Job 41:12-34: Sometimes the Details

John 21:1-14, Revelation 21, Job 41:12-34, Zechariah 10-14 Job 41:12-34: It is hard to know exactly what to do with this more extended description of “Leviathan” – especially when we are not sure which animal it is referring to. Job, you remember, is being brought up by the reality of who God is. His power, his majesty, his strength, his glory. This is having the desired effect on Job: while it does not answer Job’s questions about suffering, it does put those questions in an entirely different light. Now, in this perspective, Job is beginning to realize that the answer to the problem of suffering (even his own suffering) is beyond his comprehension. Job does not have his questions answered, but he does meet with The Answer himself. This further description of “Leviathan,” then, serves to underline the difference between Job and God. If God can tame and control and lead and master such a magnificent beast as Leviathan – and it is beyond even Job’s wildest imagination to be able to do so – then it does bring into stark relief just how mighty God is (and how small Job is by comparison). There is a time and a place for such extended descriptions. It is one thing to say that the universe is large. It is another thing to say that while we have no firm idea of the actual size of the universe, scientists believe that the observable universe is something in the region of a diameter of 92 billion light years. The scale of such a phenomenon – itself, strangely, also thought to be nonetheless expanding – is so inconceivable that to even break it down into digits and numbers and figures makes your head hurt. And yet, the God of this universe created this universe and upholds this universe by the word of his power. None of this is big to him. If we are mentally astonished by the achievements of a spaceship exploring Mars (a mere 33.9 million miles or so away), what about the 92 billion light years parameter of the entire universe. And what can we say about a being who “sits in the heavens and laughs” at those who attempt to rebel against him (Psalm 2:4)? How is it that we can think that the most complicated and infrangible questions of life and God can possibly be finally susceptible to a human brain which is around 15 centimeters long? Sometimes the details help us see that we should be humble before God – even when we are faced with suffering. For that then leads us to trust Him again. And worship Him too.]]>