Job CXL

 Job 12:7-12, “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men, and with length of days, understanding.”

Wherever you turn, you’re bound to see the Master’s handiwork. You don’t have to search high and low for it, you don’t have to go on a quest to a far-off land to lay your eyes upon God’s creation, but whether the beasts, the birds of the air, the earth itself, or the fish of the sea, the hand of the Lord and artistry thereof are evident for all to see, save for those who refuse to see.

There isn’t much you can do for someone who squeezes their eyes shut and insists there is no sunrise even though they can feel the warmth of it on their face. Willful ignorance is hard to combat in any meaningful way, and you can tell someone about the greatness of God, the majesty of the works of His hands, and their reply will be something about a big bang and the accidental coming together of DNA strands, atoms, mankind, the animal world, and everything in between. That fish have gills and can breathe underwater, that birds have wings and can soar to the sky, that you have the ability to reason, that the sun is just far enough away not to scorch everything but close enough to give off its warmth, all accidental. A happy accident, to be sure, but an accident nonetheless.

So you’re telling me it’s easier to believe that something akin to taking ten thousand Swiss watches, breaking them down to their smallest parts, putting them in a barrel, rolling them down a hill, and once they get to the bottom expecting them to have put themselves together perfectly took place than it is to believe in intelligent design and that God created the universe and everything therein?

Some people don’t believe because they don’t want to believe. It’s not that there isn’t evidence of God; it’s that they’re terrified of the implications. If God exists, then I must give account. If God exists, then I must bow before Him. If God exists, I can no longer live as I will, do as I will, pursue what I will, but must submit to His authority.

Romans 1:20-21, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

All one needs to do to see His invisible attributes, and clearly so, is open their eyes to all that is around them. From the budding flowers in the spring to the birdsongs in the morning to the caterpillar in its cocoon, God’s hand is seen and understood by the things that are made. So much so that man is without excuse when he stands before God, insisting that ignorance of His existence is what kept them from humbling themselves and embracing Him.

It shouldn’t go unnoticed that much of Job’s wisdom in addressing his friends is reiterated throughout the gospels and much of the New Testament as well. Perhaps not in the same words, but more distilled and concise, because wisdom is perpetual from one generation to the next, and what was deemed wisdom in Job’s day was deemed wisdom in Paul’s day, and by extension, our day as well.

When he penned his introduction to the Romans, Paul was expounding upon Job’s words, insisting that God’s fingerprints, His invisible attributes, are ever present and readily seen wherever one might look. He even goes one step further and points out those who would insist that it is not so, that God’s hand is not readily visible in all things, concluding that thinking themselves wise, they became as fools.

Only a fool can continue to deny overwhelming evidence contrary to his position. That’s no longer a man living in ignorance but one who willfully chooses ignorance in the face of the truth being laid bare before him.

Everything Zophar had thought deep wisdom on his part, so much so that it would compel Job to confess to something he hadn’t done, turned out to be a self-evident truth that could readily be seen by the simplest of minds if they so chose it.

The beasts, the birds, the fish, and the earth itself are aware that they were fashioned by the hand of the Lord. It is no mystery; it is not something veiled and kept in shadow only to be known by the wise among us. The earth sings of His glory from waking to sleeping, as does His wondrous creation, yet man, the crown jewel of His work, dismisses His involvement as no more than mere happenstance.

Zophar wasn’t telling Job anything he didn’t already know, and the one thing Job earned to know, which is why all these things had befallen him, was still kept out of reach. Even if God had answered Job’s question, it would only have led to more questions because the one thing we think will make the journey easier or the burden lighter rarely turns out to be so. One question would have turned into two; two would have turned into five because even if God had told Job the intricacies of it, Job’s mind was incapable of fully understanding it.

Whenever we find ourselves in a situation to which there is no easy answer or readily available explanation, we can spend our days asking why or submitting to the sovereignty of God and trusting that He will see us through, using the time to draw close to Him and grow our dependency upon Him. Depending on the choice we make, we will either come through it stronger, more committed, and with a deeper faith, or scarred, beaten, and bruised with nothing to show for the pain we went through but the experience itself.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.