s shout.
The ostrich. The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork…God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
The horse. Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?
Birds of prey. Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his net on high?
(From Job 38-39)
Stalking lionesses, soaring eagles, streaks of lightning, crocodiles, wild oxen – God summoned up these and other images for Job with the satisfaction and delight of a proud artist. After each description, he either stated or implied, “Job, are you powerful enough to duplicate these feats? Are you wise enough to run the world?….Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?”
God’s words hit Job with devastating power, prompting an overwhelmed, repentant surrender. “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:2-3)
Did God answer Job’s questions about suffering and unfairness? Not really. He seemed deliberately to avoid a logical, point by point explanation. Why, then the combative tone? What did God want from Job?
God wanted, simply, an admission of trust.
If we, like Job, are so ignorant about the wonders of the world we live in, a world we can see and touch, who are we to sit in judgement of God’s moral government of the universe? Until we are wise enough to orchestrate a blizzard – or even manufacture a single perfect snowflake, we have no grounds to sue God. Let him who is about to accuse God consider the greatness of the God accused.
A God wise enough to rule the universe is wise enough to watch over his child Job, regardless of how thing seem in the bleakest moments. A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me.
ENDS
There may be people in your world that you don’t trust. There is One who you can trust all the days or your life.
We can trust God. He is trustworthy and always will be.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,