Wednesday 29 February – Job 39
The World is in Whose Hands?
A while ago I came across a jokey definition of the word “Godsend” which was, “Best left to Him while we look after ours!”¹ Think about it!!
Once again God is addressing us today about our unfortunate tendency to take over His job of running the universe. In the series of questions God poses to Job in today’s chapter, He is making the point that He sees and understands what ordinary human beings don’t see and don’t understand. As Paul put it in Rom.11:34, “For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has [ever] been His counsellor?” (Amp. Bible). God is challenging Job to trust Him, not to try and reason things out with his mind, nor to get frustrated because things are not working out the way he thinks they should, but simply to rest in peace knowing that God is in control.
We can waste a lot of time and energy trying to hold up God’s end when we should be minding our own business. It is not your responsibility to sort out a friend’s problem, or to change your adult child’s lifestyle, or to make your husband a Christian. Of course, it is good to pray about these things, and if God specifically tells us to say or do something we must be obedient, but beyond that point we need to let go. Sometimes we wear ourselves out taking responsibility that is not ours, and we lose our joy because we are so focused on problems.
Little children are carefree because they know Mum and Dad will take care of the big issues of life, while they enjoy being a child. We must learn to be like little children (Matt.18:3-4). I am not, of course, advocating childish irresponsibility, but we do need to be clear about what is ours to manage and what is not. If we do our part we can safely leave the rest to our Father in Heaven (Matt.18:3-4).
Prayer:
* Acknowledge God as the One whose ways are far higher than our ways and whose thoughts go far beyond what we can comprehend.
* Commit to God any situation or person you have been worrying about.