Job 39 LESSONS FROM ANIMALS It is normal for us when speaking and wanting to illustrate a point, to research, study, write and rewrite, and try to find some common objects to direct the thoughts of the listeners to the message we are hoping to get across. In a very concise series of illustrations, the Lord directs Job's attention to the animal kingdom, and points to some of the largest and well-known to get His point across.
Lions are well known world wide because of their regal appearance, their strength and cunning and their loud voice. Who makes them hunt for their food and able to overcome their prey? Who is it that satisfies their hunger? It is the Lord God who created them and even changed their vegetarian appetite to carnivorous after the first man’s and woman’s sin had polluted the whole world.
Ravens are scavengers with a dark appearance, a foreboding aspect toward the approach of death in weak creatures, and a voracious appetite when devouring dead bodies. Who provided for them? It is God who made them to do what they do. The wonder of conception, birth and growth the Lord chose to illustrate through wild goats. That would have made Job realize, as do all the people of the world, how limited we are in our understanding of the basics of life. We cannot produce life. We can only watch in amazement at the miracle of the cycle of life, and look with awe when we see new life delivered. Do we arrange the time when conception and birth take place? Obviously not! God has arranged the time of gestation, development and birth in a way suited to every creature He made.
Some animals are able to be domesticated and used by mankind for our purposes. Others cannot really be tamed. The wild goat, the wild donkey and the wild ox all have resisted being controlled by humans to serve humans. The wild goat flees to high ground. The wild donkey runs and if caught is so stubborn that they can be beaten within an inch of its life and still resists. The wild ox of the past was an aggressive mean animal with horns pointing forward that could kill any animal or person who attempted to control it. To try to tame those animals is to endanger a person's life. Even if the man who tries to domesticate these creatures thinks he has done it, because of the aggressive nature they have in them, he is always in danger of being turned on and killed by it.
The Lord again directed Job's attention to the birds and spoke of the largest, the ostrich. The egg of an ostrich is nearly the size of a loaf of bread and is laid in the dirt, not a nest. The ostrich seems to lack sense by laying its egg where it can be walked on. It uses its wings and feathers only to attract attention of other ostriches or to intimidate potential enemies. In God's wisdom, even though ostriches don't fly, He made them to run as fast or faster than a horse, and its feet can be used as sharp weapons.
Job is then called upon to consider one of the most domesticated of animals all over the world, the horse. It is strong, it is fast, it can be trained quite easily for peaceful purposes of for warfare. When it is trained for battle, it can be a mighty weapon under the control of a skilled warrior, particularly for offensive purposes. Using this illustration, the Lord again drives home His message to Job. "Have you given the horse strength?... Can you frighten him?" The obvious answer is only God can endow this animal with such strength, and yet give it the instinct by which it can be controlled.
The next section of the chapter deals with two powerful birds of prey. The hawk is able to migrate great distances each year. It has the God-given ability to find its way across water and land to a specific place in a different continent. Eagles are one of the largest birds able to fly, and are able to reach to great heights. Birds do not have lungs but air pockets in them that enable them to go high and low without puffing and blowing. They can see great distances and can go from an incredible speed to a full stop in a moment in order that catch its prey. From there it has the wing span and strength to carry what it caught, high up to a point of safety where its nest is far removed from any predators. There on a pinnacle of rock it supplies its young with food.
Job, and all of us, need to consider the greatness of God in what He does, and the wonders of His Person in designing such remarkable creatures. He made each one "after His kind," and gives each one life and the food to sustain each one with food unique to its need. Humans look at what God has created and try to copy it. In some ways, humans have learned from God's designs, but with all the wisdom of humanity put together, people cannot produce life, or create any living creature. Plant life can be observed, but why the roots go down and the stems go up cannot be copied or made to happen with divine power. The solar panels of leaves which are necessary to sustain life on earth have been observed right from the time of creation, but the solar panels made by humans does not compare with the intricacies and functions of a simple leaf or blade of grass.
It is to these evidences of divine power and wisdom that the Lord directed the attention of Job and all who read the book of Job. There is a God who far exceeds all of humanity put together in power, knowledge and presence, and yet He deigns to make a connection with us. His love, grace and mercy we can understand and experience to a limited degree, and we rejoice because of that. His power, dominion and authority go so far beyond our understanding that it is foolish for us to make mindless attempt to describe them.
The point the Lord was making to Job and all who pay attention to what He said, is that you don't complain, argue or get angry with God about things you don't know. Give God the credit for knowing what He is doing, no matter what we might think about events going on around us. The things that happen to us, whether they are good or bad, come from our Lord who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Nothing catches Him unawares. "Our times are in Thy hands." How important it is for us to pay attention to, and learn from, the lessons our Lord taught Job.