Ah the year begins...

I am almost a week into school, woo hoo! ok, just had to get that out of the way...

So I got home from work today and was really feeling like I should crack open the 'ol Bible...something I do not do often enough...and was led to my favorite passage...again.

A pretty wise guy once shared this with me and a few others, and it has really hit home the past few months.

so I think I'll share it with you now...

Job 38

1Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said:

2"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? 3Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- 7while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9when I make the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'? 12Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, 13that it might take he earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? 14The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. 15The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. 16Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or waked in the recesses of the deep? 17Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. 19What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? 20Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? 21Surely you know, for you were already born! You Have lived so many years! 22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, 23which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? 24What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? 25Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, 26to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, 27to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with a grass? 28Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? 29From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens 30when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? 31Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you lose the cords of Orion? 32Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? 33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth? 34Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a frood of water? 35Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'here we are'? 36Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? 37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens 38when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? 39Do you hunt the the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions 40when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41Who provides the food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

... Ok so a little background. [The extra, super paraphrased version...remember I am fitting 37 chapters into a paragraph here] Job was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had a big family, and 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 donkeys, and also had a large number of servants. His kids had bubbling social lives, and always hung out together. Job would give burnt offerings, just in case his children cursed the Lord. He was even looking out for others! So then, Satan comes to the Lord basically suggesting that if the Lord took away Job's hedge of protection and everything he had, Job would "curse the face of the Lord" ...so time goes on, and the Lord proves to Satan that Job won't change, even when Job's friends come talk to him after he's lost his family, farm, servants, money, and health, and tell him, "Uhh, Job. This God of yours seems really cool and all, but if He's doing this to you, you should probably turn your back on Him." Or, "Ya know, I think you've just sinned. Sin, sin, sin, you must be a murderer or something, because this would never happen if you didn't bring it upon yourself. Come on, just come clean, what did you doooo?" Basically, "why, why, why, Why, WHY, WhY, WWHHYY, wwhhyy, why, why, Why, whY, wHy, wwwwhhhhyyyyyy????????????????" (or any other way you can think to type it) Job 38 is what God responds with. I LOVE Job 38 because I receive so much comfort from it. It reminds me to stop asking, "why!" and let God say, "because". Because God knows what's best for us, He just knows we won't get it. Just like when you thought every time your parents answered with "because", it was sooooo irritating. But, it wasn't a cop-out, it was just easier than explaining to a 5 year old why they can't eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. God sees the big picture, and knows what is best for each of our lives. Hopefully you gained a little encouragement from my little bible excerpt. Now, go forth and read the rest of Job! It's fascinatingly powerful.