Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Job is realizing he's coming out of this tunnel of darkness and there's light now. God is communicating to him. He's not communicating with God yet, but he will by the end of the story.

And God wants to make sure that Job and any one of us here truly understand who's in command, who's in charge, who's creator, and who's dust. God wants them to know that.

Guest (Male): I am falling in love with you. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today, we're coming to the conclusion of our series in Job, and it's great to have you with us.

Raul will ponder God's sovereign loving presence in our suffering. We may not understand why the Lord allows hardship, but all creation declares that we can trust His mighty goodness. Keep listening to consider the message of creation: that God is in charge, He's faithful, and we can confidently surrender our lives to Him. Let's listen as Raul Ries begins.

Raul Ries: If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Job. We come to the conclusion of Job tonight. As he begins to be ministered to by the Lord, he begins to see that he has been wrong in what he has been saying. Because his three friends, when they saw him suffering, they began to put the blame on him and began to say, "Job, the reason that you're going through this is because there's sin in your life. You need to take care of sin in your life, Job."

Yet that's not really the issue in many times in many people's lives. People don't get sick just because they're in sin. That would be amazing if that was the only thing. But people, righteous people, wicked people, they get sick, they get in accidents, they die like everybody else.

And yet we understand that if we are truly in the light and God is our Lord and Savior, then what God does to us as believers is that if we are in the wrong and we are being chastised by the Lord or disciplined, then the Lord is going to allow something like that to happen, but He's not going to abandon you.

He's going to be with you in the fire and through the fire. At the end of the fire, when you come out like the three Hebrew children of Israel, they didn't even smell like they'd been in the fire because there was a fourth person in the fire and that was the Lord Jesus Christ, protecting them and watching over them. That's the same way with us.

So here now in chapter 39, He continues to speak to Job. Here we actually see God's creation. God is the God of nature, as the Bible talks about it. So here God reveals His greatness to Job. "Look at Job, I am God. I've created everything in this world."

He says, "Do you know, Job, the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Okay, Job, since you know everything, if you're so smart, tell me about this animal." Of course, Job could not answer.

But here He's making a point, because Job really had a little unbelief and he's blamed God for a lot of things. So God is saying, "Okay, Job, if you're so smart and you know so much, tell me about this animal. Who is he? What does he do?"

Then verse two says, "Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? They bow down, they bring forth their young, they deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain; they depart and do not return to them." So here God is teaching him and telling him what this animal does.

"Who set the wild donkey free? Who's loosed bonds of the onager or the wild asses?" He says here again, talking of the animal kingdom here, He's actually talking to him about the wild ass and his survival. Who does he depend on? Nature? In the desert without any food, without any water?

He says, "Even the wild donkey, the wild ass, depends on Me. I am the one that moves him about and I provide for his needs. Job, I am the creator, I am God." He says, "Whose home I God made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling." All the barren salt flats where the donkey used to run around in down by the Dead Sea there in Israel.

"He scorns the tumult of the city, he does not heed the shouts of the driver," which means he cannot ever be trained. A wild ass cannot be trained; he is wild and he's hard to be caught. "The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing."

Isn't that beautiful how God is just describing nature to him and how God is in control of everything? Even like he says in the New Testament that if God does not allow one of the birds in the sky to fall down and die, but He provides for them—imagine that, how much more does He want to provide for you and me? He says we are His people, they're just birds, and yet He takes care of them. Amazing.

He says in verse nine, "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?" This wild ox is no longer in existence today; it was a wild ox that lived in that time that was really wild and crazy. He says, "Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Can you catch him? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?"

Nobody could catch this wild ox; he was just really wild. He says, "Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?" Do you really know how strong this wild ox is, the strong horns that he possesses that he has on his head? Who do you think created those?

"Will you trust him to bring your home grain and gather it into your threshing floors? The wings of the ostrich now wave proudly, but are her wings as pinions or like the peacock, like the kindly storks?" So here now again, He's talking about different animals and He's actually teaching him.

"Job, have you ever studied about this ostrich, the way it lives, the way it has its young, the way he moves about and feeds about and all these things?" He says, "For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust." Did you know that, Job?

"She forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them." He says, "Don't you think that she understands that when she buries her young in the actual sand, that there's wild animals that will come and eat her eggs? But she doesn't even think about that."

"Because God deprived her of wisdom and did not endow her with understanding." He says, "When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider. Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?" Speaking of that horse that was used in warfare that God made and created.

"Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror." Notice that, Job didn't know that. "He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear and is not frightened, nor does he turn back from the sword."

This horse that goes into war is not afraid because that's what he's been trained to do. He says, "The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness of rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded."

When they would blow the trumpets for battle, he says he doesn't stop, he continues on. "And at the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, and the thunder of captains and shouting." This is a special horse trained for battle.

And then again He says, "Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?" Job, did you give the hawk wisdom to fly? God is really getting on Job here. "And spread its wings toward the south?" He says, "Does the eagle mount up at your command and makes its nest on high?"

The actual eagle goes up into the rocks and makes his nest and then has his babies and the eggs are laid so nobody can get to them. So here God is talking to Job about creation, He's talking about the animal kingdom and the tower that God has created for the eagle as he makes it up on top of the mountains.

Job, where is your wisdom? "And on the rocks the eagle dwells and resides, in the crags of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey, its eyes observe from afar." The eagle can see for so many miles when something moves like a rabbit or something else. "Its young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there it is."

Guest (Male): I am falling in love with you. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. It's our joy to support your daily walk with God. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources and join Raul for straight talk on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 AM West Coast time. Let's continue now with more from Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And then the Lord continues to question Job. He said, "Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified, Job?" Notice what God is saying to Job here. "Have you, Job, an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?" Notice this. To contend with the God suggests assuming equality with God. Yet no mortal passes that, no mortal can ever know more than God or be like God. Only one God.

"Then adorn yourself with majesty, Job, and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place." Because that's what God does: when somebody is proud, what does God do? He breaks them and He humbles them.

He says, "Job, if you think you're bigger than I am, go ahead and do that." But he couldn't. Job's not saying anything. Then, verse 14, "I God will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you." If you don't need Me, then save yourself, Job. And yet we know that that's not true.

We know that salvation is the free gift of God, and it only comes to those that want to repent and that want to humble themselves and they want to change their hearts. And as we come to Jesus Christ and we submit and we surrender and we repent, then we have new life in Christ Jesus. So here Job is being prepared for the final day of repentance as we will see in a moment.

But before that, God here is questioning about two animals. The first animal here is a dinosaur. Can you believe that? Here in the book of Job, a dinosaur. Here Job is talking about this animal called the Behemoth. It could be literally a rhino, or it can be a water buffalo or a hippo, but all those animals do not fit the description here.

And what's really beautiful here is that here God brings out this animal and He begins to speak about him, his physical strength and how powerful he was. Notice what it says: "See now his strength is in his hips, his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar, and the sinews in his thighs are tightly knit." Notice the description.

"His bones are like the beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near his sword." Nobody can kill this animal, only God. Notice that: the one that created him. Nobody could get near the dinosaurs.

"Surely the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there. He lies under the lotus trees, in a cover of reeds by marsh." The dinosaur would hang out by the marsh reeds where it was cool and there was a lot of grass to eat. He says, "The lotus tree covered with their shade, the willows by the brook surround him.

Indeed the river may rage, yet it is not disturbed; he is confident though the Jordan gushes into his mouth." He doesn't drown. He's so big and so strong, here he is. "Though he takes in his eyes, or one pierces his nose with a snare." He says, "Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook or snare his tongue with a line with the lure?"

Now this is another again, here he's talking about another animal again. "Can you put a reed through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?" No possible way you can do that. Notice this. And the commentators say this is a crocodile they say, because of the way it's describing it.

So he says, "Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever?" He says, "Can you make it be your slave for life? No way. Have you seen those big alligators in Africa? Oh man, they're huge. There's no way.

Will you play with him as with a bird? Try it, Job. Or will you leash him for your maiden? Will your companions make a banquet of him, and will they apportion him among the merchants?" Will they kill him and eat him? No, they couldn't do it. "Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?" No.

"Lay your hand on him, Job; remember the battle, never do it again." He says if you put your hand, you won't have a hand left. "Indeed any hope of overcoming him is false; shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him when you look at him? No one is so fierce that he would dare to stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?"

Notice, who's me? God, the creator. If I created all these beautiful animals, who do you think that can stand against Me, Job? Nobody. No one. "Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. I made it all. Everything you see, Job, is Mine. I am the creator of everything."

And then again, moving further here, notice here God reminding Job of the animal's anatomy here. He says, "I will not conceal his limbs, his mighty power, and his graceful proportions. Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face with his terrible teeth all around?"

You see, he's a meat eater. When he bites you, he pulls on it, he thrashes you when he gets you. "His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal. One is so near another that no air can come between them." Notice how God is such a perfect creator.

"They are joined one to the other, they stick together, cannot be parted. His sneezings flash forth light, his eyes are like the eyelids in the morning." And so all of a sudden here as he talks about this, there's other commentators that believe and scientists that maybe this was not an alligator but something else, because the alligator doesn't have a light.

This animal had like a little light. "His out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out." Notice that: shoot out. "Smoke goes out of his nostrils as from a boiling pot and burning rushes." Guess what this is? A dragon. Isn't that interesting in the Bible, a dragon? Amazing.

You know what's amazing about this, and I'll get to that in a moment. Let me describe it all and you'll see how everything fits perfectly here. He says, "His breath kindles coals, and the flame goes out of his mouth. Strength dwells in his neck, and sorrow dances before him. He folds of his flesh are joined together; they are firm on him and cannot be moved.

His heart is as hard as a stone, and even as hard as the lower millstone. When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; because of his crashings they are beside themselves when they see him. Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail, nor does the spear, dart, or a javelin. They can't kill him because he's so thick and so big and so strong.

He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. The arrows cannot make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the threats of the javelins. His undersides are like sharp potsherds; he spread pointed marks in the mire.

He makes the deep boil like a pot, and he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair. On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear. He beholds every high thing, and he is king over all the children of pride." Uh-oh, what does that mean?

You know what that fits perfectly with? With Satan. Remember what it says in Isaiah chapter 14, Ezekiel 28? And then this is something really amazing here because if it is a dragon that He's talking about, remember in Revelation chapter 12, verse nine, he says that Satan is like a dragon.

And if we go back and we study the book of Genesis chapter three, verse one, it says what about the woman when the serpent came to him? The word serpent in the Hebrew is the word dragon. Dragon in the Hebrew. The dragon that was in the Garden of Eden there with them when Adam and Eve were tempted.

And yet imagine how so many people have been deceived in their own personal lives by this dragon called Satan that really just hates everybody and wants to kill everybody and wants to take everybody to hell, the Bible says. Yet we as God's people should be able to discern and to know that when he comes to tempt, when he comes to rob, to steal, and to kill, that we as Christians have the power to rebuke him.

And that he cannot touch us apart from God's permission. And who's the one that came at the beginning and tempted Job? Satan, the old dragon, asked permission from God to go ahead and allow to touch Job physically.

Guest (Male): If you're weary from a long or especially difficult season of suffering, it's our prayer that you too will see God's light at the end of the tunnel, just as Job did. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's message from Job chapters 39 through 42 is available for a donation of five dollars or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165.

We'd also like to offer you Raul's nine-lesson series *When Trials Come*. It's available on both CD and flash drive. Every lesson in this series will deepen your faith as you look to the Lord for strength in your suffering and for protection against Satan's attacks. You'll see that while hardship is inevitable in this broken world, God's goodness is also a guarantee and He'll never abandon you.

Visit us at somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's nine-part study *When Trials Come*. We'll send you the CD set for twenty-three dollars or the USB for just thirteen. Our phone number once again is 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

This ministry with Raul Ries is completely listener-supported, and we are always blessed by the tax-deductible gifts that enable us to keep sharing the good news of the Gospel. Join us again next time for the launch of a new series centered on Christian mothers.

You'll see that if the Lord has blessed you with the gift of motherhood, He's also called you into a life of guardianship, guidance, and prayer as you raise your children to know and love the Lord Jesus. I am falling in love with you. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.