GOD’S QUESTIONS?
Suggested Reading: Job 40
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
It was in this area of the Jordan River that Jesus was baptized. Looking from the Jordanian side, you can see the Greek Orthodox Church in the distance. Five kilometres beyond the church is Jericho. Today's reading says of the Behemoth creature, "The Jordan gushes into his mouth" (Job 40:23b). This may have been a description 0f a brontosaurus dinosaur who, so it is estimated, could grow to a weight of 30 tons.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Job 40:7-8
Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
Some day at the final judgement, God will ask the questions. This may be one of those questions. It is often said, “If God is good and all powerful, why does He let people die in war, famine, and disease?” Our answer is found in the key verse. People try to justify themselves or our fellow humans by making God out to be the culprit. Take the current events in Syria for example. In order to make the killing stop, God would have to violate His own moral standards and rob both government and rebel leaders of their free will. They pray unwittingly to Satan, and the result is that they become destroyers like Satan. Free choices, the very qualities that make us human, are ours to make, thus we suffer the consequences. The 20th century saw the greatest number (millions) of people in human history murdered. Perhaps 10 million perished as a result of what was called National Socialism in Europe (Hitler), and as many as 100 million in Russia, the Ukraine, China, Cambodia and other countries through Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others (Communism). The undergirding belief common to both was that lower forms of life should be wiped off the earth so that more highly evolved people could thrive in a socialist paradise.
Dress the holocausts up however we will, it was the belief that we will never stand before God in judgement (either He does not exist or as one of the fathers of such thinking taught, “God is dead”), along with the belief in “the survival of the fittest,” which was the genesis of such tremendous evil!!! People who claim to believe that they are answerable to the great Creator of the Universe could not commit such atrocities without trembling in fear.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I pray that increasingly I will fear You in great awe and respect, so that I’ll live my life honouring You, Your creation, and all the people on earth. Because You, Lord Jesus, took judgement for evil upon Yourself as You suffered on the Cross, I am justified in Your sight, O Holy God. Thank You for changing everything, Lord Jesus! In Your Name, Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
As a boy I was intrigued by dinosaur skeletons which we would visit in Canada’s national museum in Ottawa. When I made it clear that I believed God created these amazing creatures, I was ridiculed by my teacher. I felt like saying, “Pick on someone your own size,” but I did not believe I could defend my position at the time. I would have loved to have shown my science teacher our Crossroads Creation television series which aired across the Soviet Union about 25 years ago. I’ll try to attach one of these episodes called “Dinosaurs and Man” (click here). The set of 13 shows fell into the hands of the head of the Russian Academy of Science, and he in turn gave them to the head of Radio and Television Moscow. I received a fax asking me for permission to air them across all 15 republics. I faxed back to the effect that I could’nt believe that the USSR, the centre for the promotion of world atheism, would do such a thing. I asked for an affidavit and a formal contract before I would believe them and agree to their request. Within a week they complied and carried our series in prime time for 13 weeks from January through the end of March,1989. They were released as the first Christian-produced telecasts ever carried on USSR television. Forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but my mind is still boggled at the magnitude of this development. This resulted in my invitation to preach the very first ever conference of church leaders from all 15 republics in Moscow. A mobile TV production truck, which Crossroads donated to a newly created Russian ministry, covered the conference, but that is another story far too complicated for this blog (I think I covered it in my “This Far By Faith” book).
Yours for the greater glory of our great Creator God!
David
P.S. The descriptions of unusual creatures in today’s and tomorrow’s readings cannot be anything other than Dinosaurs. Today’s sounds like a brontosaurus (the Behemoth, Job 40:15-24). Dinosaurs are so exciting to children that my great-grandson, James Stowell, wore a dinosaur hat all day Saturday at our home during a birthday party. I find it difficult to resist sharing such pictures with you. Here it is…
Apatosaurus, also known as the Brontosaurus, possibly fits the unusual description of the Behemoth in today's reading.
Good morning David:
The picture of your great-grandson is so adorable in that dinosaur hat. He certainly is having great fun with it. Thank you for your amazing faithfulness in writing this blog. I am certainly learning a great deal. You are truly a humble man. Have a great day. Christy
There are many who wonder why God would allow such atrocities to take place and you have shed light on the fact it is human will alone which does so. Such heinous acts as the holocost and poisonous gas on children in Syria exemplify how twisted are the thoughts of those in power who are absent of our Creators wisdom and understanding, for it was said in Job 28:28 And he said to the human race,
28 And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
Thank you Lord for David and speaking through him to us and help us to meditate on your word continually and use each and every one of us in your havest field thank you for giving strength to David and draw all our family members and friends and people you put in our path give us boldness and the words in our mouths to speak and that we will be ready for your return and you will say to us come into my rest thy good and faithful servant , in Jesus name Amen ,
Thank you David for sharing your family and your boyhood adventures with us , I am looking forward to many many more they are wonderful as well as the beautiful pivtures too thank you David God Bless You dear presious servant of God
Thank you God for speaking throught David
Lianne Hogg
Syria and other atrocities in the world always bring the question of “Why?” to my mind. Then I think of the lack that many that hate, kill and disregard human life have. They lack compassion, understanding, but mostly a knowledge of the Lord, Jesus Christ. No one in their right mind could do such awful things as the those you named in the blog today did…. My mind wonders to Matthew 25:40 where it states:
“”The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ NIV
How can anyone that understands God’s will exercise their free will in such a way and have such hate and disregard for human life – no matter what the person’s station in life is….
The great Mother Teresa stated:
“I see God in every human being.
When I wash the leper’s wounds I feel I am nursing the Lord himself….”
How could anyone kill if they embraced her worlds in their heart?
The people of the world need a saving knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ…
Very informative blog David and fellow bloggers and thank you for sharing family photos.
Thank you Pastor David. I arise each morning early, get on my knees and seek God and commune with Him. I’ve been doing this consistently this summer and even though that is not a long time, I cannot believe how many years went by, and how I did not do this. I’ve learned – and been shown by The Lord – how crucial this quiet time is with Him. Right after it, I reach for this blog, just as consistently, for it is my direction and spiritual nourishment. Pastor David, thank you for taking your time with me in March 1979, when I was but a boy……and thank you for the same today, taking your time, each day today, to ensure that I and my Christian brothers and sisters, have spiritual nourishment and direction with this blog. God bless you!
Thank you once again Pastor David for making our readings come alive to what Our Most High God is saying to us through the Word.
The picture of James is delightful and thanks for sharing about the dinosaurs.
All children are fascinated by them, especially the little boys.
Your story of telling your teacher brought back memories of a time our son was asked “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” His response was the chicken and the teacher said with most of the others the egg. She asked why he felt that way and he said God created the animals fish and fowls, she said that’s only found in a book, He politely said, well isn’t that where you got your information too?” He was only six at the time!! Oh that we would all speak up for Our Wonderful Creator.
P.S. thank you fellow bloggers for your prayers for me……praying your worship time in The House of he Lord will be precious today.
Oh that we could all have the faith of a child, sometimes they make far more sense than the adults.
In the old testament. for example King David, would pray for God’s help when an enemy was coming against them. Many times the enemy was all dead when they found them. !!!!! Elaine
Thankyou!!!God bless you and us all!!!!!
Dear Rev. David M .
What a joy it is to share with you the wonderful innocence of Gods children . I remember as a little girl sitting with my great aunt showing me a picture of Jesus sitting under a tree with little children gathered around him and on that picture were the french words Laissez venir a moi les petits enfants ( let little ones come to me ). I then understood that I had a very special Friend in Jesus .
Have a blessed day fellow bloggers worshipping ,giving thanks to our Saviour , our King Jesus we love you .
xxxx Carole.
Bless you David for your wonderful words of God’s wisdom!!
I was thinking the same reasons for Syria’s situation and all the other wars. Mankind has to awaken spiritually to God’s word and stop thinking ihe Everlasting Lord . who is all Good and all Just is responsible!!
Non-believers have to “Be the Change”
Blessings,
Margaret
We continue on a journey through the Book of Job where God puts some pretty tough arguments to Job. When faced with the sheer magnitude of our Creator and all He has initiated, like Job, we have very little to say in our defence. If only for the brilliance and magnificent ways in which God has placed his handprint upon creation, how could anyone look at the world around and disbelieve in a Creator God? Just star-gaze for a time on a beautifully clear night and then say there is no God. Job knew who his Creator was, if we are wise, we will too.
Thank you David for your insight into God’s Word. I love reading your blog. Your little great-grandson in the dinosaur hat is adorable, reminds me of my grandson. God bless you David. You truly are a man of God.
Blessings in the Lord,
Alma
I thought dinosaurs all perished in the flood. The evidence of a sudden end to those creatures is strong. Then, there less unnatural relatives populated the earth after the flood. Enoch writes about the giants in the earth that began when the rebelious angels married women who the gave birth to monsters. It does not mention the giant animals but I think the one is connected to the other. Anyway, we will know someday from God. Pertaining to free will, God can intervene in the ways of leaders. God put it in the hearts of Darius, Cyrus and Ahasarus to be good to the jews. He caused pharaoh to make Joseph a minister in pharaoh’s government. He caused another pharaoh to hate the jews. It is by God’s will that we live or die. It is God who made one an enemy and another a friend. “Jacob have I loved…but Esau have I hated:” before either had done good or bad. So is God playing with us frivolously? No way. Jesus said, “woe unto the world because of offences, for it must be that offences come, but woe unto that man by whom the offence comes. It would be better for that man that he would be drowned in the depths of the sea than that he would offend against one child who believes in me.”
🙂
M.
Mr. Mainse: Many thanks and blessings for your 100 word blog……I was wondering about your comment ” they pray unwittingly to Satan” could you drop me a line and explain this please.
thank you and again, your blog is exactly what the world needs to read.