Job 32–42

The Book of Job, challenging one. It begins by telling us about a man named Job who was incredibly blessed. Meaning incredibly wealthy and had many, many wonderful material blessings. He was also given great wisdom. He was honored among the people. The Bible says most of all he was blameless. We're told that Satan came before the Lord to challenge Him on the person of Job, telling Him that Job was the way he was simply because he was so blessed. And Satan brought a challenge. He said if you take away all the things that make him happy, he'll curse you. And the Lord allowed Satan to remove all of the things that Job had. All of his earthly possessions and even his children. They were taken in a tragic situation, tragic circumstances, and we found out that Job did not curse God. Satan appeared a second time before the Lord saying, if you simply touch the man himself, if he's suffering in his own flesh, then he will curse you. The Lord allowed Satan to touch Job physically so that he had boils on his entire body; top of his head, soles of his feet. Somebody was telling me just this last week, about having like one boil and practically going crazy. I can't imagine boils over the entire body. I'm surprised he could even talk. And we're told that his suffering was so great when his 3 friends came to visit him that all they could do was just sit for the first 7 days in silence. There were no words, nothing they could say until Job began to speak up and Job began to curse the day of his birth. And he began to speak in a very, very negative way about, eventually about the Lord. Even questioning God's justice, even questioning the Lord's fairness. To the point where Job's friends began to speak up and they began to accuse him of wrongdoing. And they told him the reason you're in the situation you're in, Job, is because you've sinned. And this conversation went back and forth, and Job continued to hold fast to his innocence related to these things, his blamelessness and his friends continued to charge him with wrongdoing. Well, that conversation has been something we've looked at for the last 2 weeks here on Wednesday night and we finally come to the end of that. And now we come to Job chapter 32, and this is the time when a young man by the name of Elihu begins to speak. And it tells us in verse 1,

And then we're told here why he burned with anger. It says that “He burned with anger at Job (first of all) because he justified himself rather than God.” And this was the first reason that Elihu was angry. Because Job continued to justify himself and say, I didn't deserve this, rather than justifying God. In fact, Job was accusing God. And then it tells us in verse 3, that

And so Elihu was actually angry that all of these 3 friends who spoke up, who were all elder to him, they had really had no ability to answer Job as it related to what he was saying to God. All they did was just continually attack Job, that's all they really got accomplished. They really didn't do what Elihu thought that they should do and that is to defend God. Elihu was a man who felt the need to defend God and I don't know if you know the type. And I think that the heart of this sort of an individual is not all wrong, necessarily. But there's really nothing in the scripture that tells us to defend God. We're told to defend the gospel, that we're supposed to defend. We're defending the gospel all the time against all kinds of attacks, but defending God, that's a different sort of a scenario altogether. Now, that doesn't mean you can't answer somebody's lame statement necessarily. But to defend God, if you take that to the ultimate end, what exactly are you going to, how are you going to defend Him ultimately? Essentially, that's what Muslims do. In the Islamic religion, they feel a very strong urge to defend Allah. And so, if anyone says a word against their god, they are going to defend him to the point of, I'll kill you. You speak against my god, I'll actually do you harm. ---

Well, the fact of the matter is, God doesn't need defending. He is quite capable of defending Himself and He has never called us to that place of defense. Again, defending the gospel, that's a different sort of a situation, but defending God, I just don't see it in the scriptures and it takes away something from God's ability to defend Himself. But anyway, Elihu is the kind of man who feels very much the need to defend God and man, is he wordy about it. This goes on 6 chapters. This man is insufferably long winded and once again, we're not going to read everything that Elihu has to say because he goes on and on and on and he just continues to defend God. And ultimately what he's saying isn't bad necessarily, but it misses the point. But anyway, it goes on here in verse 4 to tell us that,

This was a very common Eastern way of thinking, it continues to this day. The idea that the aged should speak first because there is greater wisdom and young people should wait to talk. They should hear out their elders first, those who have been around the block, right? Sort of a thing. We completely have gotten rid of this idea here in the United States of America, where youth is considered to be what we strive for. Isn't that crazy? How can you be old and strive for youth? It's called plastic surgery, and we've all seen where that leads, right? I mean, scary type sort of stuff. But that's the culture we live in. How in the world can you get older and strive for being younger? Well, that's where our culture is just constantly drawing us to the beauty of youth and stuff. You know what, though? I can tell you, I won't say anything about your youth, but I'll tell you about mine. I was stupid, I was just flat out dumb. And the younger I was, the dumber I was. And I tell you, everybody wants to go back and be young. I wouldn't, I'll joke about it, but you know what? Some of those years I wouldn't trade, I wouldn’t go back and live for anything. I mean, I shudder. I shudder to think about the things I said. I shudder to think about the things I did. Violating God's Word without knowing it. Living my life like I knew best. Giving my opinion when it hadn't even been asked for. Thinking I had something to contribute to the conversation. It might have nothing to do with you, but I'll tell you, that's exactly what my youth was all about. It was about abject stupidity. And I just thank God that He got me through it. I really, I really do. But here's a man who is raised in a culture where the younger people wait to speak and now that these men are finished and he sees that they're no longer in a place of making any sort of a comment about this. He is going to begin to speak about this. Now the rest of chapter 32 is Elihu defending his right to speak now that they're done. And that's all he gets said in the rest of that chapter that he is like, all right, now it's my turn and I'm going to speak so here we go. And are you ready? Okay, here we go. This is me talking now sort of a thing. That's pretty much the rest of the chapter. Chapter 33, if you'll skip down to verse 13, he's concerned and he's talking to Job. He says,

Job had been complaining along those lines. He said, at one point, he said, I'd really like to have an audience with God. And then later on he said, but if I did get an audience with God, number 1, I don't think he would even listen to me. And number 2, I really wouldn't be able to speak because I mean, who can speak against God. Who can bring their case before the Almighty. It's a ridiculous sort of a prospect but, I've got things to say. That's the point that he was saying. And Elihu heard that and that really incensed him and he asked the question, “why do you contend against God saying these kinds of things? That God doesn't answer any of man's words. Skip down to verse 14, or I guess you're not skipping, it's just the next verse. Verse 14 says,

What is Elihu saying here?

He's saying, Job, you're saying that God doesn't speak. I'm telling you God speaks a lot, and that's really the only thing he's saying. He's saying God talks. Sometimes God speaks to people in the dark watches of the night, sometimes through dreams and vision. And he said, but primarily, the reason God speaks. Now, remember something, this is written at a time when there is no Bible, there is no codified Word of God, okay. We think that the time of Job was probably similar to, or just before the time of Abraham so there's no Jewish nation yet, alright, for God to reveal Himself to. Now that's not to say God hasn't revealed Himself to man because He has. We know that God's revealed Himself through nature first, and we know that God will also reveal Himself in a very specific sort of a way to individuals as they seek to know Him. But they don't have the scriptures like you and I do. Nothing's been written down in that sense. And yet, Elihu is saying, you're saying here that God never talks. Well, sure He talks, but He mostly talks to keep men from making foolish decisions in their life. He does it in a sense of warning them. Don't do that. Don't go there. Giving them a dream, giving them a vision saying you're on a reckless path or whatever the thing might be. And then, and then Elihu says, and sometimes God will even use physical infirmity to speak to a man to rebuke Him in a sense. And that's the word that is actually used in this verse, in verse 19. Now, Elihu is not suggesting, he's not coming out and saying specifically like the other 3 did, that you are being rebuked because you're an evil man. Like they came out and basically slandered Job with. He's simply saying that, that's one of the ways that God speaks. There you go. Skip to chapter 34. Verse 2, Elihu continues,

Elihu is here summarizing the complaint of Job during the course of this discussion process, and essentially he's got Job pretty well dialed in. That's essentially what Job was saying during this time. All right.

Skip down to verse 9.

In other words, he's saying, Job has said, there's no good that comes out of trying to live a good life. Loving God, serving God, knowing God, trying to please God. There's nothing that comes out of that. And you know, Job did say that. That's sort of what he said. I sought to be good, do good things, but it didn't make any difference to God. He didn't notice or He didn't seem to care. And so, he goes on in verse 10 to say,

And again, this is the gist of Elihu's argument. He spends all of his time defending God's honor, “far be it from God,” far be it from Him, to do these things. Verse 12, he says,

Again, here's our Elihu, the defender of God. Chapter 35. Skip down to verse 13. He says,

And Elihu is essentially correct here. He's essentially correct in what he's saying. He's saying that Job is speaking empty words so, he's not telling us anything that we don't know. He's not even telling Job necessarily anything that he doesn't know. The one thing he's not doing is he's not accusing Job of being an evil man and and reaping what he sowed. Chapter 36, “and Elihu continued, (verse 1) and said:

I’m here to talk on God’s behalf. Skip down to verse 22, he says,

Well, Job has been saying that, actually. But again, Elihu is the defender of God, and he says, what man can say that? How is that even possible to say to God, you've done wrong? Have you ever met anybody who told God they did wrong? Maybe you said to God at some point in your life, you accused God of doing wrong. Well, Elihu would have been equally incensed because he's the defender of God. And chapter 37. In this chapter, Elihu is going to spend, well, and this is the last chapter in which he speaks, but he basically spends the entire chapter talking about creation and he uses it to speak of how magnified God is, how great God is. Skip down to verse 14. He says here this “Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God. 15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? 16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,” Now, the statements that Elihu makes right here are going to be very similar to some questions that God is going to ask Job. But of course, when a man asks those questions, it doesn't have the same punch as when God begins to ask them of you. And God is going to ask Job, a lot of questions coming up here in the following chapters about His own works of greatness and so forth. And we'll see the point of what is going on here, but obviously coming from Elihu, this is just a man who's saying, are you like God? Alright, we come to chapter 38. And you'll notice that in verse 1 it begins by saying, “Then the Lord answered Job…” And this is now where God begins to speak and there's a couple of brief little discussions or comments here by Job. But for the most part, except for the epilogue at the end, this is mostly the Lord speaking so we're not going to skip anything here. We're going to go through these verses. We're going to look at them and see what God is saying here to Job. And I don't know if Job was surprised that the Lord finally answered him for all of his talking, but it says, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind (your Bible may say, out of the storm) and said:” And I love this first question.

Boy, when God starts off a conversation with you, with something like that, you know you're in for the woodshed, if you know what I mean. This is like God coming into the picture and saying, alright, who's blowing hot air about things you know nothing about? Now, that is a very important statement that you understand the very first thing God says here when He says, “words without knowledge.”

He's accusing Job of speaking of things of which he has no understanding, no insight, no knowledge, no wisdom, right? He's saying you're talking, but you don't know what you're talking about. Remember, Job is a very wise man, incredibly wise man, and yet God makes this statement. Now, it's one thing to make that statement. It's another thing to go on to do what God is about to do. And He's about to prove to Job that he knows nothing. Now, God is not doing this to humiliate Job, we're going to see this. We'll make the point when we get to it, what God is up to. But what He says to him in verse 3 is, “Dress for action like a man;…” And that means, gird up yourself like a man. When men would go into battle back in those days, they wore usually a fairly long garment that stretched down toward the ground. But when a man was going to run or a man was going to fight, he would gather up his garment and tuck it into his belt so he had free movement and he would be girding himself for action. And the idea here is like, hey, Joe, buddy, put on the gloves, we're getting into the ring. Right? Gird yourself for action because God basically says to him, I'm going to question you. That's what He goes on to say in verse 3.

That's a poetic way of saying, and you're going to answer me, pal. He says, I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer me. You're ready? Here we go. Verse 4.

So we know that the angels were there.

Verse 8. “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” God is saying, I'm the one who set the boundaries for the waters for the oceans. You ever thought about the boundaries for the oceans? It's made up of sand. I probably wouldn't have made it out of sand, but then again, good thing for you, I'm not God. You think to yourself, God set a barrier there and it's made out of sand and He said to the waves thus far show you go and no farther. And that's pretty much the way it goes. He says in verse 12. “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,” I'll tell you a couple times I've wanted to command the morning. I found, however, it doesn't obey me. Verse 13, “that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. 16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. 19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, 20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?” There’s a lot of things even about light that we don't still know. I mean with all of our scientific discovery and stuff light is one of those interesting things that still boggles us in some respects. Like the speed of light, for example. We know that light travels at the speed of light, right? Write that one down, that will be worth something someday. And we also know that when it hits something for which it might take some time to get through, it will hit that barrier and it will slow down when it hits that barrier, and then once it passes through that barrier, it will speed back up to the speed of light. But we don't know why. It's just one of those things. It's, it's just, it's craziness. He says, declare these things if you, if you know. Where's the dwelling of light and, and so forth. Verse 21, He says, “You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!” Now, okay, now, stop here for just a moment. So what is God doing? It sounds almost a little bit like God is trying to humiliate Job, but that is not what He's trying to do. Just remember that all this time, Job has been saying over and over, I want to talk to God. I want to discuss what I've been through with the Almighty, because I lost everything I owned. And I've lost my children, and I have lost my health, and I want to discuss this with God. And no doubt, Job wanted to ask the question that many of us have wanted to ask God on many occasions. And that is the simple question, why? Why, why is this happening? Why are you doing this? Why did you allow this? Why is this happening to me? Why is it happening to me now? Why is it happening to them? Why did this thing have to happen in just this way? Why did these events have to happen in such rapid succession? Couldn't you have given me a break between tragedies? Why? Why? Why? And we've all wanted to ask it and many of us have. But you see, there's something interesting about that question. The question, why? It assumes that you and God are equally matched as it relates to understanding the answer. It's an assumption. We ask the question because we assume we're going to be able to understand the answer. People have said to me many times during times of difficulty. I just want God to show me why. I just want God to tell me why this is happening. Again, it assumes on their part, they'll understand. Why is it we make that assumption as human beings? Why? Why do we do that? Because we're arrogant? Probably. I mean, you could just say, well, it's because we're curious. No, I'm saying, why do we make the assumption we can understand the answer? Because we're full of pride. And we just don't get it sometimes. And God begins to take Job through a series of questions to simply bring him to the conclusion, Job, you don't know, you don't know. You're asking questions when you don't even understand the question, let alone the answer. You want the answer and you don't get the question. You're not even asking the right questions.

Where were you when the foundations of the earth were laid? If you can answer these other questions I'm throwing at you, maybe we can sit down and have a discussion. But if you're going to come up empty on all these other things, what makes you think you're going to be able to keep up with me on the question of why? You see? That's what's going on. Meanwhile, the Lord continues. Verse 22.

We think hail is just something to dent our car. I don't know if your car has ever been dented by hail, but in Minnesota, where I'm from, it is a very common thing for car dealerships to have hail damage sales. We'd see the sign and we just think it's a big fat nuisance. God says, no, I reserve that for war. We know from the Book of Revelation that such large hail is going to fall from the sky during that time of tribulation, that people are going to run and hide in caves to get away from it. It's going to destroy just about everything else. Anyway, verse 24,

Then He begins to ask some interesting questions. Verse 31, He says,

These are the constellations of the heaven. We know more about the constellations of the heaven today, I suppose, with our big, huge telescopes and, and vehicles we've sent out into space to take some pretty amazing photographs and so forth. But they knew of the constellations and that sort of thing back in Job's day, but not that much about them. But, He's basically saying, “Can you bind the chains of” these constellations or “loose the cords of Orion? Interestingly enough, those two constellations from what I have learned are so close they are actually caught in one another's gravitational fields, so the idea of losing the cords is an interesting sort of a concept. It says in verse 32,

That's not talking about an animal there, He's still talking about constellations. He's basically saying, do you have understanding of the stars? Can you control them? Can you lead them? Can you separate them? If you can't understand those things, what makes you can think you can understand my ways? What makes you think that we can sit down and have a conversation about what's going on in your life? He goes on, verse 33,

Or rather their control, or how they affect the earth, that means. Such as the gravitational pulls of planetary objects, the moon, so forth.

By the way, you know who could lift His voice to the weather and clouds and make a difference? We saw Jesus do that in the Gospels, didn't we? Tells you something about Jesus. Verse 35,

Have you ever thought about that? “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?” We don't understand this even on some of the most basic levels. We know that with animals, there's a thing called instinct. We can't even begin to explain it. Can't even begin to. We have no idea why some fish go back to where they were hatched. We have no idea. We have no idea why birds can find their way incredible distances from where they are back to their original place of their birth. We have absolutely no idea. We have no idea but the instinct of certain animals to do certain things. Even to the point, some animals can use tools. There are certain birds that know how to use tools to open things and eat what's inside and so forth. Where's that come from? Where's that understanding come from? Well, it comes from God, God gives it. He's asking Job, who's done this? Who has put wisdom? Who's given understanding?

--- Verse 37, “Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, 38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?” In other words, can you make it rain? “39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?” Chapter 39. “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, 3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? 4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them. 5 “Who has let the wild donkey go free?...” That's an interesting statement, isn't it? In other words, who made the donkey wild? Put him out in the pastures just in the open ranges to be free and wild. “…Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place? 7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. 8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. 9 “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?” Certainly we've domesticated some oxen, but He's talking about a wild ox here. He says, “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?” I love this next one. “13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? 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.” He's basically talking about the ostrich and how dumb the ostrich is. The ostrich will lay their eggs and then forget they're there, really. Or trample them herself, and then if she finds another bird's egg, she'll sit down and just warm those. On top of the…, and it's just, ostriches are just really dumb. And He goes on to explain why. Look at verse 16. It says, “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.” That's a very nice way of saying she's dumb. Right? Yeah. I mean, let's just call it what it is. The ostrich is brainless. Big bird, small brain. Verse 18. “When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.” I've given to understand that an ostrich when it's on at full bore, it can run up to nearly 40 miles an hour, which is amazing. Verse 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 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; …” And that, that means as he, as he gallops along, he just swallows up the ground, he moves along the ground quickly, and that's sort of a poetic statement. It says that, “…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.”” As glorious and majestic as eagles are, they're scavengers and that's exactly what the Lord is saying here. Chapter 40. “And the Lord said to Job: 2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”” In other words, let him answer for all these things. “3 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”” ---

So this is really all Job pretty much has to say to the Lord at this point. It's like, okay, that was dumb, I won't ever do that again, I'm done. That's his response to God in the face of all of these things. 6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: (no, no, no, partner, get up) 7 “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, (some more) and (you’re going to tell me, you're going to talk to me) you make it known to me.” If you're as smart as you say. And then He asks the real question in verse 8, look at verse 8. “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” Or your Bible may say, “that you may be justified.” That's the question, isn't it? Because that's what people still do today when they criticize God for what He's doing. They're putting Him in the wrong so as to justify themselves. When people talk about God, they're casting a dim light on Him so that they might appear more righteous, even more righteous than God Himself. We have to remember that. And when we go through a difficult season, and we all do, and somebody says, I don't deserve what I'm getting. What that implies is I deserve better. And that tells you right away what kind of a relationship that person has with God. They have a judicial relationship. Here's my relationship with God if I have a judicial one. God, here's the deal, alright? I do good, you do good to me. When I do bad, you are justified in punishing, I suppose. But, don't think that I'm not going to question whether I really deserve it, because I will. And, when people have a judicial relationship with God, and they're going through a hard time, you can always tell what they're thinking, because they come and they say, what did I do to deserve this? Okay? That, that reveals their thinking. Just puts it right out there for everybody to see. What did I do to deserve this? In other words, that's the relationship I have with God. I do good, He does good. I do bad. Well, I better know. You better tell me God what I did here. And we are so wired that way, people, you and I, that we don't even realize it. Even those of us who have uncovered grace, which is God's unmerited favor, favor that comes our way, not for what we've earned or merited, but simply because God is good. Even we who have, have tasted of grace and even relished in it, we can still fall back into that same old trap of, what did I do? What did I do to deserve this? And yeah, it’s just, we're trying to justify ourselves.

Verse 9, God's still talking here.

Going to talk now about some of His creatures. See if you can figure out what He's talking about. “15 “Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.” That tells you something interesting. By the way, the word for “Behemoth” is used here and here alone in the Bible. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It is believed or considered to be of Egyptian derivation, and it simply means, large beast. Consider the large beast, right? Now, as we go through and look at the description of this animal, you tell me what you think because I find it somewhat funny to listen or read commentators who come up with their guesses. And they vary wildly, everything from an elephant, to an alligator, to a hippo, to a rhino. Anyway, let's read the description. You tell me what you think it seems like. He says in verse 16,

Did you catch that? A cedar means like a tree, okay? His tail becomes stiff like a tree. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that description gets the elephant out of the running. Right? I think the hippo too is a goner, as is the rhino. I don't think any of them have a tail like a tree trunk, right? So, here we go. It says that,

In other words, God is the only one who can approach him.

--- “20 For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. 21 Under the lotus plants he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.” There's some watery kind of surroundings for this animal. “22 For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him. (and it even goes on to say) 23 Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.” This animal is so strong that if the Jordan is at flood stage or moving rapidly, he's not moved, he's not bothered by it at all. It's no big deal. I don't care. He can wander out into the water and he didn't care. He can go out and get a drink whenever he wants. You got him figured out? All right. Verse 24. “Can one take him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?” In other words, can you capture, can you capture him? So, what do you think? Alligator? I don't think so. Actually, Christian scientists who listen to this description of Behemoth, are pretty much convinced that this is describing some kind of a creature that is now extinct. It just doesn't fit anything that we have today, at least not perfectly. There are a few things that here and there might attach itself to a known creature, but for the most part we're looking at something that for which we do not see today. Chapter 41. Now, we're going to look at another creature and this one is just as crazy.

Obviously a different creature here. It says,

These are all things to say that he can’t be controlled.

If you think you've seen one of these creatures in the Smithsonian, you might be right. Verse 15. “His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal. 16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them. 17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.” That's why this creature is impervious to any of the weapons of warfare that might be leveled against it, known at the time. He's got this impenetrable armor that God gave him. It gets even more amazing. Verse 18. “His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. 19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. 20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. 21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.” You ever seen one of those? Yeah. Is this literal? Is this poetic hyperbole? Seems that we're talking about a creature that is no longer in existence, but what you might be thinking to yourself is, well how could God even speak to Job about such a creature when they lived so long before man? That's a guess. That's a guess on our part. And, I've shared this with you before, but when I lived up in Seattle, I was reading through the Seattle Times one day, buried in the middle of it, little article, out of Israel, believe it or not. And it said that the bones of dinosaurs had been discovered on the same rock strata as man, modern man, as the skeletal remains of what you and I would consider to be modern man. And then the article ended with this, and I remember this statement very clearly. It said, with this finding, everything we ever believed about the origin of species is now up in the air. Now, that article never found the light of day. I don't know why it showed up in the Seattle Times that year, maybe just for me to find. ---

But there it was. Are we absolutely 100% positive that dinosaurs lived at a time period before man existed? Well obviously, secular scientists, they believe that they know for absolutely certain. But we've seen things in the last 40 years that have caused us to question, like the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the rock layers that that single eruption laid down in minutes, which previously scientists told us would have taken millions of years to accomplish. Forgive me if I'm a little dubious of some of the conclusions that have come out of modern scientific thought. I think there's a great deal of bias there, and I think there is a very real possibility that God is describing in these verses, a creature that is no longer living today, but would have been known to someone like this man, Job, who lived some 4,000 years ago. Call me crazy. I've been called worse. Verse 22.

I'm running out of time. He goes through and just describes that his claws, his under parts. Verse 33, He ends, He says,

And on it goes. Chapter 42.

Do you see what Job has been brought to? He's been brought to a place of saying, you're right, I don't understand anything about You or what You do, and I don't get it. And what he's saying here is something very similar to what David said. Let me show you a passage from Psalm 139 where David wrote and said,

And this is the attitude that David had, which Job had to be brought to by all of these penetrating questions. Back to Job here. Job, again, recounts what the Lord said.

And then we're told,

--- 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.” So that's how God used to restore his fortune. “12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.” And then he lists their names in verse 14. And verse 15 it says, “And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, (wow!) and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.” So what's the lesson of Job? We're comforted, we're comforted by the fact that God gave him back his stuff. And we're like, oh, phew, thank you God, I think maybe Job might have been right about you after all if, you hadn't given him back his stuff. Listen, the restoration of his material wealth was not the blessing, was not the richness that Job received from this experience. I found an incredible quote that says it better than I can say it. Here's how it goes. Misfortune does not mean God has forsaken His own. It does mean he has plans that the sufferer may know nothing of. A believer's tragedy may never be fully understood. Yet he can realize that God is in charge, that God still loves him and cares for him. This is what Job learned. Misfortune does not mean God has forsaken His own. (or I'll even make that personal, it doesn't mean God has forsaken you, his children. It doesn't) It does mean he has plans that the sufferer may know nothing of. A believer's (unmerited) tragedy may never be fully understood. Yet he can realize that God is in charge, that God still loves him and cares for him. This is what (the important lesson that) Job learned. It wasn't getting all the stuff back. It was knowing that no matter what, God has a plan, God has a purpose, and I can trust Him with my life. I can give Him my life, and there will be things He will give, and there will be things He will take away. But God is still God who loves me, will never leave me, nor forsake me. And God has a plan and one day, Christians, one day, we will stand before Him in glory. And not one single person will say, that wasn't a good plan. In fact, I believe we will say just the opposite. We will thank Him for the wonders of His love, which we couldn't even begin at the time to understand. I trust there will come a day when the Lord will give us a greater sense of understanding. And we will praise Him for the wisdom with which He guided our lives. ---