Have you ever truly stopped to think about your view of God? I think there are many people in America who have a view of God far from what the bible says He is like. The reason I bring this up, is because I've been reading more in Repentance and it was brought up to me. The idea that some people think they worship the true and living God, but it's only a mere idol that has only a few of the many qualities of God, is truly sad. These are some questions that God posed to Job to help open his eyes to who he is and how Sovereign God is:
#1 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (Job 38:4)
#2 Did you set the dimensions of the earth and draw the plans by which it was created? (38:5)
#3 On what were the foundations of the earth set? (38:6a)
#4 Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (38:6b)
#5 Who shut the sea behind doors and keeps it from bursting forth and flooding the land? (38:8-11)
#6 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth? (38:12-15)
#7 Have you ever journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked the ocean floors of Planet Earth? (38:16)
#8 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or even the shadow of death? (38:17)
#9 To what extent do you understand the vast expanse of the earth? (38:18)
#10 What direction should you take to the abode of light? And darkness where is its place? What path would you take to its territory? (38:19-21)
#11 Have you ever entered the storehouses of the snow or ever seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserved for the time of distress, for the days of war and battle? (38:22-23)
#12 Which direction should you take to reach the place where the lightning is dispersed? (38:24a)
#13 From whence are the east winds scattered over the earth? (38:24b)
#14 Who cuts the channel for the torrent of rain or makes way for the thunderstorm to bring rain on a land without people or a desert without a man in it, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the seeds of grass to sprout? (38:25-27)
#15 Does the rain have a father, and who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb has the ice come and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? Are you the one who makes ice hard like stone and imprisons the fish under the winter ice? (38:28-30)
#16 Do you control the planets? Can you bind the chains of Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? (38:31-32)
#17 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? (38:33a)
#18 To what extent do you understand and control natural law or fix its rule over earth? (38:33b)
#19 Can you speak to the clouds and produce rain? (38:34)
#20 Are the lightning bolts subject to you? (38:35)
#21 Do you endow the heart with wisdom or the mind with understanding? (38:36)
#22 Can you tell how much water the clouds hold, and can you dip out the exact amount needed when the earth is dry? (38:37-38)
#23 Do you feed the wild lions and satisfy their needs and desires? (38:39-40)
#24 Can you assume responsibility for the food of the ravens? (38:41)
#25 Do you know every occasion when a mountain goat gives birth? (39:1a)
#26 Are you the one who observes each time a doe drops her fawn? Or do you even know when they will do so? Do you know when the fawn leaves home for the first time? (39:1b-4)
#27 Were you the one who set the wild donkeys free and provided their roaming places? (39:5-8)
#28 Will the wild ox willingly consent to serve you? And when you invite him to spend the night in your manger, does he gladly come? When he is finally harnessed to your plow, can you take a long rest while he does your work? (39:9-12)
#29 Did you make the ostrich what it is? (39:13-18)
#30 Did you design the horse with its mane and provide him with strength? (39:19-25)
#31 Was it your skill by which the hawk was created, and were you the one who taught him his wondrous abilities in flight? (39:26)
#32 Does the eagle fly at your command, and is it at your instigation that he makes his nest on high? (39:27-30)
Then in verses 40:1-5, Job is left speechless and then the Lord continues asking questions through verse 34. Then Job, left speechless and with a heart that sunk, concedes to God's authority and character and repents in dust and ashes.
I think this is a beautiful portrait of how God is completely sovereign. Man is nothing. Our control apart from Christ is limited to a bondage of sin. Our view of God is imperative to our salvation. If we think that we are even slightly above God we are not converted. Our right place is beneath God, our Creator! We must bow to Him, not the other way around. What an amazing few chapters to meditate on and to humble us! Our God truly is amazing!
