Daily Scripture Reading Job 38:16 - 39:4

In recent centuries, mankind has created marvelous machines which make life easier and safer. We can travel to any part of the globe in mere days. We can send a message to any person on earth in mere minutes. Medical technology enables us to overcome diseases and injuries which in previous centuries were certain death sentences.

Because of all our technical progress, 21st century people tend to think we are wise, smart, and powerful. Today’s passage is a lengthy list of things which humans still do not know and cannot do. This reminds us that despite our great achievements, we are still nothing compared to God.

Today, we resume reading the 20th section of Job, which is Yahweh speaking directly to Job. Yahweh’s speech is mostly rhetorical questions, most of which are designed to remind Job of his human limitations.

Job 38:16 ¶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea

Or walked in the recesses of the deep?

The answer to this question is no. Even today, there are vast expanses of ocean floor which are unexplored by humans. How much more was Job ignorant of what is under the water?

Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Living humans cannot see what happens when we die nor where we go when we die.

Job 38:18 Have you carefully considered the expanse of the earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

Job 38:19 ¶ “Where is the way to where the light dwells?

And darkness, where is its place,

Today, we grasp that the earth rotates; thus producing day and night. However, from the perspective of standing on earth, it appears the sun comes and goes, but we cannot see where it comes from in the morning, nor where it goes in the evening.

Job 38:20 That you may take it to its territory

And that you may discern the paths to its home?

Job 38:21 You know, for you were born then,

And the number of your days is great!

This is a sarcastic statement. Job was not alive when the sun and earth were created; plus, Job’s days were not numerous compared to God’s days.

People often picture God as always being sweet, kind, nice, and polite. However, in this dialogue God was angry, sarcastic, and accusatory.

Job 38:22 ¶ Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

Job 38:23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress,

For the day of war and battle?

Job 38:24 Where is the way that the light is divided,

Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

Job 38:25 ¶ “Who has cleft a conduit for the flood,

Or a way for the thunderbolt,

Job 38:26 To bring rain on a land without people,

On a desert without a man in it,

Look at the phrase “without a man in it”. Across the globe, there are vast stretches of mountains, desert, and rainforest that are devoid of humans. However, rain still falls on those places. God sends that rain, not man.

Job 38:27 To satisfy the waste and desolate land

And to make the growth of grass to sprout?

Job 38:28 Has the rain a father?

Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

Job 38:29 From whose womb has come the ice?

And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

Job 38:30 Water becomes hard like stone,

And the surface of the deep is interlocked.

Job 38:31 ¶ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,

Or loose the cords of Orion?

Job 38:32 Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her satellites?

Humans have explored many parts of the earth, harnessed animals and energy, and built highways and cities around the globe. However, we have harnessed nothing out in space where the constellations dwell.

Job 38:33 Do you know the statutes of the heavens,

Or fix their rule over the earth?

Job 38:34 ¶ “Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,

So that an abundance of water will cover you?

Job 38:35 Can you send forth lightnings that they may go

And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Humans have learned to control many parts of nature, but we cannot even begin to control lightning.

Job 38:36 Who has given wisdom in the innermost being

Or given understanding to the mind?

Job 38:37 Who can count the clouds by wisdom,

Or tip the water jars of the heavens,

Job 38:38 When the dust hardens into a mass

And the clods stick together?

Job 38:39 ¶ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,

Or fulfill the appetite of the young lions,

Job 38:40 When they crouch in their dens

And lie in wait in their lair?

Job 38:41 Who prepares for the raven its provision

When its young cry for help to God

And wander about without food?

There is a vast food chain which provides food for all the wild animals. Wildlife is able to find food without help from humans. God created the food chain, not man.

Job 39:1 ¶ “Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth?

Do you keep watch over the calving of the deer?

Job 39:2 Can you count the months they fulfill,

Or do you know the time they give birth?

Job 39:3 They kneel down; they bring forth their young;

They send out their labor pains.

Job 39:4 Their children become strong; they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

Wild animals have survived and reproduced for centuries without any help from humans.

In recent centuries, mankind has created marvelous machines which make life easier and safer. We can travel to any part of the globe in mere days. We can send a message to any person on earth in mere minutes. Medical technology enables us to overcome diseases and injuries which in previous centuries were certain death sentences. Because of all our technical progress, 21st century people tend to think we are wise, smart, and powerful.

Job had a similar mindset. Job believed God was unjustly oppressing him. At one point Job demanded the opportunity to meet God face to face and state his innocence and right to be freed from his pain and suffering.

Today’s passage is part of Yahweh’s response to Job. It is a lengthy list of things which Job did not know. Yahweh was reminding Job that Job was nothing compared to Yahweh. Many of the things Job did not know are still unknown or uncontrolled by humans in the 21st century, despite all our technological achievements. This reminds us that, despite our great inventions, we are still nothing compared to God.

What have you accomplished in your life that deceives you into thinking you are somebody?

How does today’s passage put you in your proper place?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”