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"Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Who stretched a measuring line across it?" (Job 38:4-5 NIV)
Because of the closeness I feel toward my God, I sometimes forget who He really is. When I address Him as Father or friend, I can sometimes forget His majesty, His power, and that he spoke the earth into existence. I sometimes unconsciously assign to Him the smallness of humankind. I must not forget that the one I speak to about my most intimate feelings and fears made the stars and named them one by one. He who I pray to, according to the book of Job, told the sea where its boundaries were when He declared, “You may come this far, but no further; here your proud waves must stop.” (Job 38:11 NIV) He asked Job, “Have you entered the storehouse of snow, observed the storehouse of hail, or know which direction the lightning is dispersed?” (Job 38:22 NIV)
According to chapter thirty-eight in the book of Job, God questions Job, “Who has begotten the drops of dew?” (Job 38:28 NIV)
In this beautiful chapter, God lays out for Job who He is and what miracles He has done and inquires why should we, mere humans, question the Creator. Why should we the “clay” inquire of the Potter about what’s going on?
The other day, my husband asked me to consider a question he had asked himself. “If you had the privilege of asking Jesus just one question as He stood before you, what would that one question be?” I pondered for a few minutes as many things came to mind, like why cancer exists, why wars rage, or why poverty is so brutal?
But remembering I could ask only one question, I asked, “Why, Lord, did you choose me?” Me, so unworthy of your majesty? Me, so ordinary? Me, so flawed?
It so happened that Larry answered the same thing. Together we ask, “Why us? Why was our family so blessed to be and live as a Christian family?”
We had to conclude that no one can even measure His greatness or understand His motives.
After reading the beautiful words in Job, I turned to Psalm 145:3-7, a psalm of praise by David:
"Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor, and your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness." (Psalms 145:3-7 NLT).
So I am still led to wonder why this great Lord, as the Bible tells us, knows how many hairs are on my head, collects my tears in a bottle, and engraves me on the palms of His precious hands, chose me. Even in His greatness, He did choose me. “Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives? Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and makes the tender grass spring up?” (Job 38:26-27 NLT)
Jeanie Nihiser
Volunteer and Prayer Warrior with Answers2Prayer Ministries
"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31 NIV)
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