God the Creator and Provider

Job 38:1–40:5 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. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass? “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together? “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. “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. He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. “Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider. “Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? 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. “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? 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.” And the Lord said to Job: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” 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.”

Scripture: Job 38:1-40:5

Sermon Title: God the Creator and Provider

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, Christie and I are planning a trip to the Black Hills. A few days away to relax, to study, and to spend time alone with God. That means we have to figure out where we will lodge and if we want to hike, where we will go. A lot of people have their favorite spots and recommendations, but simply looking at it on the internet with eyes that have only driven through the area once, it is quite overwhelming. 

           The Black Hills National Forest covers over 8,000 square miles. I know not all of it is accessible by walking or by vehicle, but still just to pick one area of that is a daunting task. But then I wondered, what is the area of all the land in the world? It turns out that there are almost 57,269,000 square miles of land. All of a sudden 8,000 square miles does not seem like much. The Hills make up one-hundredth of a percent of the total land area on earth; that is .01%. If we were to add all of the water, the lakes and seas and oceans, the area of the surface of the whole world is 197,000,000 square miles. Again the Black Hills Forest only covers just over 8,000 square miles. That means they make up 4 thousandths of a percent of the total surface of the earth; .004%. When I think about it like that, all of a sudden, picking out a place or two to go stay and hike in the Hills does not seem like that big of a deal.   

           When we consider all that God has made, it is truly overwhelming. Some of us are worried about making something nice out of our small yards and maintaining them. Many in our area cultivate and work to provide for big fields, acres and acres of land. But God is the one who created all of it; he is the source! He spoke all things into existence and into motion. He made this land, and he made it suitable for producing vegetation and prairie grasslands. He created the hills and the mountains, planted the trees and has used rushing water to carve out canyons. When we think of all the things we find here and within just a few hours of us, we are already amazed with all God has done. Yet there are so many unique features on the rest of the earth and in the waters; this does not even begin to get at what we have learned about our galaxy and the universe. It is God who has carefully planned, created, and provided for all of it, each and every day.  

           Maybe listening to the 70 verses of God’s questions and statements seemed boring and like too much. But can you imagine what Job must have felt when the voice of God went on and on, not reading someone else’s words, but speaking passionately and authoritatively to him?  Then the question and exclamation comes, “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” God had presented his majesty, his power, his creativity and sustaining of the heavens and the earth and just a few of the creatures in them! Job was speechless. 

As a dad, I have trouble comprehending that out of Christie and I came this wonderful gift, our beautiful daughter, Addison. It is certainly a blessing as many of you can also attest to, but it is hard to fathom. I get the biology and anatomy, but that it comes together into a living, breathing, thinking, emotional person is beyond me. What Job was being asked to see was that what God has done is truly unfathomable, it shows us how insignificant we are. When we confess in the Apostles’ Creed or in common words that God alone is the Creator and Provider—we are ascribing all of this, this masterpiece, to the one God.

We could have kept on reading in Job, because God was not satisfied. He did not allow Job off the hook quite yet. He went on for another 52 verses, and chapter 41 is all about a monster of the sea, the leviathan, a magnificent but terrifying creature. Has Job had any part in all of this? Has he accomplished these things? Job did not create them, but God also wants him to see that he is not their provider. What does Job have to worry about when God is the one who is watching over not just one person or one animal, one monster of the sea, one star, one hailstone—but all of them! God created them and he sustains them. To echo words similar to Abraham Kuyper, not one thing happens in all of creation that God says I have no watch over. Not one thing can be created that he cannot say, “I brought that into existence.” 

Job’s first response was, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” All he could say was, “I put my hand over my mouth.” Unworthy is a nice way to translate this. Other translations use “I am of small account, insignificant,” and for those using the King James Version, “I am vile.” Warren Wiersbe comments, “Job thought he knew about God, but he didn’t realize how much he didn’t know about God. Knowledge of our own ignorance is the first step toward true wisdom.” 

Job felt horrible; he had been belittled by God, humiliated by him, and in front of his friends no less.  Job thought that he understood God, that he understood what it was like to be him, that he knew what went on his mind. Things had all of a sudden stopped going well for him, and he could not figure out why—so he blamed God. God responded by saying, “You have no idea about what you are saying.” 

There are certainly times in our own lives, for many of us, when we wonder what God is doing. How is any of this for our good? How can God truly expect me to know his love through persecution, through cancer, through a tragic death? That is the situation that Job found himself in. He was a man who had lived a very good life in comparison to the wicked around him. Why now these hardships, why this loss of property and life all around him? God’s response in all of his mocking is to show Job that he has it all in his hands. He is watching over the heavens and all of the animals, he will send rain even on barren land. If he can do all that, then he will also look out for his people and always be sure to provide for them.

God did not explain to Job why he allowed Satan to tempt him. But he did desire that in all that he experienced, the great times as well as in suffering, that Job would honor and trust him. The way that he presents that is by showing him all that he had accomplished and all that he continues to do. We confessed it in answer 28, believing in God as the one who is creating and providing, we can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and confident in him going forward. There has not and there will never be a day when he leaves us. There will never be a day when God says, “I am going to take a day off from being God—he may rest, but he never denies who he is.” If that is all true, then there will never be a time when we need to wonder if all things will work out.

God gave Job the opportunity to struggle with him, and he affords that opportunity as well. He gives us the opportunity to blame him, to wonder why certain things have happened. But in knowing him more and more, truly putting our hope and our trust in him as we mature in our faith—we will not doubt that he will provide for every need. Through our uncertainties, we can be patient that he will be good, and that he loves us. 

The end that God was working toward with his servant Job was repentance and for Job to be able to trust him again. It was that Job would understand God not as his equal but as greater than anything; he would come to grips with God being eternal, all-powerful and mighty, the one who can see and know all things. As humans we have the tendency to make God our personal God. It is him and me—and when things are going great in my life, then God is good. That is not something new, that goes all the way back to the beginning of time. 

God certainly desires and commits himself personally to each and every one of us. He knows what I need, he know what you need—he created us with those needs and he created the solutions and the satisfactions of those needs. But let us remember he is the creator of all things. There is not a Creator God of Dan De Graff, and another one of Gary Maas, and another one of each of you. He is truly the Creator of us all, the Creator of heaven and earth and everything in them. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he is our Father if our trust in him. He knows when he will unleash the rain, when he will bring the sun out to shine. He knows how the corn and beans and wheat will develop. He knows the number of your days and mine. Let us be confident, let us be patient as we trust in him and in his love. 

Paul writes in Romans 1:20, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” I am excited to go with my wife and daughter to the Black Hills, and we will see a few inches and a few miles of God’s vast creation. We will marvel at what he has done, and what he has continued to provide for. But let us always remember that it is not the creation that we worship, but it is the eternal Creator and Provider. Amen.