WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? HOW???
Suggested Reading: Job 38
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
An aerial view of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Job 38:4
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who? What? When? Where? How? The “WHY?” question is not asked by God in our reading. He may be leaving that to us to figure out. God speaks!!! We must learn to be among those who know His voice. Jesus said, “My sheep know My voice” (John 3:27). Many of you responded to my blog request two days ago to help my great-grandson Myles. One response was from Frances Gray, who pointed Myles to the story of the child Samuel, who didn’t know at first that it was God talking to him (Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10).
Job 38 amazes me. It speaks of God’s protection of the continents from being inundated by the sea. It infers that the Earth rotates like a potter turning his clay. It seems to refer to the great ice age when the light was withheld from the Earth. It’s obvious that the constellations in the heavens are still the same. The Lord refers to the human mind, which the famous neurosurgeon, Dr. Wilder Penfield of Montreal, declared “is NOT the brain.” Yet we know that the human brain is the most complicated organization of matter in the known universe. The “mind” lives on after the brain has gone to dust. The “heart” (our innermost being, not the pump in our chests) lives forever. Let us spend time meditating and perhaps reading this chapter several times slowly. Listening to it being read online is worth trying, if you haven’t already (HERE is the link, then click on the small speaker icon above the Scripture passage). The New King James translation, which I use, does not yet have an audio recording available on the BibleGateway website. The NIV is also an excellent translation.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I need Your help to even begin to get my mind around the fact of Your greatness. I sing, “How Great Thou Art” (click here for a worship experience). I pray in the Name of the One Who is “Creator,” Who, according to Paul, was the reason all things were created…”All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:15-17), Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
In your responses to my request for help for Myles (Wednesday’s blog), I was delighted with all the comments. I’ll try to find the time to go over them with Myles this weekend. For example, Catherine compared life to a puzzle, Donna to the way a puppy learns, and Ger said that Jesus was the only One who did not mess up. Hike said that learning about life was like building with lego. Diane wrote, “Myles, you and Jesus are now one…He will help you.” Peter likened Myles’ struggles to be a good boy like it was when he learned to walk. Someone whose pen name is “Lost Sheep” reminds Myles of the reason a pencil has an eraser. I could go on and on with many more comments. They are all excellent (if you missed reading the responses, click here and scroll down). Thank You for helping this great-grand’pa answer Myles’ questions! I love you all!
I hosted a TV series produced back in 1979 which became the first Christian series ever carried by state television across all 15 republics of the Soviet Union. It was designed to create doubts in the minds of those who declared, “There is no God.” The disastrous experiment of atheistic government would not have been possible without some source of intellectual undergirding. Charles Darwin provided that philosophical foundation. The evils of the Nazi regime, as well as the communist regimes, were based on the concept of “the survival of the fittest.” I invite our readers to CLICK HERE for one of the “Crossroads Creation” series (note that the contact information on these 1979 programs is no longer correct). Of course, the Russian language was recorded over my English words and those of my guests. This is a 30-minute show. I hope my fellow bloggers can take time to watch. The second Christian series carried across the USSR was a children’s program we produced called “Kingdom Adventure.” More than 1,000,000 letters were received from kids into the Moscow office asking for the colouring book, which explained the way of salvation and invited the children to believe in Jesus and invite Him into their hearts. In my most recent book, which was published in June, I give many more details of this amazing intervention of God into USSR prime time television (pages 105, 109, 112, and 166-172). Here’s how you can get a copy of, “This Far By Faith.”
Yours (as I’ve written many, many times in my letters over the years) “in Christ’s love and service,”
David
P.S. Here is a picture of Myles and his great-grand’pa.
I love this chapter, not only for it’s captivating rhetorical style but also as a wonderful singular piece of literature. God speaks to Job and God speaks to each one of us when He asks such profound questions as “Where were you when I built the foundations of the earth?” Of course there’s no answers, for the answers are veiled in the questions. There’s much more discourse yet to come between God and Job, but I think what this chapter really does is to lay out the foundation of who God is in his glory and His awesome power in juxtaposition to who we are, His creation. I know this doesn’t sound much like a personal Jesus and a comforting Saviour, but I think it does reflect another dimension of a great Omnipotent God and yet Omnipresent God who does care very much for His creation and who reveals His case here great proficiency. In the end, we bow our knee towards Him and say what a great and mighty God who created both the cosmos and His people with great detail and in great love. Our God is like no other, worthy of both glory and praise! Amen!
Gods creation, including our lives, is so extensive that it is impossible to fully comprehend. I am left humbly standing in awe and inspiration, only to feed on the magnificance of all that surrounds and is in and through us. It truly does boil down to love, as God IS love. No amount of intellectual gymnastics or contrarian views can stand against our eternal Father and Christ, both man and God. Thank you for your words today, David! Have a great day, to all!
Hi David, You have chosen well the kind of answers that little Myles will understand, from the little boy Samuel’s experience in the bible, to the down to earth illustrations, such as using examples of familiar things like a puppy, a puzzle, lego and an eraser. Didn’t Jesus do the same, when he said the kingdom of Heaven is like…….We can all learn from this exercise of creative answers. Isn’t that great! Reading the words spoken to Job (and us) by our Heavenly Father, it made me gasp at how little we are. and made me relate more to what David said in Psalm 8:4 “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him.”(NIV) Yet he proved his love when he sent Jesus to the cross to save us from our sins! (John 3:16) Let’s all shout for joy!
Great blog David and fellow bloggers!
I know there were a lot of responses to Myles question it was hard to keep them all straight, but to be fair it was David, not me. that gave the excellent illustration of the puppy— I just want make sure he gets the credit for it.
As for today’s reading it is interesting mankind still struggles with those questions although God answers most of them in His Word. Yes God is complex and we cannot know everything about Him, but at the same time God makes it simple if we are willing to take Him at His Word– and just believe the evidence in front of us.
Praise God , the posting works for me today. That is a beautiful picture with the light from heaven streaming across your faces, David. It’s wonderful how the Lord can reveal Himself to a young child.
God’s words are so powerful in Job 38! Wow!! I think of people who propose the big bang theory, which explains nothing at all about the creation of every living cell, especially human beings! I think of people who say, “do you think God really wrote the bible”? as if it was a group of merry men who penned these prophetic words about creation that no one but God could know and explain.
I want to say I am overwhelmed by the greatness of God speaking to Job in this chapter, but it is much more profound than that. Perhaps it comes as a reaffirmation of God’s power and purpose for all of us when we need to be reminded He is the Sovereign Creator and it is all about Him. He is here, there, and everywhere. He is in all things and every breath of life. He is omnipotent–the alpha–and the omega. Clearly, as Paul has pointed out, all things were created through Him and for Him.
I think of so many times I have held onto something someone has said, or that which has rubbed me the wrong way; being stuck in the rat race of head games people play and competitive for attention, without knowing it. I think of holding onto my feelings and keeping it about me, rather than letting go and being free in the spirit.
When we claim Jesus as our Saviour–God’s gift of His Son, through whom we may be saved and forgiven–the Holy Spirit breathes in and through us. That is surely, what we need! When we let go of life being about us and get that it is all about God, and start living for Him, hurts of life fade away. Job 38 has reminded me when I have needed it and will continue to remind me, each and every day.
Praise God for this daily bible study, David Mainse, and for His loving grace! May God bless you and Myles and your family, this week-end!
God bless you, fellow saints! You are such wonderful fruits of the vine!! Or as we would say to Myles, little chickadees! 🙂
Thankyou again Pastor David!!!!!!
Dear Rev. David M .
I would love to be a little bird in the air watching over you and Myles sharing together God in all His Glory .What precious teaching each of you bloggers have been giving us future grandparents on how to handle the tricky and major questions coming from our Heavenly Father most precious jewels His children .
So Lord Jesus Thankyou for keeping all your children and I include myself at 60 as one so grateful to be able to run to every minute of a day .
Thankyou JESUS thankyou LORD and let us now be Your shining light as we proceed to this long weekend.
Have a blessed day
xxxx Carole.
Oops
gang I meant to say the tricky questions coming from our dear children not from God
Dear Pastor David,
Sorry to miss your post on Wednesday as my internet was down and I also experienced a thrilling incident of bleeding non-stopped from my injection of bloodthinner. (With icepacks and applying pressure, still bleeds throughout the night for 10 hours, but Praise God that He finally let it stop, and save me from further harm. Oncologist advised to continue with daily bloodthinner injection but just be watchful next time not to puncture the needle too deep into the belly. God’s grace is sufficient!)
I read your blog and the comments of the bloggers. Very rich comments and ideas, which I could use to help my own kids. Myles’ questions remind me of my 8 year-old. He asked that a lot before and after he accepted Christ two years ago.
I wonder if this answer would also be helpful for Myles:
“It’s like you need to take a shower and wash your hands everyday, because everyday when you get out, you get a chance to interact with germs. God didn’t promise a germ-free environment but give you a natural immune system to fight off germs. Yet, you need to take care of yourself by careful washing before eating daily. Sins are sort of like germs. After we accepted Jesus, God doesn’t promise us we won’t sin anymore, but He promises when we repent from our sins and pray and read His word daily, that is to draw ourselves close to Him, we sort of strengthen our spiritual immune system so that we might fight off sins and not fall into temptation so easily. Building up our body’s immune system takes daily work, same as our spiritual immune system. If we don’t care about washing hands frequently and pick up food with our dirty hands, we might easily got very sick. So, if we don’t care about praying to God and reading His word daily, our spirit will too get very sick and tend to sin and turn away from God.”
Something like that. Hope this little comment will add onto your imagination of much proper words and analogy to guide your lovely great grandson.
In His love,
Janet
Job 38 &39(read a little ahead) are good chapters to refer people to who doubt the existence of God, Amen?
Amen, sister Ger!
I love the picture of you and Myles it looks very much like a painting that
someone did early in the morning is it?
Have a great weekend with your families
God bless
Lianne
Dear David:
I went to Missionfest 2011 and I was greatly moved and impressed by a 7 year old – Andrew – who gave a testimony of being brought to Missionfest by one of the elders in his church. And there was an invitation to invite Christ into their young hearts. Andrew said he thought about and then made the decision and that he has never experienced such grace in his life before. Since then he has been encouraging his peers make the same decision he has.
God is still in control – He is in control – He is sovereign – what he did for Andrew – He can do for Myles. Andrew moved on the heart of everyone there.
Tell Myles to be encouraged.
The book of Enoch, which is refered to in the New Testament, describes the apostate angels that corrupted humanity before the flood. God told Enoch to tell those angels, though they think they have taken the secrets of God, those secrets were not the important ones. Now, Men do spend a lot of energy trying to see the end of space and the age of the earth and how it all works but all these things are not the important things and since they deny God, they get it wrong. Though they might make some discoveries, they try to squeeze them into Darwin’s theories on life. We see the miracles that are described in Job but today, the grade two student will say that he knows how the earth stays in it’s place: he thinks it is an accident of opposing forces balanced out. Jesus is that great mystery of which the apostles said all the angels desired to see.
Good analogy. I hope God heals you. Paul said that faith is the hopeful expectation of what is not known. I pray but I also hope. May this be rewarded with knowlege by miracles of healing.
I mean Janet’s analogy of germs to sin and our immune systems to repentance and faith. I meant to reply to her comment but it put me here instead of after her comment.
🙂
M.
Wonderful comments fellow bloggers.
You enrich the lives of all who read this blog.
Thank you Jesus for this blog. Amen!
M.