“Who has first given to Me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.” Job 41:11
The group followed the guide through the Museum in downtown Chicago like a gaggle of tiny ducklings. They hung on his every word as he passed on information about the many encased antiquities that were carefully displayed throughout the echoing halls. As the group filed into the next room there was a collective gasp, for at the very center of it lied a massive skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex, the most feared predator that ever lived. As the guide began his speech, one he had given thousands of times, he recited that the specimen had been found in the Black Hills of South Dakota and to date was the most complete T. Rex skeleton ever found. For many years, ownership of the specimen had been hotly contested in court battles, millions and millions of dollars spent to claim the bones. Eventually the winner placed the specimen here, in the Field Museum in Chicago. Her name was Sue. A few sentences later the guide mentioned that Sue was 66 million and 6 years old. As the group processed the wonder of Sue taking countless photos, one questioning man approached the guide and asked about the extra 6 years. How could science be so perfectly exact in its dating of these bones? The guide replied, “well, when I started work here Sue was 66 million years old and I have now been working here for 6 years, so she is now 66 million and 6.” The point? Man in his arrogance tries to perfectly define, date, and master God’s creation, but it simply cannot be done.
Job chapter 41 sees God continue to address Job not simply in His authority as Creator of all, but simply by defining His creation. He simply speaks to Job of who He is and the wonders His mere voice has brough forth. You see, sometimes all we need is a really good reminder of just who God is. Do yourself a quick favor and re-read Genesis chapters 1-3. God breathed into existence the heavens and the earth and then securely hung them in the black space of nothingness. He placed the stars and bound the seas, speaking as His creation obeyed. He speaks to Job the unknown and indescribable complexities that is His creation and then asks Job the simple question, “I created all of this and it’s mine, do you really think that somehow I owe you something?” Yes, it sounds rather harsh, yet sometimes the truth is simply that, the harsh truth.
Today, do you feel that God owes you something? That somehow as His creation that He owes you more than the breath in your lungs and the sun on your face? You see, the pride of our sin nature runs deep. I often wonder if the base element of my DNA under an electron microscope is not truly (A) adenine and (G) guanine, but rather simply (P)…pride. And in our abundance of pride, we have a tendency to center the universe not around God, but ourselves. The world is God’s, He created it, He orchestrates it, and it is all done with a precision of planning that in itself, man will never be able to perfectly comprehend. As one moves to the place of great faith in God that allows them acceptance of His authority, one can only rest in the by-product of that faith, peace. Today, I pray that you are resting firm in the power of Almighty God, that no matter what the news, weather, local politics, Facebook, or even your own circumstances tell you, God has never been more in control of His universe.
Mankind in his limited knowledge will never be able to perfectly date Sue’s bones or explain why the stars burn exactly as long as they do, and that’s ok. Leave that stuff to God and simply adore Him for the goodness and peace He places at your feet today. God is good and He is worthy of our worship…praise the Lord, delight in Him today.
“For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Psalm 95:6
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