Job 39

It is not an easy thing for us to accept that the ultimate answer to our struggle in life is God Himself. The Lord is not normally visible to our eyes, and we do not know any way that we can see the heavenly world that he has secured for us. What we can see is the world below, the world where we live, and this is very helpful to us in considering the One who keeps that world alive. That consideration requires not only what our senses can take in from nature, but the reasoning powers that God has given to us, and especially the Word that God has chosen to reveal to us. Faith comes by hearing, and living by faith is the only way for the servant of the Lord.

We want to know where God is in our suffering. By His instruction to Job we should consider what God is daily able to accomplish all across this world. We should think about what we cannot do, and be humbled before the Lord.

In the most remote corners of creation, God is. There are places that we simply could not get to. Perhaps if we expended all of our resources we might find a way to go where mountain goats give birth. But what would we do when we arrived? Would we be able to see what God sees, to know what He knows, and to do what He does. He has complete awareness of all of the natural world, and full sovereignty over the secondary causes that we might observe. I live in a part of the world where the moose lives, but in my years of traveling, I have never even seen one moose. God knows every moose on the planet. He knows when every calf is born, and he is in control of every force at play in the complex reality of the conception and birth of a wild animal. This is all beyond us.

Not only is God powerful over the details of the beginning of each creature, He also rules over the complexities of the change from young life to the strength of maturity. These behavior patterns are different for every species. Do not assume that everything in the world of animals is just the result of randomness and survival of the fittest. There is something to these as secondary answers to the questions we have as we observe the world around us. But it is the Word of God, combined with reason and observation that assures us that God is the Designer who not only currently rules over all, He is also the great Planner who decreed every detail of existence before the first word of creation was spoken, and who ordained all that would happen not only among men and angels, but also among the vast array of the intriguing creatures that fill this planet.

Each beast has a different instinct that is a result of His design, yet the Word tells us that God's reign over His creatures is not simply a matter of instinct and chance. The Lord is engaged in all the details of everything everywhere. If He determines to use instinct and what we observe as chance, that is His decision moment by moment. Donkeys do not speak by instinct and chance, but the Lord can make even a donkey give a message to a man. Did you imagine that such a small thing as that was beyond the One you confess to be God the Father Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of Holiness that was hovering over the waters at the beginning of time? Did you think that you were the sovereign Lord? It is easy to make that mistake in a moment of crisis, but it is a very silly idea.

God is the One. He is the three in One over all. He has a tender but powerful awareness over all the details of life. He is not detached when you suffer. He knows all that He is doing, and He is good.

An ox has a certain way of life that is useful according to the Lord's design. That way of life is completely different from the way of the ostrich. Each has its purpose. Each seems to know his part. A horse is different again. We can observe these animals in general, making observations that help us to learn how one species is not the same as another. Some are able to be tamed, and we can even know specific animals, distinguishing horse from horse, and ox from ox. We may have a certain affection for the one we have observed, and we may do what we can for the care, protection, and usefulness of that one we know by the name we have given to it. We may know one horse better than anyone else in the world. But God knows so much more. He knows every cell. He designed each to work in a certain way. He knows what the fall of mankind has done to the world of nature, and to the life of a man. He knows your suffering, and the cost of your deliverance. He has committed Himself to your salvation as no one else ever could. Trust Him.

He soars above this world higher than the hawk or the eagle. His ways are far above your ways, His thoughts far above your thoughts. Would you have ever been able to know what it would take to secure eternity from the disaster of human rebellion? Could you have come up with the cross? If you had been told that the best solution of all would require the death of Your eternal Son, would you have had the moral strength and love to do what was necessary to restore beauty and order to a world of suffering? Each creature has a job to do today. Some will be born. Some will die. Many will suffer for a purpose that they could never understand. It is your task and high privilege, as one created in God's image and redeemed by the blood of His Son, to believe in Him, and to trust Him. He is worthy.