Scripture of the Day: Job 38

Due to difficulties in uploading pictures, the Dragon has been delayed in posting.  But not to worry, I will eventually post it, soon...

Hope everyone had a safe July 4th weekend!

Job 38:1-38

"Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: 'Who is this who darkens My counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you will answer Me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell Me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while morning stars sang out together and all the angels shouted for joy?

"'Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place that it mights take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

"'Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell Me, if you know this.

"'What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

"'Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or see the storehouses of the hail which I reserve for times of trouble for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb come the ice? Who gives birth to the frost of the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

"'Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?

"'Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, "Here we are"? Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?'"

I love the book of Job! (For those who don't know, it's pronounced 'jobe'.) In this chapter, and the next as well, it's almost like the Lord is scolding Job.  We also see His sarcastic side.  And, in a way, our Lord is explaining what He does for a living. =D All throughout this book, we see Job tested to the ultimate limit of his faith. He loses his family, friends, land, home, property, you name it. Yet, still, he manages to praise God in the storm. Oh, how I wish that, should I suffer as he did or in any other way, I would have the strength and courage to praise my Lord through it all! Job is a great example of a true man of faith; granted, he had his doubts, and even cursed the day of his birth, but never did he once curse the name of God. And for his faith, he was rewarded: "...the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." (Job 42:10) and "The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters... After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years." (Job 42:12-13,16-17, emphasis added) Talk about multigenerational influence! I'm sure Job did not hesitate to pass on what the Lord had done for him.  He was able to see his great-great-grandchildren!! A true, faithful, influential patriarch.

Joyfully His,

Elisera