*Trigger Warning: What you are about to read has biblical references, statements of faith, and a number of things mentioned that if you don’t believe in God may prompt you to frantically research the age of the earth, jump into heated discussions about the validity of the bible, and give you an uncomfortable feeling deep down in your stomach causing you to wet yourself or feel the need to poop. Continue reading AT YOUR OWN RISK! (Please don’t message me with the desire of me helping you work thru your childhood traumas)

“Can you draw out Leviathan^[a] with a hook,
Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?
² Can you put a reed through his nose,
Or pierce his jaw with a ^[b]hook?
³ Will he make many supplications to you?
Will he speak softly to you?
⁴ Will he make a covenant with you?
Will you take him as a servant forever?
⁵ Will you play with him as with a bird,
Or will you leash him for your maidens?
⁶ Will your companions ^[c]make a banquet of him?
Will they apportion him among the merchants?
⁷ Can you fill his skin with harpoons,
Or his head with fishing spears?” – Job 41:1-7

Sounds pretty arrogant, doesn’t it? Almost as if God is taunting Job, or at the very least, making fun of him.

But was He? I don’t think so. Not given what Job had said prior. See, prior to God making these statements, Job had voiced his desire to plead his case to God. A case, that no doubt, would have declared his innocence and how what was happening to him was unjust. Frankly, I can relate. I am all too familiar with the feeling of being treated wrongly. Suffering consequences that were brought not due to my own actions or behaviors. Being judged by friends without being given the benefit of the doubt. So ya, I can totally understand Job’s desire to have a counsel with God on the matter.

He lost his wife, his kids, his livestock, etc. His life was legit ruined. In ways that most of us haven’t even remotely come close to experiencing. Even his friends came to judge and mock him. How could Job not be bitter about that? How could Job not have a desire to plead his case to God? How could he not want to defend himself or demand answers?

I’ve suffered far less calamity in my life, and I tell you, I have curbed no words in my cries out to God.

So I “get” where Job is coming from, to a certain extent. God’s response tho? Damn. Seems much less comforting than I would have imagined. But why? Why would God feel the need to ask questions He knows Job already knows the answers to? Why would God need to tell Job about his resume?

I think it has to do with the core of Jobs desire to plead his case.

Think about it, Job wants to plead his case because he actually thinks he can provide some insight or information about himself that God is not privy to. He actually thinks that there is something he could say, some bit of argument he could provide, that would ultimately change the mind of God and salvage what was left of his life. Which, of course, is naive and arrogant.

Job seems to view God as the source of his afflictions; or at least lacks the understanding of why he’s going thru them. Which, on some level is accurate. God wasn’t the source of it; but He did allow it. And that thought is a tough one to swallow. To have that thought, when crying out to God…crying out to your source of wisdom, comfort, peace; only to hear: I did this…I allowed this to happen. 

Of all the things Job had endured…hearing that had to have taken him to a new low.

So God’s response was needed; in fact, one could say at that point, it was required. It was a “who am I?” answer; a “who are you talking to?” question. A declaration, that in spite of all that Job had endured, God was still in control and still very much capable. It was a declaration that Job, had indeed, come to the right place. 

And THAT was exactly what Job needed; that was exactly what Job needed to hear.

It’s somewhat easy, in our limited knowledge of things, to think we know what would work out best for us. I know I do. I’m all keen on making plans, preparing, lining things up, etc. And nothing chaps my backside more than things beyond my control messing things up.

Last year felt like a beat down for most of us. We have roadblocks, up hill battles, and mountains ahead that we are facing. Much of which looks so overwhelming that we wonder if we can manage it. Some might say what we see is impossible. But I have seen God color outside the lines in the past. I have seen things happen that couldn’t, by any reasonable logic, happen. I’ve witnessed this. I’ve experienced this. It’s not uncustomary for God to raise the Leviathan. 

So it isn’t a question of whether or not God is capable of that…the question is: will He? In Job’s case He didn’t. Not right away. The timing wasn’t right. There was more at play in Jobs’ life than Job was privy to. God knew the outcome; Job didn’t. God restored all that Job had lost and even more…and his story, Job’s story, has been discussed, written about, and studied for over 2,000 years. There’s no way Job could have ever known that.

So we have this New Year, and if there was one prayer to pray for this year I’d say to pray this:

Father, in Jesus name, I pray that mountains be moved; that doors that have been locked, to open. That what seems to be impossible, by every logical, reasonable account, to become possible. Things that are beyond reach, to become within reach. That which is limited, become unlimited. Make a way, where there seems to be no way. To expand according to my ability; to stay with me and help me keep peace. Father, I know I lack the ability to raise the Leviathan; but you don’t. So raise it. In THIS year, raise the Leviathan; do the impossible. Make this year a year of miracles. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 

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