#675 Bulbs

The Lord said to Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who accuses God answer him!”

3 Then Job answered the Lord:

4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—

twice, but I will say no more.”

6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm:

7 “Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

8 “Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

9 Do you have an arm like God’s,

and can your voice thunder like his?

10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,

and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

11 Unleash the fury of your wrath,

look at all who are proud and bring them low,

12 look at all who are proud and humble them,

crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the dust together;

shroud their faces in the grave.

14 Then I myself will admit to you

that your own right hand can save you.

15 “Look at Behemoth,

which I made along with you

and which feeds on grass like an ox.

16 What strength it has in its loins,

what power in the muscles of its belly!

17 Its tail sways like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.

18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like rods of iron.

19 It ranks first among the works of God,

yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

20 The hills bring it their produce,

and all the wild animals play nearby.

21 Under the lotus plants it lies,

hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;

the poplars by the stream surround it.

23 A raging river does not alarm it;

it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.

24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes,

or trap it and pierce its nose? Job 40 NIV

Let him who accuses God answer Him - There was a time when I wanted to be an atheist, but found myself convinced that there was most likely a Creator, and also mostly convinced that the Bible was the book and teachings most closely associated to Him. This was not a great epiphany, nor was it a wonderful turning point in my life, I looked at the cross and had no desire to pick it up. It didn't fit my narrative, the God that is and was, was not what I wanted Him to be. I loved sin, ego, pride of life. I needed to find fault, something wrong with this God, and I would spin it as He was the Creator so He was also the Creator of sin, of a failed experiment. He was cruel in my mind, unfair in my mind, and I would say when I saw Him that He would have some explaining to do. Job was a much better man than myself, but nothing is hidden from God, and in some way He accuses the almighty, probably thinking his situation unfair by the rules of his religious ideals. Now God is speaking to him and ask him for an answer. My idea of fair, my ideals of God and what He should be like fall apart in Christ. Job, again and according to God, was blameless in the world of men, yet before a Holy God, he finds himself inadequate. The cock has crowed and the need for sanctification is coming to light. 

23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.…Romans 7: 23-25

7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” 9For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,…Luke 5:7-9

Plenty of people acknowledge that there is a God, but few believe that He is sovereign, few believe that they are of a nature that is deeply compromised, dead in their trespasses and sins. Many think that God should have to bow to their standard, many worship idols that are reflections of their own ideals, but few will have Him for Who He is. They would condemn God to justify themselves. 

Your own right hand can save you - You see wrong in this world, Job, wicked prospering, pride gone unchecked, well then fix all these things, if God is in the wrong, then make it right, get rid of all the evil, the unjust, and then you will be like God, able to save. We can't even save ourselves, death learns of us the moment we are conceived, he waits close by our door, ready to his job. Where is salvation then? Job was right to call out to God, his friends were not only unable to save, but also unable to diagnose. He was also right that he needed a mediator, but little did he know that not only would the mediator come, but He would be the only one that could ever cry of God, "unfair." The just for the unjust, this is what I needed to happen, for God to become my mediator, to take up my plight. I could not become holy, nor could I fix this entropy, and now standing before the whirlwind, I know myself unfit to judge a Holy God. I find myself unfit to speak on my own behalf. 

Look at Behemoth - I read different commentaries and takes on this creature, and some would have it a crocodile for the tail, but I have yet to meet a crocodile with such vegan tendencies. Many believe it to be a Hippopotamus, but if you ever saw the tail on a hippo you would not think it as magnificent as a cedar. Whatever it was, it was large and unmoved by the raging river, yet it would not remain unmoved by God, it would not be but for the word of God. 

Behemoth P1

Behemoth P2