Job 39

Read 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. He has full sovereignty over all the secondary causes that we might observe. 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 behavioral patterns are different for every species. We should 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. He is the God 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.

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 recognize 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 call to 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 is fully aware of every cell. He designed each to work in a certain way. He understands what the fall of mankind has done to the world of nature and to the life of a man. He is well acquainted with our suffering and the cost of our deliverance. He has committed Himself to our salvation as no one else ever could. Trust Him.

God's ways are far above our ways, His thoughts far above our thoughts. Would we have ever been able to know what it would take to secure eternity from the disaster of human rebellion? Could we have come up with the cross? If we had been told that the best solution of all would require the death of our child, would we 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 our task and high privilege, as those created in God's image and redeemed by the blood of His Son, to believe in Him, and to trust Him. He is worthy.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Great Lord of Glory, we cannot run our own lives. We certainly could not rule over the wide array of living creatures as You do. There is such an amazing variety of animals everywhere. Each species has special abilities and limitations. You reign over all of this amazing display of Your creative power. Who are we to question You?