Stand and Deliver

OPENING PRAYER:

Creator God, open my eyes and ears to your truth. Enable me to walk the path ahead of me in the light of your wisdom.

READ: Job 41

41 [a]“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? 2 Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? 3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words? 4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life? 5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house? 6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants? 7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears? 8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! 9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me? 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form. 13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]? 14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth? 15 Its back has[c] rows of shields tightly sealed together; 16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. 17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. 18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn. 19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. 21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth. 22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. 23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. 24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. 25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing. 26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. 27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. 28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it. 29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance. 30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair. 33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear. 34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

Footnotes

[a] Job 41:1 In Hebrew texts 41:1-8 is numbered 40:25-32, and 41:9-34 is numbered 41:1-26.

[b] Job 41:13 Septuagint; Hebrew double bridle

[c] Job 41:15 Or Its pride is its

Job 41

REFLECT:

‘For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name’ (Luke 1:48-49).

God continues to test Job spiritually. He compares Job to himself and asks him: ‘Could you control the Leviathan, the mightiest of sea creatures? Are you the Almighty?’ If Job says he can go where God goes, do the mighty works God does, is able to control all things in heaven and earth as God is able, then Job puts himself in the place of God and curses God as inferior! Even if Job was to think he could do these things, God knows he can’t! But will Job, out of his suffering and wretchedness, lose patience and say, ‘Yes, I can!’?

That would be enough for Satan. No doubt he can hardly believe his luck! This tactic would normally be his own last throw of the dice, and there is God doing it for him. Surely Job’s misery will make him crack and win the prize for Satan.

APPLY:

Sometimes, like Job, we find ourselves under great stress: everything seems to be working against us. Do we react prayerfully, or with frustration, even rage? In times of testing, to whom do we turn, and how?

I WILL STATEMENT:

I Will pray at least once this week with my spouse.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Dear Lord, let my thoughts, words, and conduct keep me on the good path you have laid out for me.

WORSHIP:

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