WHO ARE YOU?
Opening Prayer
Do something mighty today, Lord. Surprise me with your bountiful grace and generous mercy. I lift my whole being in praise to you.
Read JOB 38:22-41
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chains[a] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[b]
or lead out the Bear[c] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[d] dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[e]
or gives the rooster understanding?[f]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty’ (Revelation 1:8).God challenges Job further, using the natural world to demonstrate that Job is a very small fish in a big pond. What is Job thinking now? Does Job take in that of all the people to whom God could be speaking, it is him? Okay, he is being put in his place, but this is God Almighty speaking, and to him directly!
Job is receiving individual attention now in a way he never did before his misfortune. God is answering his prayer. Job demands justice from God on account of his faith. He finds that when asked on what basis he can claim rights, he has none. Who has done what the Lord has done? Can Job even look him in the eye?
He is confronted with the works of the Lord. Has he considered this before? Even if Job had built a house and overseen a city and its people, compared to the greatness of all that God has done, Job is definitely insignificant. The Lord’s works testify to his glory. What has Job to offer in return?
Apply
‘Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore him! / All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him! / Let the Amen, Sound from his people again; Gladly for aye we adore him’.*
Closing prayer
Almighty God, I continue to be amazed that in your greatness, you know me and have time for me. I thank you for the joy that brings to my heart.
*Joachim Neander 1650–1680.
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