The Grandeur of God (Part One)

[0:00] But we're nearly at the end of that little series. We're going to turn to our Bibles now and first of all to read in Job chapter 38. Lots of reading this evening, so we're going to read 38, have a hymn, and then come back and read chapter 39.

[0:15] So after all the comings and goings and the prayers and the complaints and the responses of Job and the various responses of his friends, which really range on a scale of bad to awful, don't they? Who wants friends like Job's?

[0:38] But at last, the Lord answers Job, says chapter 38, out of the whirlwind. And he said, who is that? Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

[0:55] Dress for action like a man. I will question you, and you may get known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

[1:10] Who determines its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone?

[1:21] When the morning stars sang together, all the sons of God shouted for joy. Or who shut in the sea with doors? When it burst out from the womb?

[1:32] When I made clouds, its garment, and thick darkness, its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors, and said, Thus far shall you go, and no further.

[1:44] And here shall your proud waves be stayed. Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

[2:02] Its chains like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked on the recesses of the deep?

[2:19] Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

[2:34] Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And where is the place of darkness? That you may take it to its territory, and that you may discern the paths to its home. You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great.

[2:51] Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

[3:10] Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, or the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

[3:27] Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of the dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth? And who has given birth to the frosts of heaven?

[3:38] The water has become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?

[3:50] Can you lead forth the Maserat, the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the great bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

[4:02] Can you establish their rule on earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go out and say, here we are?

[4:17] Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding? To the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

[4:29] Or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass, and the thick clods stick fast together? Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lion weight in their thicket?

[4:48] Who provides for the raven, its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? Lots of questions, and not many answers, I think, easily coming from mere human beings.

[5:09] Well, let's break and sing again, this hymn of William Cooper, that reminds us that God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, he rides upon the storm.

[5:24] God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.

[5:49] He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

[6:04] Deep in the sea, Deep in all the marble mines, Of never-failing scale, He treasures up his prides, His eyes, And works his sovereign will, And works his sovereign will.

[6:40] You fearful saints, Rich courage take, The clouds you so much dread, Are big with mercy, And shall break, In blessings on your head.

[7:21] Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace, Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face, He hides a smiling face.

[7:56] His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour, The bird may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower, Blind unbelief is sure to eye, And scan his work in vain, God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain,

[9:02] And he will make it plain, And he will make it plain.

[9:13] Well, God is certainly speaking very plainly to Job, isn't he? Let's pick up again at the beginning of chapter 39, More questions.

[9:30] Do you know, When the mountain goats give birth, Do you observe the carving of the does, Can you number the mouths that they fulfill, Do you know the time when they give birth, When they crouch, Bring forth their offspring, And are delivered of their young, The young ones become strong, They grow up, And they open, They go out, And don't return to them?

[9:55] Who has led the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey? To whom I have given the arid plain for his home, And the salt land for his dwelling place?

[10:08] He scorns the tumult of the city, He hears not the shout of the driver, He ranges the mountains as his pasture, And he searches after every green thing, Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

[10:22] Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes? Or will he harrow the valleys after you? Will you depend on him, Because his strength is great, And will you leave to him your labor?

[10:37] Do you have faith in him, That he'll return your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor? The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are they the pinions, And the plumage of love?

[10:52] For she leaves her eggs to the earth, And lets them be warmed on the ground, Forgetting that a foot may crush them, And that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, As if they were not hers, Whether her labor be in vain, Yet she has no fear, Because God, Has made her forget wisdom, And given her no share in understanding, When she rises herself to flee, She laughs at the horse and his rider, Do you give the horse his might?

[11:27] Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like a locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying, He paws in the valley, And exults in his strength, He goes out to meet the weapons, He laughs at fear, And is not dismayed, Doesn't turn back from the sword, Upon him rattle, The quiver, The flashing spear, And the javelin, The fierceness and rage, He swallows the ground, Cannot stand still, At the sound of a trumpet, When the trumpet sounds, He says, Aha!

[11:56] He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of the captains, And the shouting, Is it by your understanding, That the hawk soars, And spreads his wings, Towards the south, Is it at your command, That the eagle mounts up, And makes his nest on high, On the rocks he dwells, And makes his home, On the rocky crag, On the stronghold, And there he spies out the prey, His eyes behold it afar off, His young ones suck up blood, And where the slain are, There is he, Amen, May God bless us, His word, Well good evening, And please do have your Bibles open, To Job 38 and 39, And as you turn there,

[12:57] Let me ask you, I wonder if you've ever had a visit, From someone, That's completely caught you, By surprise, Or maybe you've been out somewhere, And someone very important, Has turned up completely out of the blue, And you're left speechless, Sometimes on Saturday night TV, My wife tells me, Because I don't really watch Saturday night TV, But my wife tells me, That in some of the shows, They stitch up a member of the public, By getting a famous person, To go round to someone's house, And knock on the door, And turn up for a visit, And of course when the member of the public opens the door, And they see the famous person, They're left speechless, And flabbergasted, Or the other day, When I read this online, That there was a man waiting at a bus stop, On Maryhill Road, And all of a sudden, A whole bunch of police, Motorbikes, Came speeding past him, And then this beautiful black Bentley, Just pulled up in front of him, And it was Her Majesty the Queen, Having a visit, You can look that up online, I did not make that up, On Maryhill Road, Her Majesty the Queen, And apparently everyone on the road, Was speechless, And couldn't believe,

[13:57] What they'd seen, Well here in Job 38, We have an even greater surprised visit, Far greater than some celebrity, Knocking at your front door, Far greater, Than Her Majesty, On Maryhill Road, Please look at verse 1, Then the Lord answered Job, Out of the whirlwind, Throughout this book, We've seen Job, The man who suffered so terribly, Crying out in great pain and anguish, To the Lord in prayer, And again and again, He's asked this question, Why?

[14:32] Why Lord have you allowed, Such appalling suffering, To sweep over my life? Why are you treating me, As though I'm an enemy? I can't understand it, I feel like a miner, Who's trapped down a mineshaft, Searching for wisdom, In the darkness, But I know that as I search, It's futile, Because Lord I know, That you're the only one, Who can give me wisdom, And understanding, Please Lord help me, Please Lord, I want my day in court with you, To plead my case before you, To hear, From you, The reason as to why I've suffered, That's what Job has been crying out, In prayer to the Lord, And back in chapter 5, Eliphaz, One of Job's so-called friends, He mocked Job, And said, There's no point crying out to heaven, Because no one is listening to you up there, Stop praying Job, And last Sunday in chapter 35, We heard Elihu say, Job you're a hypocrite, You're a real unbeliever, And therefore the Lord will never bother,

[15:32] With your empty cries, Your empty prayers, Well imagine the horror, And the shock, That must have swept over these men, When the Lord appeared to them, In the storm, And spoke personally to Job, You see already in verse 1, Job is being vindicated, Just by coming, And speaking with Job, The Lord is already showing, Job's cruel companions, That they are fools, Who failed to comfort poor Job, And give him wise counsel, Now just notice the little detail there, In verse 1, Notice the name of God there, It's the Lord, And most of you will know, That when the Lord is mentioned in capital letters, It's referring to, The covenant name of God, In the Hebrew text being used, The special name of God, Yahweh, We've not seen that name, Since chapter 1 and 2 in the book, But here it's back, And so we must take notice of it, The author, Is making the point, That this is the covenant God of grace,

[16:34] Coming to Job, The God who is the protector of his people, The God who is committed, To them by promises, That he cannot, And will not break, This is not some cold hearted, Distant deity, That we're dealing with here, Who lives far away, From his suffering people, This is the Lord, He's coming to Job, As the great Goel, The kinsman redeemer, That Job longed for, Back in chapter 19, In other words, By humbling himself, And coming down, To speak to Job, On that ash heap, As Job was in deep pain, The Lord has shown himself, To be the God of great compassion, And mercy, The God who comes, To minister his grace, To people like you and I, In this broken world, And of course, We who know our Bibles, We know that that's what God is like, Because this God, Later in history, Would eventually come to this earth, To speak, To cleanse and to heal, And to minister his grace, To his needy people, Not out of a storm, But out of human flesh,

[17:36] In the person, Of the Lord Jesus, And throughout this final section, Of the book, The Lord, The covenant God, He makes two speeches, The first speech runs from chapter 38 to 39, And speech two runs from 40 to 41, And I'll just say, Many people think that in these speeches, The Lord, He is, He's hitting Job with a really, Really hard rebuke, They think that the Lord appears, And starts drilling Job, Like some kind of an angry drill sergeant, Who's berating and telling off, Some kind of a rebellious soldier, Because Job has said heated and angry things, Against Job, Against God, Earlier on in the book, Well I think, If you think that that's what the Lord is saying here, I think that's to misunderstand, What the Lord is doing here, And I think that doesn't fit at all, With what comes at the end of the book, In chapter 42, In chapter 42, The Lord emphatically, Says twice, Job has spoken rightly, Of me,

[18:37] That's what the Lord says, So to say that in 38 to 41, That the Lord is rebuking Job, That clashes, With what the Lord says, At the end of the book, It also clashes by the way, With what the New Testament says about Job, In James 5, Where we are told, That Job was utterly steadfast, And you might be sitting there thinking, Well that's very well filled, But I've read on ahead, And actually in 42 verse 6, Job repents, Well, Let's just turn to 42 please, 42 verse 5, And 6, In our translations it says this, And this is Job speaking in response, To all that he's heard the Lord say, In 38 to 41, Job said, I had heard of you, By the healing of my ear, But now my eyes see you, Therefore I despise myself, And repent in dust, And ashes, Now because Job says, I despise myself, And I repent, Many therefore, Read that back into the Lord's speeches,

[19:39] And they're convinced, That the Lord is rebuking Job, But I have to say, I think verse 6, Has been badly translated, And I've asked a number of senior ministers, This week, Including really, And they agree with me, That this has really, Really been badly translated, And you see that, If you've got an ESV, An English standard version, There's a little footnote, Down at the bottom, That says that the word translated, I repent, In verse 6, Could also be translated as, I am comforted, And I want to say, That in Dale Ralph Davis, A great Bible scholar, In his little excellent book, The Word Became Fresh, He argues very convincingly, That this is actually, How it should be translated, He's not saying, I repent, But rather Job is saying, I am so comforted, By what I've seen, What the Lord has shown me, And Ralph Davis also goes on to say, This is getting technical here, But in verse 6, The very first verb, In that sentence, Is not reflective verb, It is to be translated,

[20:40] Not as I despise myself, Rather it simply says, I retract, Or I reject, And in context, The thing that Job retracts, And rejects, Is the former knowledge of the Lord, That he received, From word of mouth, From other people, Why?

[20:57] He rejects that old knowledge of God, Because he has seen, First hand, From the Lord, A deeper, Truer, More complete, Knowledge, Of the Lord, That blows his old knowledge, Out of the water, Let me just, Summarise that, That's a lot to take in, Forgive me, But it's very important, Because it really, Really matters, It really impacts, How you read the Lord's speeches, In summary, Ralph Davis says this, That 42 verse 6, Should be translated as this, Listen to this, I, Job, I retract, Or I reject, My former second hand knowledge, Of you, Lord, And I am comforted, As I sit upon dust, And ashes, If you want to know more about that, Come and speak to me later, I am convinced, That this is how, That it should be translated, And therefore, I am convinced, That the Lord, Is not, Rebuking Job, Well the Lord, Does say in his speeches, Yes, It does humble Job, In a very good way, But the main purpose,

[21:59] Of the Lord's speeches, In the passages, That Willie read to us tonight, Is to bring Job, To a place of peace, And comfort, So that he is strengthened, And helped to persevere by faith, And encouraged to keep on living wisely, You see in chapters 38 to 41, The Lord speaks to Job, So as to give him, A greater understanding, Of the Lord's grandeur, Of his sovereignty, A greater understanding, Of the mystery of God's providence, And his glorious purposes, And the result, Is that by the time, We get to chapter 42, Job, Has this much bigger, And more powerful view, Of who the Lord is, And his purposes, And it's that, That brings Job, To a place of healing, In the face of his suffering, Job doesn't actually, Ever get a straight up answer, To his question, Why?

[22:54] But in the end, He doesn't need the answer, Because he's found the true answer, In the God of the Bible, And friends, The lessons that, The Lord is going to give to Job, In these chapters, They are the lessons, That we too must learn from, As the people of God today, If we are to respond, To suffering well, And if we want to be comforted, When suffering comes upon our lives, We must, Patiently, Work through what the Lord says here, And apply them to our hearts, And our minds, Well with the rest of our time tonight, We're going to look briefly, At this, The Lord's first speech, In 38 and 39, God willing, Next Sunday evening, We'll come back, And look at speech number two, And the end of the book as well, But I would like everything, I just want to pull out, Two big truths, That the Lord, Wants to teach, His suffering servant Job, There are truths that Job knows already, From before in the book, Job's mentioned these truths, But now he knows these truths deeper,

[23:56] Because the Lord is going to teach them to him, Person to person, So firstly, Here's the first point, The Lord shows Job, That he is the all powerful, Creator, Of the cosmos, He is the all powerful, Creator, Of the cosmos, And that is really what chapter 38, Is all about, Again, Job knows this truth already, That's clear from earlier on in the book, Read chapter nine, You'll see that, But now the Lord God is going to teach him about this directly, Giving Job a more complete knowledge of the truth, And throughout the speech, The Lord fires out rhetorical question, After rhetorical question, And they're all designed to grip Job's mind, To get him thinking, And to learn, Not only about his smallness, And his limitations, But also to challenge him about the greatness, And the grandeur of God in creation, So that Job has a truer, And bigger understanding, And view of the Lord, And of his awesome power, So run your eye over please,

[24:58] Chapter 38 verses four to seven, The Lord goes right back to the beginning of the creation, And he says to Job, Job, Where were you, When I laid the foundations of the earth, Tell me, If you have understanding, Job, Where were you, When I had my measuring tape out, And I decided upon the dimensions of the earth, Where were you, When I laid the key cornerstones, And the key foundation blocks of the cosmos, Or verse seven, Were you there Job, When all of the myriads upon myriads of angels, Saw me creating the earth, And they burst, Into joyous songs of praise, Were you there, When the sons of God shouted for joy, When I spoke it all into existence, In other words, The Lord is saying, Come on now Job, Remember, Who you are, And remember who I am, You are not the all powerful creator of the cosmos, But I am, You have heard this truth about me Job,

[26:00] And now I'm showing it to you, Be assured, I really am the God, Who is Lord of this world, Because I've made it all, My plans and my purposes, And my wisdom, They are obviously going to be far, Far higher, Than your understanding, Aren't they Job?

[26:16] For I am the all powerful creator of the cosmos, And please look at verse eight to eleven, Let's read these again, The Lord says, Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst out from the wooden, When I made clouds, Its garment, And thick darkness, Its swaddling band, And prescribed limits for it, And set bars and doors, And said, This far shall you come, And no further, And here, Shall your proud waves be stayed, A couple of weeks ago, If you can remember, Back that far to when we had lovely, Scorching weather, It was so warm, I sat in my back garden, I sat in my back garden, With great delight, As I watched my eldest son, Ben, Benji, Playing in a sand pit, And Benji, He got the sand, And it was hardened sand, It's been there for a couple of years, It's not fresh, But he moved the sand, But he made a crevice with his hands, And he got some water, And he poured it in, And he made this little place, For the water to go, And he made sure the water, Didn't seep out anywhere else, It was easy for Ben to do that,

[27:18] And friends, That is how easy it was, For the Lord God, To create and control the sea, And to set limits on the seas, And the oceans, The Lord is the sovereign controller of the sea, And of course, The implication is, He still is that sovereign control today, To Job, And to us today, The sea can be intimidating and dangerous, Just please picture in your mind, A violent storm on the coastline, And massive waves, Coming and coming, And hounding, And smashing into the rocky shores, Think of how intimidating the sea is, When you're up close to it, And it's like that, And it's choppy, It's full of chaos, Danger, Think too of the powerful currents, Underneath the sea, That could suck you under, And take you away, Never to be seen again, And the power to destroy Job, But not the Lord, The Lord is the sovereign ruler, Who says that's enough, That's far, No further, He sets limits upon it,

[28:19] It will never exceed, The Lord's sovereign restrictions, And you know, I would like to suggest, That the Lord is talking about, Something deeper here, Than just the literal sea, He is talking about the literal sea, But as is the case, So often throughout the Bible, Is the sea, Is the figurative way of speaking about, The powers of darkness, In this created order, The powers of evil, Chaos, Destruction, The Lord is saying to Job here, I think hinting poetically, These are part of the creation, Evil, Is part of this created order, It is here, He doesn't give Job an answer, As to where it comes from, But it is clear, That the Lord says, I am utterly sovereign over it, The sea, Chaos and evil, Destruction, Will not go any further, Than the limits, That I have placed upon it, And by implication, The Lord also seems to be saying, Job, I use the sea, For my plans and purposes, I use evil,

[29:22] Chaos, Destruction, For my ends, Now the Lord will really expand upon this point, Next Sunday night, When we come to look at chapters 40 and 41, Where he shows Job, Who his real enemies are, But throughout the rest of chapter 38, The Lord continues to take Job on this, Mind-blowing, Tour of the entire cosmos, And we go from up there, To down there, From up there in the highest heavens, To the stars, To all the constellations, To way, Way down to the depths of the earth, Down in Sheol, To the place of death, The place where hailstones, Are stored up by the Lord, The place where lightning, Is launched onto the earth, By the Lord, The Lord goes on, And on, And on, Showing Job, Wonder after wonder, Of the created order, Things that declare to Job, How small he is, And yet how marvelous, And all powerful, The Lord is, In other words,

[30:22] The Lord is helping Job, To see that he is far greater, Far vaster, Than anyone else in this book, Has realized, And his ways, Are far beyond human understanding, And the Lord also, I think, Wants to take Job's eyes, Off of himself, Please look at verse 25, 27, Who has cleft a channel, For the torrents of rain, And a way for the thunderbolt, To bring rain on a land, Where no man is, On the desert, In which there is no man, To satisfy the waste, And desolate land, And to make the ground, Sprout with grass, Listen to the great Bob file, On these verses, This is a cracker of a quote, I thought to myself, I can't write anything better than this, So I'm just going to quote Bob, Here we go, God is pointing out to Job, That creation, Does not, Center around human beings, And this is strikingly illustrated,

[31:22] In verse 26, Where the Lord, Waters a land, Where no one lives, A desert, With no one in it, Our age tends to be, People and problem centered, We tend to judge people, Things, Situations, On how they affect us, And our theology, Often is made up, Of what will make us feel good, And that tends to be, Where we begin, And we are inclined, To fashion our idea, Of God, Very subjectively, Well, God is turning Job, And turning us, Away from ourselves, That does not of course mean, That we are unimportant to God, And that our concerns, Are a matter of indifference to him, Indeed they are so important, That we must apply, The right medicine, And begin in the right place, And that does not, Begin with ourselves, If we begin with ourselves, If in our time of trouble, We are constantly looking in here, And looking at our own circumstances,

[32:25] We will simply become, More and more introspective, And utterly depressed, But God, Is taking Job's eyes, And he is focusing them, On the answer, A wider panorama, Vaster horizons, God is directing Job to, Himself, For God himself, Is the answer, To suffering believers, So friends, That is the first thing, That we see, In the Lord's speech to Job, It's the first thing, He's imposing upon, Job's mind and heart, That the Lord is the all powerful, Creator of the cosmos, And we must let that, The Lord's teaching here, Dominate our hearts, And our minds, If not, Then I'm afraid to say, Our God, The God that we believe in, Will be too small, And we will not respond, To suffering in a wise way, And we will not know, True comfort, When suffering sweeps, Over our lives, Well secondly, And much more briefly,

[33:27] Chapter 39, And we see in this chapter, A related point, That the Lord, Is the all powerful, Sustainer, Of all life, The Lord is the all powerful, Sustainer, Of all life, And in this chapter, The Lord takes Job's focus, Of the inanimate creation, And he now turns Job's attention, To the animal kingdom, And I must admit, When I first read this chapter, A little part of me, Inside thought, Why did I pick to preach, On the book of Job?

[33:55] What on earth, Is the Lord saying here? What does this mean? Is the Lord, Just giving Job, A lesson about animals? What are we to make, Of this chapter?

[34:08] Well, Just notice, A couple of observations, Notice that, At first, The animals here, Seem to be a random assortment, However, There's something, That is common, To all of them, They are, All, Wild animals, The types of animals, That would not have been found, On Job's farm, Remember Job is a farmer, And these are all wild animals, Animals that have not been, Domesticated by human beings, With the exception, Of the war horse, Described in verse 9 to 25, Although at some point, That too would have been wild, And untrained, But the rest of the animals, Are all wild, And so in this chapter, The Lord says to Job, Come outside of the farm Job, Come with me, Let's go to some wild places, In the world, Where no man can be found, For miles, And let's observe, The wild animals, And the wild birds, Creatures, That do not rely upon, Human beings for care, Or provision, Let's look at them Job, Because I want you to learn, Another key lesson, In verses 1 to 4,

[35:11] We meet the mountain goats, Who dwell upon, The craggy mountain tops, They roam around as they please, They're born, They grow up, And they move on, Never to return to the herd, In verses 5 to 8, We meet the wild donkey, Who roams about the arid plains, Searching for anything green, To feast upon, In verse 9, We see the wild ox, Who's extremely stubborn, And untamable, The Lord seems to say to Job, This wild ox is so wild, That you would never be able, To tame it if you tried, You can try, But good luck with that, Verse 13, We see this ostrich, This bizarre, The bizarrest of all creatures, On the earth, Behaves so strangely, Lays eggs on the ground, Leaves those eggs right there, Without any cover, Not caring, If another creature comes, And tramples them into pieces, And at the end of the chapter, Verse 26 to 30, The Lord shows Job, The wild hawk, That swoops on high, This top predator of the sky, Who hunts for his food, And then takes the food,

[36:12] Back to his nest, To feed its young, Notice please, Just look at verse 30, Notice the savagery there, That is a very unpleasant verse, The hawk captures the prey, Takes it back to the nest, And the young, Drink the blood, Probably alive, From the prey, That the hawk has caught for them, The Lord says, What is he teaching Job, In all of this?

[36:40] Well, The main point of this chapter, Is not to give Job, Some lessons about creation, Or the animal kingdom, Rather the Lord is showing Job, That this part of his creation, It teaches Job, That the Lord is the all powerful, Sustainer of all life, The Lord, Cares for all of these animals, And oversees of all these creatures, By his providence, The Lord oversees, In other words, The birth, Life, And death, Of everything, Everything, There is nothing that happens, Outside of the divine providence of God, The Lord knows when the mountain goats, Will give birth, He's the one who sovereignly, Numbered their days on earth, The Lord oversees their offspring, As they grow, Out in the middle of nowhere, Where no one's ever seen them, And when it's time for them to leave, And start life on their own, The Lord's hand is upon them, The Lord provides for the wild donkey, Put them in these arid plains, For his home, Provides food for him, Same goes for all these creatures, And the same goes,

[37:42] For the hawk, And the hawk's, Savagery, The Lord is sovereign, Over the Lord, Carrying out, That savagery, That's what, He's being pulled out here, The Lord is the one, Who commands the hawk, To go down, Swoop down, And carry out, The savagery, And then the Lord is the one, Who wills, To feed those little ones, In the nest, The point that's being made here, Very beautifully, Powerfully, Is that the Lord is the all-powerful, Sustainer of all life, The Lord sovereignly provides for all these creatures, And I take it, That the Lord is also making a challenge to Job here, And saying, Job, If this is how much I care and provide for these lesser creatures, Then how much more will I sustain, And oversee the life of my servants, Real believers, Like you, Job, Listen again to the great Bob Fowl in this chapter, He says, The Lord is the creator, Who plans the life cycle of nurture,

[38:43] From conception, And birth to decay, And death, The Lord ranges over the process of birth, The varied habitats of the wild animals, And the chilling habitats of predators, Not only does this raise in Job's mind, The obvious question of his own lack of wisdom, Compared to the wisdom of the creator, But it implies another question, If God cares in such detail, For the creatures of the wild, In the midst of a world of cruelty, And savagery, Then is his care of Job, Less detailed, And painstaking, And of course the answer is no, God cares for these lesser creatures, In a world of savagery, And pain, But God will also, Therefore, Care for men like Job, Even more, Even in a world, Where terrible things happen, And savagery sweeps over his own people, God still provides,

[39:44] And cares for his people, Despite the way that they feel, I think the Lord is assuring Job, That he is the all powerful sustainer of life, And that there isn't any part that's touched, By his mysterious providence, And the fact that the Lord oversees, And sustains these wild creatures, That should bring Job great joy and comfort, For he is worth far more to the Lord, Than these other creatures, And so it is with us, So it is with us today, One more lesson from these animals, Before we draw to a close, And that is this, I think the Lord wants Job, To grasp from these animals, This lesson, That the whole chapter here, It dramatizes, The mystery, Of the relationship between God's providence, And, The free will of his creatures, You see all of these creatures, Mentioned here as I said, They are if you like free, They are untamable, By humans, And yet they can operate, Within the limits that God lays down,

[40:46] They can only operate, Within the limits that God lays down, And again, In the second speech, That we'll see next week, The Lord is going to pick up, On this crucial point, When he introduces Job, To the real enemy, The ferocious enemy, Who has free will, And yet at the same time, Can only operate, Within the limits, That the Lord lays down upon him, Come back to that next week, And please read that, In advance if you can, Well there's much, Much more that could be said, From these incredible chapters, And I hope, That just by, Dipping our toe into the waters of them, You will want to go in deeper, And really let them wash over you, And penetrate your heart, But let's just remember, These two points, And think about them deeply, The Lord, Our God, Really is the all-powerful creator, Of the cosmos, And he is the all-powerful, Sustainer of life, He is the Lord, Who is also full of compassion, And care for suffering servants, Like Job, And if we want to be people,

[41:48] Who rightly respond to suffering, If we want to show, The same steadfastness of Job, Well we must listen to the Lord, As Job listened to him, And learn, And we must let, These great words of the Lord, Master us, And change the way, We think about the Lord, Because if we do that, Then we will be ready, And prepared, For any day of darkness, That might sweep over, Our lives in this age, Well let's be quiet for a moment, Bow our heads, Close our eyes, And perhaps, Respond to the word of God, In your own heart, And then I'll pray for us, Amen.

[42:33] Well almighty God, We praise you, That you are the all powerful creator, And sustainer of the entire cosmos, There is not one part of this creation, That is outside of your sovereign rule, And your great providence, Lord we confess, There is so much of you, That we cannot grasp, Or even begin to comprehend, You are not a big man, You are not a bigger version of us, You are not a creature, Your thoughts, Aren't our thoughts, Your ways, Are so far beyond our understanding, But we praise and thank you, That we can truly know you, And trust you, And trust that in whatever our circumstances, That you are the God, Of the covenant, The God, Who has promised to care for his people,

[43:35] Father help us to cling on to this, Even when it looks like, You may have turned away from us, Or even at times, When it may look like, You are treating us like we are your enemies, Help us father, To remember, The precious lessons, Of the book of Job, And we pray this, In Jesus precious name, And for his sake, Amen.