Humble Silence: What Shall You Answer Him?

Job 38:39–39:4 ESV

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

Prayer

We need to remember the U-Shape pattern of the book of Job.

Job began at a position of exaltation.

We have watched him at his worst.

But now we’re watching him move to a position of exaltation.

In Chapter 38, God response to Job by pointing to the created order.

Job 38:1–3 ESV

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

He points to the weather, the stars; things that Job would have no clue.

But in Chapter 39, he does the same thing, but by using the animal kingdom.

Now you may wonder, why would we take a week to consider the animal kingdom?

Why would god spend so much time pointing to the creation, and why is it worth considering?

This is not the first time Scripture commands us to consider the animals.

Proverbs 6:6 ESV

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Or Jesus Himself commanded us…

Luke 12:24 ESV

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

So there is much precedent for us to take a week and consider what God has said from the creation order around.

The clear pattern from this section is that God is pulling Job out of his domesticated mindset to see the undomesticated God, by examining the undomesticated animals.

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.

Undomesticated animals and Job.

As one commentator says, God is inviting Job off of the farm and into the wild.

Into the wild so he may behold the wonder of God’s creative activity.

A Trip to the Zoo

I’m not sure if you’ve ever spent any time at zoo.

If you have, there is a deceptive tendency for us to think that we understand undomesticated animals.

Just recently my family and I went to the zoo.

And we saw lions and tigers.

Even as I was looking at them, I wondered am I really looking at lions and tigers?

We know this very well, that, when an animal becomes domesticated, they lose the nature for which god created it.

The Animal’s Trust God’s Provision (Job 38:39-41)

Job 38:39–40 ESV

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?

God is showing Job creatures which are undomesticatedly wonderful.

He’s showing him creatures that are meant to inspire awe within him.

The animals trust me, why can’t you?

Over the King of the Jungle

Take the lion.

It’s confined to a 50 x 50 square box.

As the lion is in a 50x50 square box, we will even hold her cubs.

We’ll talk about how cute they are.

We’ll see the father lions laying and grooming themselves in the sun.

But we miss something crucial about that lion.

Take that lien out of the zoo and put it on the Sahara and becomes a different creature.

We become outraged when the lions stalk their prey, run them down, and eat them.

And Gods whole point here for Job is can you hunt for the lion and that way?

Can you satisfy the lions hunger?

The answer is absolutely not!

The same is true of the animal which eats after the lion.

Over the Scavenger

Job 38:41 ESV

Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

The scavenger is cared for by God even after an animal is torn apart.

The animals trust me, why can’t you?

There is something amazing that happens when we begin to pay attention to the animals around us.

We begin to see the kind of dynamic that has come into the world post-fall.

The Gospel Around the Dinner Table

I’m not sure if you have ever considered this or not...

Every time an animal is provided for by God, there is a small taste of the gospel.

The life of one animal is provided for at the expense of another.

The same is true for you and I, brothers and sisters.

Every time you set down for dinner, you see a display of the gospel.

Whatever you’re eating

Steak

Chicken

Salad

Whatever you’re eating gave it’s life for you to draw life from.

The world we find ourselves in pushes against that because we always get our food from the store.

But the gospel is on display all around us.

It’s on display even in the way the lion is fed.

No less for you and I.

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.

The Mysteries of Animals (Job 39:1-12)

Now we need to remember what Job has said earlier in Job 7:1-3

Job 7:1–3 ESV

“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

Job does not feel that God has been fair to him in regard to timing.

Job has gripped and complained at the way God has handled time.

You can’t understand them, how can you understand ME?

Birth

“When do they give birth?”

Since you’re so good with timing, Job, when does the deer give birth?

Job 39:1 ESV

“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?

Not only, when does she give birth, but do you observe the way their young ones grow up?

Not only do you NOT know when they give birth.

You also don’t know when and how the deer grow up and then go out on their own.

Job 39:2–4 ESV

Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

The clear implication here is that, even though Job did not know when these things happened, God did.

Not only did he know, but he’s was present with a watchful, caring eye.

The Deer and Birth

I want you to consider the profundity of this for a moment.

There are deer that often come out in graze right here beside the church.

At any given time, I will see three or four of them.

I want you to consider this.... from spring to fall, God is watching every one of them.

Not only is he watching them, but he sees the months that they were pregnant.

Not only does he see the months that were pregnant he also sees their young ones become strong.

If God is willing to do this for the deer, how much more for you and I?

You can’t understand them, how can you understand ME?

Instinct

“Why do they act this way?”

Job 39:5–7 ESV

“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place? He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

The simple question for Job is, why does the wild donkey act like this?

Why does the wild donkey choose to live in a place where food is scarce?

The wild donkey lives in this place, because God has given us the freedom to.

In Gods, Sovereign providential plan, he allows the donkey to live out where there’s barely any food and barely any drink.

God asks Job to consider the pattern of migration for the birds.

Or take the hawk....

Job 39:26 ESV

“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?

How do birds instinctively know to fly south?

Is Job the one who gives them the understanding to have an internal compass?

You can’t understand them, how can you understand ME?

God now turns to the wonder of domestication…

Domestication

“Why don’t you tame them?”

Job 39:9 ESV

“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?

I’m not sure what kind of wild ox you have in your mind as you hear this.

But I think we need to have in our mind something like the cape buffalo.

An animal so strong that it would terrify us.

Job 39:10–12 NIV

Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you? Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it? Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

Gods question to Job is filled with satire.

If Job can’t tame even the creatures that God put on this earth, how then could Job think about taming the ALMIGHTY.

The crazy thing is that Job could actually probably tame this kind of beast eventually.

And in the same way that he could trust this beast, he could trust the ALMIGHTY.

You can’t understand them, how can you understand ME?

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.

God now turns to give another example of the wonder of creation....

The Foolishness of Animals (Job 39:13-18)

Do you think God has a sense of humor?

Have you ever just looked at the creation and thought, is this a joke?

You can’t explain them, how can you explain ME?

Foolishness

“Do you give the lack of good sense?”

Job 39:13 NIV

“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

The ostrich is the heaviest, living bird it stands on average of over 6 feet tall, and weighs over 220 pounds.

Unlike most birds, they have no ability to fly.

They flap joyfully and yet are completely unable to fly.

Job—The Wisdom of the Cross

“According to ancient folklore she was considered the epitome of stupidity”

But as verse 18 says…

Job 39:18 NIV

Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

At top speed they are able to run at almost 50 MPH!

These animals are incredible.

Yet they prompt a person to ask, why did God create them like this?

Not only are they weird looking.

They are also stupid.

Job 39:14–17 NIV

She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain, for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

Do you want to know why they are stupid?

Because God made them that way.

You can’t explain them, how can you explain ME?

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.

The Strength of Animals (Job 39:19-30)

You are inferior to them, how much more so to ME?

Mighty in Battle

“Did you give them strength?”

Job 39:19 ESV

“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

Now I want you to have a proper picture of what God is calling to Job’s mind.

At the time God was speaking to Job, there was no greater weapon than the horse.

The war horse was as one commentator said “nuclear weapon” of Jobs time.

The very thing the Sabeans would have rode in on to steal away his servants.

God asks him, “Do you give them their strength?”

The clear implication here is that God is the ONE who gives strength to the warhorse.

The most fear and terrifying war machine of Job’s time and God says, “I give it it’s strength.”

It would be the equivalent of God asking us, “Do you give power to the atom that is split?”

Job 39:20–25 ESV

Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

You are inferior to them, how much more so to ME?

Highest Heights

“Can you go where they go?”

Job 39:27–30 ESV

Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

The eagle which is used throughout scripture as a symbol of Gods strength to save.

It’s a creature of majesty and great beauty.

You are inferior to them, how much more so to ME?

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.

Job 40:1–2 ESV

And the Lord said to Job: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

Can you correct Him? (Job 40:1-5)

How will Job respond to God?

Job 40:3–5 ESV

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

Job’s response to God is one of silence.

Humbled in Silence

“What shall I answer You?”

Job—The Wisdom of the Cross Job’s Response (40:3–5)

“cuts us down to size, treating us not as philosophers but as children—limited in mind, puny in body—whose first and fundamental grasp of truth must be to know the difference between our place and God’s, and to accept it.”

His silence is because he has realized that he has spoken incorrectly.

His silence is present because he is acknowledging his proud attitudes he has taken toward God.

You are unworthy, how will you respond to ME?

I want to be clear, we shouldn’t expect an experience like Job.

But the experience of Job is NOT unlike our experience if you’re a Christian.

What Job is experience is the AWE and WONDER at the greatness of God.

The greatness of God in comparison to his own sinfulness and wretchedness.

We should not sit around and wait for God to walk us through a nature documentary and explain what He is like.

The reason we shouldn’t wait around is because God has already spoken finally and decisively.

This is Paul’s whole point in Romans three when he says.

Paul is trying to show finally and decisively that both Jews and Greeks are sinful and stand condemned before God.

Romans 3:9 (ESV)

For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

Both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

Romans 3:19 NKJV

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Paul is picking up here the idea that the law, which just showed how sinful humanity is, will cause all humanity to stop speaking.

They will be prevented from speaking because there will be NO MORE challenges or objections.

They will be prevented from replying with rebuttals and excuses.

Not only will their mouths be stopped, they will be held accountable to God.

Their silence will be evidence of the fact that they are liable before God.

Now Job could say, the knowledge of sin came by God revealing Himself to him.

If you are NOT a Christian here today....

I want you to consider what it means for you to be righteous.

Where does your righteousness come from?

I will tell you, it may not be tomorrow.

But some day, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

We will all stand before the judgment seat of the King of Kings.

What will you say?

The difference between the Christian and the NON-Christian is not a greater resolve.

The Christian knows where their righteousness comes from.

The Christian knows their own unworthiness

The Christian knows their own insufficiency.

The Christian agree with the Apostle Paul when he says....

Romans 3:20 NKJV

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

When the law comes in, we are only left like Job holding our mouths with utter disarray.

We are left speechless knowing the weight of our guilt and sin.

But that’s not where the story ends for the Christian.

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

As we behold the undomesticated animals of creation, with silent humility we behold the undomesticated Sovereign Creator.