Job 41.8 8 Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you
will not do it again! – God (ESV)
In life there are myriad opportunities to screw up. It’s
just true that we learn through trial and error – these two are our best
teachers.
In Job 41 the Lord speaks to Job about Leviathan.
Although most scholars are not sure exactly what Leviathan is, it’s pretty
clear from the narrative that he is big, and mean, and has absolutely no regard
for humans. And so God explains to Job, “grab
ahold of him big boy and you’ll find out quickly what a real battle is all
about – you’ll be smarter next time!”
In other words: Job
there are things in this life that are beyond you and the only way you’ll
figure it out is if you try to tackle them – you’ll quickly find out just how
small and limited you are. And then for emphasis God adds: …like your trying to tackle Me. Trying to
tackle God is a fool’s errand. Trying to figure Him out and put Him in our
little box is just plain stupid.
But folks (like you and me and everyone else) try to do
it all the time. The only way to figure out just how frightening Leviathan is
is when his gaping maw closes in on you, and your blood-curdling screams for
mercy fall on deaf ears. I don’t think God is that merciless but I do think He
allows us to get into situations where the only thing that will save us – THE ONLY
THING – is our blood-curdling screams for mercy.
That is the lesson of trial and error. We might think we
can handle God until we find ourselves in a place where only His mercy and our
screams for it will help. Job was dressed down by God for trying to claim he
had an understanding of God. What Job lacked was respect for God. Job had
lowered God to his level and then tried (albeit intellectually) to tame the
Wild Beast. (Yes, I just called my God and Father the Wild Beast; it’s what I deserve
for trying to bring Him down to my level and cram Him into my cardboard box to
contain Him. Foolish man!)
As I am wont to say, there are four kinds of people on
this earth: those who know and know it; those who don’t know and know it; those
who know and don’t know it; and those who don’t know and don’t know it. I find
myself in category four often times and it takes my stupidly grabbing ahold of
Leviathan’s tail to remind me I don’t know and didn’t know it.
God wants you and me to know that we know. Our hearts are
so perverted and twisted and broken that at times the only way to know just how
bad we are is to slam into a brick wall at high speed. God doesn’t desire we
slam into the wall but He also doesn’t want us to go through life not knowing
we don’t know. The Answer to every human problem and issue, and the grand-daddy
of them all: our fallenness, is God. Period. And He’s pretty good at providing
Leviathans to help us know that we know – after all, He made Leviathan.
Papa, Wild Beast that You are, help Your servant and
child to know it and know that I know it. I cannot make it through these days
without You and help me – whatever it takes to get it! Thank You for the
Leviathan’s in my life but thank You more for mercy and in Your mercy may I
find humility, and grace, and salvation from the stupid things I do – Amen.
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