Episode Transcript
Happy November. The title of this episode is Thanking God for More. William and I have been reading the Book of Job for our morning devotions and I thought it would be great this month as we focus on giving thanks to God, especially during the Thanksgiving Day celebrations, that we look at even more things to thank God for.
Sometimes we can lose sight of certain things as we repeatedly thank God for His grace, love, forgiveness, and so on. Now don't get me wrong, these are important and we should thank God for them. But there is even more to thank God for and even the Book of Job doesn't present all of them. But I think it would be great to look at the Book of Job and to see some additional or more things that we ought to be thanking God for.
Now just in case you're not familiar with this book, let me give you a little background.
Job was a blameless, upright and God fearing man. He enjoyed the blessings of God on his life. Now not only did he have great wealth, he was a living example of what it meant to have faith in God. All this was interrupted one day though when Satan came before the Lord. Satan stated that Job would curse God if God only struck him with adversity.
He reasoned that Job only loved and followed God because of what he got out of the relationship. So God consented and allowed Satan to test Job's faith. Now Satan struck down all of Job's possessions and when Job was informed of one adversity after the other that took place in his life, he fell to the ground and worshiped God and said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. So in spite of his grief, Job did not sin or curse God. Wow, that's a lot. You want to talk about giving God thanks and being thankful even when everything is wiped out in your life or you have one adversity after the other. Job is an example of how we can praise God in spite of our circumstances.
Well, In Job chapter 2, verse 10, he says, shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? So in the conversations between Job and his friends who were supposed to be exhorting and encouraging him to get things right with God and the reason why they were doing that, they were assuming that his adversity was a result of sin in his life. Several things are said about God and His majesty and his power and his sovereignty and that's what I want to reflect on this month. So let's be reminded of more things to thank God for. Please listen closely as I read some passages from Job and after listening to this podcast, would you please take just a few minutes on your own to offer prayers of thanks for the mighty acts and character of God. It would bless you and I know it would be a sweet smelling aroma to God as well.
Now here are some passages I'd like to share with you from Job and I'm taking them from Chapter 38.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb? And as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness, For I locked it behind barred gates limiting its shores, I said this far and no farther. Will you come here. Your proud waves must stop. Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the night's wickedness?
As the light approaches, the earth takes shape. Like clay pressed beneath a seal, it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it. If you know where does light come from, and where does darkness go? Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there? But of course you know all this, for you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced. And of course this is God being sarcastic with Job.
Have you visited the storehouses of the snow, or seen the storehouses of hail? I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war. Where is the path to the source of light? Where is the home of the East Wind, who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning? Who makes the rain fall on barren land in a desert where no one lives?
Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and makes the tender grass spring up? Does the rain have a father who gives birth to the dew, who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens, for the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes. Can you direct the moment of the stars bringing the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven. When the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods? Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lion's appetites as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket? Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?
A lot to think about, right? I pray that as I read some of those passages that you looked upon the brilliance and the magnitude of God's power and that we as humans are nothing in comparison to our God. And Job realized this. For in Chapter 42 of Job, Job replies to the Lord, I know that you can do anything and no one can stop you. You asked, who is this that questions my wisdom with such arrogance? It is I. And I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.
So you see, God asked Job, who's this that's questioning me and my wisdom? And Job said, it's I. But I'm questioning about things that I knew nothing about, things that were far too wonderful for me. And when God said to Job, listen and I will speak. I have some questions for you and you must answer them. Job responded, I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance. So Job, in response to God questioning him, after he had questions about God and what God was doing as far as the universe, he came back and repented, realizing that God is almighty and powerful. And he acknowledged that in light of God, who was he to question him? Or who was he to think that he knew who God was when really he did not.
I pray that we would take a moment and quietly sit before our Lord and thank him for some of these things and more that he brings to mind. So in spite of what you may see with your natural eye. The almighty God, the Father of heaven and earth is alive, and he is sovereign. I would like to wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving Day celebration. And please plan to join me again. And in the meantime, smile. Jesus loves.
