READING: Job 38:1-40:5
I love the stars. I love looking into the sky and trying to figure out what the constellations are. In fact, I have an app that I can aim toward the sky, and it helps me identify what I’m seeing. It’s particularly interesting to me to see the differing positions of the stars over the course of seasons. I also have a telescope I occasionally set up to look more closely at the sky. My buddy has one, too, and he recently sent me a picture of a nebula (a cloud of dust and gas often thrown off by a dying star), and all I could do was stare at the photo. It was indeed amazing.
So, you can imagine that these words God asked Job in today’s reading caught my attention: “Can you direct the movement of the stars—binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?” (Job 38:31-32). Debate surrounds the identities of the constellations noted in verse 32, but the point is nevertheless clear: Job had no control over the movement of the stars through the sky, nor could he change the paths God had planned. How then could Job even think about confronting God? Ultimately Job chose simply to be silent; he had already said enough.
Sometimes it’s just good to be silent before the Lord, especially when you’ve been questioning Him. My prayer is that my silence before Him would instead be the awed silence of wonder.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you take the time to see God’s glory, power, and control in nature?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “Lord, make me silent before You when I need to be.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 40:6-42:17
