~ Being Real ~

Disciple: Day 11

There is definitely something to be said for reading a passage for the first time, or for the first time in a long while. Every day this week has been talking about “The Creating God”, but I think today’s passage really gave me the best sense of the “mystery and majesty” of God as Creator.

Job 28-41 is definitely a passage that needs reading aloud. If you just read it silently, you might never suspect that God could be sarcastic. Of course, this is just my interpretation, but how else would you read these lines?

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

"Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! (Job 38:1-5a)

I can hear God sarcastically placing the emphasis on the “you” in that last line: “Surely you know!”

The outline for this week’s reading starts off talking about “our human condition”, and one of the lines that really resonates with today’s reading is, “In a universe so big, surely I am only a speck of dust.” Definitely, reading God’s description of the world he created and knows as no one else can made me truly feel my own smallness in the grand scheme of things.

The hymn for today, “This is My Father’s World,” was also very relevant; it neatly sums up the purpose of reading all these passages on creation in the last verse:

This is my Father’s world,
O let me ne’er forget
That tho’ the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns: let earth be glad!

When we remember that God is the creator of the world, we are reassured that God knows us better than we know ourselves and he does indeed have control over the world and all that is happening in our lives.