God Speaks!

In response to Job’s lament . . .
In response to the speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar . . .
As if being introduced by Elihu . . .

God speaks!

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
 Gird up your loins like a man,

I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding. 
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it? 
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone 
when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?
— when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 
and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said,
‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?
Job 38:2-11

God’s words are majestic, meaningful, full of wisdom, power and might! They speak for themselves, and put us in our own place. We are nothing more than small, fallen, broken, sinful individuals, who are made in the likeness of God and loved by God always! If you haven’t read any of Job, read chapters 38-41. They are moving!!

Life Restored

After God speaks, Job is humbled and repents. His friends are put to shamed. Then, somehow, everything Job had is restored. We aren’t talking, poof, everyone is back. No, quite different, in time, Job has a new family, his flocks, fields, home, grow to so much so that they are greater then they every had been before. Was this God given? Was it part of the test? We will never know? All we know is the ending, “And Job died, old and full of days.” (Job 42:17)

Peace,
Pastor Bailey