365 Reflections

Isaiah 41:1–4 (ESV) Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment. 2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step?  He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. 3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod. 4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.  God is speaking and we need to listen in silence. What does He say here? He reminds Israel that everything that has happened on the international stage - even the things that have threatened them - have been orchestrated by Him all along.  You consider the Old Testament narrative of Israel in comparison to the legend stories of other cultures. Israel is portrayed in a most unflattering p...

Job 41:1 (ESV)  Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?    God now uses a water or sea creature called Leviathan to rebuke Job. It could be some mythical sea creature or a crocodile. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this great beast is utterly unusual to man. He cannot catch it, train it, use it as a pet or tame it.  Job 41:2-5 (ESV)  Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?  3  Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?  4  Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? 5  Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?  What is God saying? Simply this: Leviathan is wild beyond measure and yet God has made it. If mankind cannot control this small creature in comparison to the Earth, what hope does man have in control of anything God allows - including suffering. This is the fina...