Of Goats and Donkeys, Oxen, Ostriches, and Horses

One challenge with social media, email, text messages is that tone is hard to read. If someone writes, “Yeah, right!” are they agreeing with you or being sarcastic, “yeah, right”? It’s hard to be sure.

There’s a similar problem when the Lord speaks to Job out of the storm. What is the Lord’s tone of voice?

Is God bellowing at Job like a drill sergeant for 4 chs., tearing a strip off his hide?

Or has the Lord put a fatherly arm on Job’s shoulders to chide him gently; to correct his mistaken ideas about God’s justice?

It makes a difference for how you read these chapters.

Let’s talk first about what’s going on in the book of Job so we have a framework to understand the passage we read. Then we’ll roll up our sleeves and see how this passage helps us pray for God’s blessing on agriculture.

Job’s story is told as part of OT Wisdom Lit. After being introduced to Job’s righteousness and extensive wealth, the scene shifts to heaven where the Lord God holds court with all the angels (holy & unholy). God points out to Satan how blameless and upright Job is.

Satan said, “Yeah, right! You’ve protected him and blessed him. If you take all the blessings away, Job will curse you.” God gives Satan permission to put Job to the test.

Stolen: 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen, 500 donkeys. Job’s 7 sons & 3 daughters die when a windstorm topples the house and a large number of servants are put to the sword.

Great book about God’s providence, isn’t it? ;-)

Even after loosing all his stuff and as he mourns for his 10 children, Job keeps his integrity and refused to curse God.

The next time the Lord God holds court with all the angels (holy & unholy) he again pointed out how blameless and upright Job is. Once again, Satan said, “yeah, right.” That’s all external. Satan gains permission to push the test further. Job was afflicted with painful sores from soles of feet to crown of head. Still, Job didn’t curse God.

What follows is amazing! Job’s friends came and sat with him. For 7 days Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were a great comfort – they didn’t say a word. It’s when they started to talk that things went downhill. Basically Job’s 3 friends figure that Job must have sinned or he wouldn’t be suffering so much.

Job insists that he did nothing to deserve this level of suffering. As readers, we know Job IS innocent. His misery isn’t punishment.

Job didn’t curse the Lord, but Job does get fed up. He questions God’s justice. Is it fair of God to let bad things happen to me? Job desperately wants to meet God, thrash things out with God in court, and sue for justice.

From Job 3-31, Job and his 3 friends debate Job’s innocence and God’s justice.

Finally, in ch. 32-37, someone else breaks in. Elihu defends God’s justice. In some ways, Elihu is the opening act for God.

“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.

Do you know how God controls the clouds

and makes his lightning flash?

Do you know how the clouds hang poised,

those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?

Job 37:14–16 (NIV)

God grants Job his wish. You want to meet, talk things out? Ok . . .

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“Who is this that obscures my plans

with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you, and you shall answer me.

Job 38:1–3 (NIV)

It’s like the founder of a business chiding a co-op student: You think you could run the company better? Let’s review your credentials: Weren’t you in diapers when I started?

The Lord is talking to Job, but you can hear God’s delight in his creation. He’s pleased with it; proud of the details. The Lord sounds a little bit like a new momma describing her newborn’s fingers w/ wrinkles on the knuckles and chubby, chubby legs.

God’s tone of delight is important for reading the Lord’s speeches. It doesn’t seem that God pins Job to the wall to pummel him w/ words. There’s too much humour and obvious delight. The Lord chides Job. He corrects this upright and blameless man rather pointedly. But it’s not cruel or vengeful. God sets Job straight with a stern talking-to.

7 yrs ago, when Isaiah’s goat had kids, the 2 of us kept an eye on her, just in case she needed help.

But God points out that Job isn’t around when mountain goats give birth. No one is. Mountain goats give birth high in the rocky heights. ‘Way beyond human help. Implication: God watches nanny goats bear their kids. The Lordknows when & where they give birth.

Job, you might not be the right person to take on God’s job running the world. Are you really sure you want to challenge the Lordon the way he does things? Aren’t you out of your league here?

Consider wild donkeys or wild cattle. They’re untamed. Do you really want to try and harness them to a cart or a plough?

God is responsible for their freedom. He gives them space to roam:

“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?

I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.

Job 39:5–6 (NIV)

Ostriches get a bad reputation here as parents. They’re actually not bad parents. But ostriches are weird animals! Odd looking, strange behaving, and no matter how hard they flap their wings, they remain flightless. Yet God takes delight in their speed!

Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,

she laughs at horse and rider.

Job 39:18 (NIV)

BTW, speaking of horses, they are as magnificent and powerful as ostriches are weird.

God sounds pleased with his creation, doesn’t he? He’s proud his handiwork was well made. All was created good. God loves the world.

There’s trouble in the world though. We see the trouble in Job’s life. God’s enemy, Satan, stirs up trouble in the world and in Job’s life. It’s the problem of evil, rooted in rebellion against the Lord. By accusing Job of being a fair-weather believer, Satan instigates deep sorrow and distress for Job, trying to push Job’s faith in the Lord off the rails.

Job knows the problem of sin and disobedience. He knows how deep it goes. In the first verses of the book, we learn that Job regularly offered atoning sacrifices for all 10 of his children. He worries “perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.”

Like all OT sacrifices, Job’s burnt offerings on behalf of his children point to an atoning sacrifice that covers sin and guilt once and for all. Jesus is the Lord God himself, who loves his creation deeply enough to become human and bridge the gap between God and humankind.

By dying on the cross, Jesus takes your sin and guilt. He can bear the punishment for sin b/c he is God. He can be your substitute b/c he is human. Jesus dies in your place b/c he loves you; he loves the world.

Job’s story tells both parts of that story. We see both God’s deep personal pleasure in Job – bragging about Job as blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil. God’s love for Job includes fatherly correction, chiding Job lovingly for his wrong ideas about justice and God’s ability to run the world properly.

We also see the Lord’s deep pleasure in his creation, rejoicing in goats and donkeys, oxen, ostriches, horses, and eagles. Remember how Jesus said it in the Gospel of John?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NIV)

It’s my prayer that you recognize God’s love for his world and his people isn’t an abstract fact in a book; I hope in reading God’s deep investment in Job’s situation that you see God’s love and concern for you is deeply personal too.

If the Lord invests himself so deeply into his creation, laying down his life as an atoning sacrifice, what would stop you from putting your faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord?

Why not accept his invitation to be counted among God’s children?

If God looks after the mountain goats when they give birth and sets land aside for wild donkeys to live, don’t you want to depend on his providence for you too?

God’s loving investment in his creation ought to give you confidence to trust him, trust him 100% to rescue from sin and death so you can live with him and live for him. As a dearly loved child of God, you can trust him as a heavenly Father to provide for your needs – for daily bread – but also for the seasons to follow the pattern God set when he created the world: spring, summer, fall, and winter; planting and growing, harvest and a season for the land to rest.

God’s providential care for the world emboldens us to pray for the sunshine and rain we need this summer. To pray for seeds to germinate and grow. For safety as we work. We pray to the Lord b/c there’s nowhere else to go w/ our requests.

After this talking-to from the Lord, Job has nothing more to say.

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

I spoke once, but I have no answer—

twice, but I will say no more.”

Job 40:4–5 (NIV)

But the Lord’s response should give us great confidence in the Lord. If God takes such delight in his creation and cares for pregnant mountain goats, won’t he care for humankind? Won’t he continue to ensure that we receive what we need?