Slices
Prepare
‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold’ (Psalm 18:2).
Bible passage
39 ‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labour pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.
5 ‘Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,
the salt flats as its habitat.
7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;
it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 It ranges the hills for its pasture
and searches for any green thing.
9 ‘Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain
and bring it to your threshing-floor?
13 ‘The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labour was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
19 ‘Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, “Aha!”
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26 ‘Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
and spread its wings towards the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and build its nest on high?
28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29 From there it looks for food;
its eyes detect it from afar.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.’
Explore
God turns his onslaught to examples from the animal kingdom. Do you? Can you? Who has? Will it? Does it? His questions to Job are relentless and one imagines Job staggering around trying to regain his senses and perspective.
Why does God push Job so much? Could it be that he feels he still has a point to make; not to Job, but to Satan who has been conspicuous by his absence since chapter 2? Satan, the accuser, the pretender to the throne of heaven, would be looking to lay down the excuse that God has been overly lenient with Job and therefore the wager was not fairly conducted. By grilling Job in this way, no one can lay that charge at God’s door.
The downside is that Job is under attack from every side and, in weakness, might curse God for what has befallen him. The upside is God’s confidence in his man – God knows of what Job is made and who is his stronghold. God has faith in his man. Will his man return that faith?
Respond
We can place our trust in worldly things until they become the ‘rocks’ on which we build our lives (Psalm 71:3). Do you take enough ‘time out’ to be with our rock of refuge? What could you change?
Deeper Bible study
‘I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.’1
I come from a people characterised by stubbornness. We are called ‘Guernsey donkeys’ and it is a fitting caricature of this island race. God’s parade of wild animals and birds in front of Job is designed to show him the extent of the wildness in God’s creation and the inability of humanity to truly tame it all. The wild donkey ‘laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout’ (v 7). As this carnival of wild creatures passes Job, he is supposed to notice that only God can manage these unruly beasts and bring them to heel, significantly even at a manger (v 9). God is saying that not only is his world wild, but it is also wilder than you think and that only he, the Lord of creation, can truly grasp it all.
It is significant that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he sent his disciples ahead to select a young donkey that no-one had ever ridden.2 He mounted it as a token of his mastery over wildness. Job needed to learn that there is a wild rebellion in the human heart that does not submit easily to the Lord. Even humanity’s delegated authority over creation does not really mean that it has mastered itself, let alone the whole of the animal kingdom. James recognises this: ‘All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by human beings, but no-one can tame the tongue.’3 The message is that God is still in charge in his world, despite the appalling losses Job has suffered. The very wildness of the circumstances that face the believer can blind us to this fact. Job’s eyes were being opened – and so are ours.
If God knows the lives of these wild creatures so intimately, how much more does he know you. Read Matthew 6:26 and praise him for his love and care.
1 Ps 59:16 2 Mark 11:2 3 James 3:7,8, TNIV
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Deuteronomy 17,18; Romans 3
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for clear direction and vision for Local Mission Partner Bridgebuilder Trust as they celebrate 30 years of serving over 100 schools across Milton Keynes and plan for the future. Pray that they will be able to help children move beyond connecting and ultimately into growing.
