This Far You May Come

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

"Who is thsi that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?...

Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in teh recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this...

Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?...

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?"

--Job 38:1-13; 16-18; 25-27; 34-36

Check out Jonathan's post. In the aftermath of Katrina, I felt that what Jonathan had to say was right on the money. Also, I encourage you to check out Dr. Moore's blog entry on Katrina. Dr. Moore had family in southern Mississippi during the storm.

An event such as this should make us fall on our faces as we realize that we aren't in control of anything. God is responding to us right now as He did to Job. Job questioned God after God stripped away everything Job valued in life. He clenched his fist at God. Paul Washer once preached, "The man who clenches his fist and blasphemes God does so by the very strength that God gives him!" That quote has stuck with me, and will remain with me.

Before I close this post, I would like to direct your attention to Job's response after God questioned him:

Then Job answered the LORD and said:

"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

'Hear and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
--Job 42:1-6

Should not our reaction to Katrina be the same? I realize that many have lost loved ones. I realize that many have lost everything. Yet what faith it must take to SEE GOD in the midst of such tragedy! If losing EVERYTHING temporary thing on this earth means GAINING ETERNITY, I pray that God would grant me the faith allow God to strip it all away.