JOB 38 & JOB 39

Job 38:
34 Can you command the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?
35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Do they report to you: "Here we are"?
36 Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave the mind understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38 when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods [of dirt] stick together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?
41 Who provides the raven's food
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?

Ever wonder what God is up to? There is a hidden mystery about God - He reveals part of Himself at times – He cannot reveal all of Himself because we cannot comprehend all that He is.
Back in verse 4, God is getting Job to see his inability “Who do you think you are?”
Who do we think we are?
Chapters 38 – 40: a series of questions asked to show Job 3 things.
1. control
2. pride
3. humility

Chapter 38: 7-11 demonstrates God’s Power. Earth is a privileged planet. God is showing Job that He is a privileged person on a privileged planet.
Repetition…
Verse 5 – who
Verse 8 – who
Verse 31 – can you
Verse 32 – can you
Verse 33 – can you
Verse 34 – can you
Verse 35 – can you
…designed to make Job look sat himself

Questions and parables – the way Jesus taught – the way Jesus grabbed the attention of HIS listeners – GOD is using the same technique – questions and word pictures to show who God is and where Job fits into it.
For us today – rather than lecturing to those around us – use questions and word pictures in our communications.


Chapter 38
Verse 39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of young lions
Verse 40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait within their lairs?
Can you understand the way of the lion? God placed instinct in the lion – the lion kills to eat – who controls a lion (only God can).
Verse 41 Who provides the raven's food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Who feeds the ravens?
It is amazing when God uses His creations and shows them to us as examples.
God feeds the ravens and God uses the ravens to feed Elijah.
1 Kings17:6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
“Job, you are not in control.”
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
If I don’t like the way things are going, what right have I to complain?

Job 39 (HCSB)
1 Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you watched the deer in labor?
2 Can you count the months they are pregnant
so you can know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down to give birth to their young;
they deliver their newborn.
4 Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.
They leave and do not return.
5 Who set the wild donkey free?
Who released the swift donkey from its harness?
6 I made the wilderness its home,
and the salty wasteland its dwelling.
7 It scoffs at the noise of the village
and never hears the shouts of a driver.
8 It roams the mountains for its pastureland,
searching for anything green.
9 Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?
10 Can you hold the wild ox by its harness to the furrow?
Will it plow the valleys behind you?
11 Can you depend on it because of its strength?
Would you leave it to do your hard work?
12 Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain
and bring [it] to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but are her feathers and plumage like the stork's?
14 She abandons her eggs on the ground
and lets them be warmed in the sand.
15 She forgets that a foot may crush them
or that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if [they] were not her own,
with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.
17 For God has deprived her of wisdom;
He has not endowed her with understanding.
18 When she proudly spreads her wings,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.
Verses 1- 18 are examples from undomesticated animals
Do you know?
Mountain goats go up into mountains and have their babies in isolation; they don’t come down until the baby is half grown.
Wild Donkey
Wild ox – could not be hooked to a plow – was not a domesticated animal
God knows all about these things that Job doesn’t know about. Job sees them but knows nothing about the animals – it is hidden – Job can only know what he sees – not the whole picture.
When God begins to reveal Himself in Genesis, it is with creation – when God begins to reveal Himself to Job it is with nature.
Creation by God must be basic to our beliefs or else our faith will be skewed.

Job had put his trust in his children, his wealth, and his health and now they are gone. You can not trust in that which can be taken away or removed from your life.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
1 Kings 8:57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Trust in job – job can be lost ; trust in doctors – doctors can be wrong …
You can only trust in that which cannot be taken away – GOD.

“ostrich” lays more than one egg - at least one egg is kicked out of nest and left by itself - the egg becomes prey for the wild animals – they leave the other eggs alone.
Even nature describes the need of our salvation and the redemptive plan that God gave. Jesus’ life was given to keep the rest of “us eggs” safe. Jesus was crushed so that I could be saved.
Job’s righteousness is not enough by itself.

Job 39:19-30 (HCSB)
19 Do you give strength to the horse?
Do you adorn his neck with a mane?
20 Do you make him leap like a locust?
His proud snorting [fills one with] terror.
21 He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
He charges into battle.
22 He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;
he does not run from the sword.
23 A quiver rattles at his side,
along with a flashing spear and a lance.
24 He charges ahead with trembling rage;
he cannot stand still at the trumpet's sound.
25 When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly.
He smells the battle from a distance;
he hears the officers' shouts and the battle cry.
26 Does the hawk take flight by your understanding
and spread its wings to the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and make its nest on high?
28 It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;
its stronghold is on a rocky crag.
29 From there it searches for prey;
its eyes penetrate the distance.
30 Its brood gulps down blood,
and wherever corpses lie, it is there.
Hawk – one of the oldest sports in the world is falconing (sport of kings). If a falcon can be tamed and used by man – then man can be “tamed” and used by God
Hawk/Eagle just soars in amazing grandeur. Safety and amazement.
Exodus 19:4 …and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
Job is not in control. God says “I AM”

Job is too prideful, he needs to be humbled by these questions to which he can only answer “I don’t know”.
37 chapters are used before Job hears from God. God waited long enough so Job could hear him. Very few of us are ready to listen to God until we have been crushed – crushed by : sin, circumstances, life itself…



Job 40:1-4 (HCSB)
1 The LORD answered Job:
2 Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct [Him]?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.
3 Then Job answered the LORD:
4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer You?
I place my hand over my mouth.

“Job, where are you? Are you ready to do battle regarding your righteousness?”
Job answered, “I am so insignificant. How can I answer?”
Job covers his mouth with his hand. He has nothing to say, he knows he doesn’t need to say anything, he doesn’t need to verbalize his thoughts.
Job had had a response for all of his friends but he cannot respond to God’s question. God was waiting for this state of humility in Job.

The use of word pictures and questions as a confrontational tool:
2 Samuel 12
1And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
7And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Don’t listen in order to answer,
Listen to learn - you may find that you don’t have much to say.