" Where were you when I........ ? "

   

    

     GOD's question to Job is a question for all who have ever lived.  We all, from time to time, seem to think that we know better than the ALMIGHTY and we act according to this mistaken assumption.  

     Job was a man who lived long ago and among the Books of Scripture it is considered to be one of the oldest.  The Book starts with a conversation between GOD and Satan in which the LORD says to Satan about Job,  " Have you considered MY servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears GOD and shuns (turns away from) evil ? "  Satan, with his evil and twisted heart, looks at GOD and says, " Does Job fear GOD for nothing ? "   In other words Satan was accusing GOD of pampering Job and prospering him and that was the only reason that Job was a godly man. Satan went even so far as to say if you take everything from Job, he will curse you to your face.

     Now anyone who has a True Spiritual knowledge of GOD and HIS WORD knows that GOD is Omnipotent and knows all things.  So HE already knew what Job would do and declare, no matter what was done to him.  As the story continues, GOD allows Satan to do his worst except he was not allowed to outright kill Job; and Satan took all he had, except his wife. Satan left Job without his children, his livelihood, his flocks and herds; and left him in an ash heap scrapping boils from his body.

     Job's reply, to all that happened to him, are in 2 very special verses. The first is in Chapter 1 vs. 21, right after he had lost everything he said, " Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;  Blessed  be  the name  of  the  LORD. "  and vs. 22 sums it up, " In all this Job did not sin nor charge GOD with wrong. "    Then when Satan left Job covered in boils on the ash heap, Job's wife came to him and said, " Do you still hold to your integrity ? Curse GOD and die ! " (2:9)  But Job said to her in vs.10 " You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from GOD, and shall we not accept adversity ? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. " Women, when your man is down, don't kick him and act like a foolish women.  Some sound advice for married couples.

     Now of course like all of us, we have friends who like to give us advise ! Some advice may be good, but most advice from well meaning but ungodly friends may do more harm than good.  Job's first 3 friends kept silent for awhile but then they started to speak and tell Job that he must have done something pretty awful to bring down the wrath of GOD on his head !  You see we don't know everything because we don't see everything the way GOD sees it. GOD's plans and purposes for our lives are so intricately woven together that HE masterfully orchestrates each moment to fulfill a much larger picture, purpose and plan within the history of the ages. 

     Now as I said, Job's " friends " were not of much help to him; in fact they moved him to start feeling that he needed to contend with the ALMIGHTY or rebuke GOD for what he must have brought on him unjustly ( Job 31:35-40 ). We are going to pick up the conversation between GOD and Job in Chapter 38 and we'll see what Job would come to learn about his GOD and the CREATOR of all things.........

" Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:  Who is this who darkens counsel, by words without knowledge ? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer ME.  WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I laid the foundations of the earth ? Tell ME, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements ? Surely you know ! Or who stretched the line upon it ? To what were its foundations fastened ? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of GOD shouted for joy ?

Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed MY limit for it; and set bars and doors; when I said, ' This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop !'

Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it ? It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken.

Have you entered the springs of the sea ? Or have you walked in search of the depths ? Have the gates of death been revealed to you ? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death ? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth ? Tell ME, if you know all this.  

Where is the way to the dwelling of light ? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home ? Do you know it because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great ? Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war ? By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth ?

Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man; to satisfy the desolate waste, and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass ? Has the rain a father ? Or who has begotten the drops of dew ? From whose womb comes the ice ? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth ? The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.

Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades (the Seven Stars), or loose the belt of Orion ? Can you bring out Mazzaroth (the Constellations) in its season ? Or can you guide the Great Bear (Arcturus) with its cubs ? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens ? Can you set their dominion over the earth ? 

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you ? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ' Here we are !' Who has put wisdom in the mind ? Or who has given understanding to the heart ? Who can number the clouds by wisdom ? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, when the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together ?

Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait ? Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to GOD, and wander about for lack of food ?

Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young ? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth ? Can you number the months that they fulfill ? Or do you know the time when they bear young ? They bow down, they bring forth their young, they deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain; they depart and do not return to them.

Who set the wild donkey free ? Who loosed the bonds of the onager (rock badger), whose home I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling ? He scorns the tumult of the city; he does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

Will the wild ox be willing to serve you ? Will he bed by your manger ? Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes ? Or will he plow the valleys behind you ? Will you trust him because his strength is great ? Or will you leave you labor to him ? Will you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing floor ?

The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork's ? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because GOD deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.

Have you given the horse strength ? Have you clothed his neck with thunder ? Can you frighten him like a locust ? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he stand firm, because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, ' Aha ! '  He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting.

Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south ? Does the eagle mount up at you command, and make its nest on high ? It dwells on the rock, and resides on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.

Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said:   Shall the one who contends with the ALMIGHTY correct HIM ?  He who rebukes GOD let him answer it.

Then Job answered the LORD and said:  Behold,  I am vile; what shall I answer YOU ? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:   Now prepare yourself like a man;  I will question you,  and you shall answer ME:   Would you indeed annul MY judgment ? Would you condemn ME that you may be justified ? Have you an arm like GOD ? Or can you thunder with a voice like HIS ? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness.  Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you. "                                                                            Job 38 - 40:14

GOD continues to ask Job if the things that GOD can do, can Job also do.  Or the things that GOD knows, does Job also know them in the rest of chapter 40 thru chapter 41. Then comes the dawning of what this whole journey with Job and GOD was all about. Remember I said that GOD is Omnipotent and knows all things, so this conversation was NOT for HIS benefit but for Jobs, and for ours.

" Then Job answered the LORD and said:   I know that YOU can do everything and that no purpose of YOURS can be withheld from YOU.  YOU asked, ' Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge ?'  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  Listen, please, and let me speak; YOU said, ' I will question you, and you shall answer ME.' I have heard of YOU by the hearing of the ear,  BUT  NOW my eye sees YOU.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. "   Job 42:1 - 6

Jobs ordeal was a testament to GOD's grace and mercy. The end of the Book of Job, GOD blesses Job in 42:10,  " And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. "    What we have seen by the life and trials of Job are vast.  I could not pretend to even fathom all the applications that can be made from this Book, but I do see that a godly man named Job had everything and then he had nothing and knew where it all came from and by WHOM it had all been taken away.  Never did that one fact escape Job, but his lesson was to let GOD be his source of strength and reason for being.   We are not here for  " our good pleasure "   but  we are here for  " HIS good pleasure "  for HE ever delights to bless HIS children.   So the next time you want to know what HE is up to and why HE has allowed this or that in your life;  as a Truly Born Again Christian we are to take heart like Job and  " no longer just hear HIM by the hearing of the ears, but our eye (singular, the eye of faith) sees HIM "  and we understand and repent in dust and ashes ( in humility ).
Your servant in CHRIST,
Julie