READING: Job 38-39
I may be a dean at a seminary, but I recognize my limitations. I work with some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met — scholars so brilliant, in fact, that I wonder why I’m in the role I hold. They speak and read multiple languages, clearly explain complicated theological issues, understand and model leadership theories and practices, and write resources that change lives. They’re out of my league, frankly.
Imagine, then, what I think about when I read God’s words to Job in today’s scripture reading. Numerous times in today’s chapters and the following ones, God reminds Job that he knows nothing compared to all the Creator knows:
- “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!” (Job 38:4-5a)
- “Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.” (Job 38:18)
- “Do you know when the mountain goat gives birth?” (Job 39:1)
Wow. I truly know so little. All of my knowledge amounts to little when I consider what my colleagues know — and it amounts to nothing compared to the omniscience of my Creator and Redeemer. I simply cannot comprehend God and His works.
With that reality in mind, though, here’s what’s amazing to me: God doesn’t ask me to understand Him or to know all He knows; He asks me only to know and trust Him. I may not know much, but I do know with certainty that God loves me in spite of my sin. The One to whom the lightning bolts report (Job 38:35) knows me by name. That’s really all I need to know to press on.
ACTION STEPS:
- Contemplate all that God knows (if we could even do that), and then think about how little we know in comparison. Be amazed that He loves us anyway.
- Take some time to re-read today’s chapters, and read with a sense of wonder.
PRAYER: “God, You’re amazing. Truly amazing.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 40-42