April 22, 2009

SuperSize Me!

Job 39

Scott Coy
Wednesday's Devo

April 22, 2009

Wednesday's Devo

April 22, 2009

Central Truth

Everything that happens in life is under God's control, and He doesn't need our advice to run His creation. It is pure arrogance and pride to think God needs our help to govern His world, and our complaints about His ways, though understood, are not healthy.

Key Verse | Job 39:26–27

"Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle soars, and builds its nest on high?" (Job 39:26-27) 

Job 39

Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe the calving of the does?
Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
when they crouch, bring forth their offspring,
    and are delivered of their young?
Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
    they go out and do not return to them.

Who has let 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?
He scorns the tumult of the city;
    he hears not the shouts 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?
    Will he spend the night at your manger?
10  Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes,
    or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11  Will you depend on him because his strength is great,
    and will you leave to him your labor?
12  Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain
    and gather it to your threshing floor?

13  The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
    but are they the pinions and plumage of love? 1 39:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
14  For she leaves her eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15  forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that the wild beast may trample them.
16  She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
    though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
17  because God has made her forget wisdom
    and given her no share in understanding.
18  When she rouses herself to flee, 2 39:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
    she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19  Do you give the horse his might?
    Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
20  Do you make him leap like the locust?
    His majestic snorting is terrifying.
21  He paws 3 39:21 Hebrew They paw in the valley and exults in his strength;
    he goes out to meet the weapons.
22  He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    he does not turn back from the sword.
23  Upon him rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24  With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;
    he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25  When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’
    He smells the battle from afar,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26  Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
    and spreads his wings toward the south?
27  Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes his nest on high?
28  On the rock he dwells and makes his home,
    on the rocky crag and stronghold.
29  From there he spies out the prey;
    his eyes behold it from far away.
30  His young ones suck up blood,
    and where the slain are, there is he.”

Footnotes

[1] 39:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[2] 39:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[3] 39:21 Hebrew They paw

Dive Deeper | Job 39

Have you ever found yourself questioning God about His ways? I'm guilty of offering God many suggestions to fix my world that I'm sure, if heeded, would have fouled up His unfathomable plans for my life. After 17 years, I left my job at Young Life, a non-denominational Christian ministry for adolescents, and I was told I could do anything—not true.  Six months after taking a job, I was "retired" due to budget issues and had never felt like such a loser. I had two young children, a mortgage, and a dead end. Where were all those big plans? What was God thinking? I thought I was being faithful and obedient, yet God didn't seem to have my life under control. I didn't realize it at the time, but God was growing me up and had plans for me and my family that were not on my radar. One of His big plans has involved this great adventure we call Watermark.   

In chapter 39 Job had been questioning God's ways, and God obviously had had enough. Job was not served a "value meal" on God's sovereignty, but instead received a "Supersized Meal" that left no question whose world this is and who is in control.

God dealt with Job's arrogance and ours as well. All the examples in this chapter point to God's creative wisdom, and in every case He tells us all that He is in control and doesn't need our counsel. Everything in life doesn't make sense to us, but thankfully, it makes sense to God. The verses on the ostrich abandoning her eggs during the daylight hours confound us except for the fact that God in His wisdom provides for incubation by the sun's heat—brilliant! Because God's wisdom, His ways, and His purposes are completely beyond our ability to understand, He calls us to trust Him and not judge Him. (Psalm 4:4)

Discussion Questions

1. Do you find yourself giving thanks in all things, or do you invest energy complaining about how God is running His world?

2. How is your prayer time affected by God's sovereignty?  "Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks." (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) 

3. What times in life have caused you to question God's sovereignty? How is your journey today?