I'm not as smart as I think I am!
When a friend of mine sent an email about her oldest son's ungratefulness at times, or his "I know better than you, Mom" attitude, I nodded my head as I read. "Oh, I know how it is!" I thought to myself. "I hear that, too" and "I see that attitude in my own children as well!" She shared this passage below, and I cannot seem to shake it. God is telling Job essentially what I tell my kids when they display these selfish, egotistical characteristics. That is, "Oh REALLY?! I don't give you anything?! You think you know more than me???" The irony here is that I so often "tell" God the same things my kids tell me through my actions and attitudes. Thankfully, I have a Heavenly Father who lovingly convicts me through the words of my wonderful friends and the God-breathed words in Scripture...
Job 38:1 - 19:
"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
'Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer 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? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?
Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this."
I am also so struck by the poetic way God describes His creation of the world. How wonderful is He?! It was such a blessing to read a brief story of creation in a new light. (This is one of those things that I was reading and thinking, "Really?! This is in the Bible?! I don't think I have EVER read that!") I was going through the creation story with the boys this week in Genesis, and I cannot wait until they are old enough to appreciate the way God re-tells the same story in Job. I am so thankful for my friend's desire to share this with HER friends, and I hope you all are blessed as well :)
Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?
Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this."
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