“I will not keep silent concerning its limbs
or its mighty strength or its splendid frame.
Who can strip off its outer garment?
Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?
Who can open the doors of its face?
There is terror all around its teeth.
Its back is made of shields in rows,
shut up closely as with a seal.
One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
Its sneezes flash forth light,
and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
From its mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap out.
Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
Its breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes out of its mouth.
In its neck abides strength,
and terror dances before it.
The folds of its flesh cling together;
it is firmly cast and immovable.
Its heart is as hard as stone,
as hard as the lower millstone.
When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
It counts iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make it flee;
slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
Clubs are counted as chaff;
it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
It makes the deep boil like a pot;
it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
It leaves a shining wake behind it;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
On earth it has no equal,
a creature without fear.
It surveys everything that is lofty;
it is king over all that are proud.” (New Revised Standard Version)
In a long anticipated response, God finally spoke to Job with his companions present. And it was nothing like anyone expected.
Today’s Old Testament lesson continues God’s questioning of Job, and talking of the great Leviathan – a large and uncontrollable creature.
Trying to figure out exactly what Leviathan is or was (e.g. a dragon, a dinosaur, or some dang demon) is not the point of having this chapter in Holy Scripture.
We can become obsessed with having our questions answered, everything neatly categorized and understood, every problem and mystery solved to our satisfaction.
If the Book of Job teaches us anything, it is that there are questions for which there are no answers this side of heaven. There are problems which we humans cannot logically and scientifically solve.
Ironically, we discover the presence of God through God’s absence; and hear the voice of God through God’s silence.
Any encounter we may have with God will typically shatter any preconceived notions about divinity. Any experience with God shall prevent us from packaging up an answer with some nice pretty paper and bows, as if we were enjoying a delightful Christmas at home.
Facing God is much more like coming face to face with who you really are, and what motivations and intentions are really in your heart. It’s more like Halloween than Christmas. It’s staring at a scary monstrous Leviathan, and not a bright jolly Santa Claus.
Coming to grips with our fears and anxieties, struggles and weaknesses, mortality and vulnerability, is the real sort of encounter people have with God. It’s not so much that God is scary; it’s we who are scary.
It’s scary what people will sometimes do in order to try and get answers to their questions. And it is equally scary what we will do to avoid the questions asked of us.
We don’t like hearing there are some things which are unanswerable. Yet, the mystery of God is real, which means that we are never going to know about everything we want to understand.
And we also don’t like being questioned. But what can you do, whenever you cannot move, and God begins peppering you with his own questions?
We would like to justify and vindicate ourselves – even rationalize our words and actions, if that’s what it takes. Yet, it is God alone who has the power to absolve and exonerate, to bring justice while in the teeth of injustice.
Furthermore, such justification comes in God’s own timing, not ours. Again, this is one of those realities which is far above us, for which we have only a very limited perspective on.
As we move ever closer to the end of the Book of Job, Job’s quest for answers and vindication hasn’t come, at least yet. We, along with Job, must handover the entire affair thoroughly to God in complete trust – without insisting that God say or do what I want God to say or do.
Living by faith is the only real option we have. All other options leave us in an existential angst, sliding toward nihilism.
Anyone who believes they can govern the world better than God, better brace themselves for some serious questioning.
There is not a person on this earth, including myself, that I would trust to run it for ten minutes. Because within ten seconds the world would be burning.
I don’t want that world.
I want a world with God – because I wholeheartedly believe that grace is the real and true operative force on this earth.
The grace of God allows us to see the divine without having to have our puny questions answered. Grace reassures us that we are not lost, that God sees and knows what is happening, and will do something about it.
So therefore, I can rest assured that everything is held in the sinewy strong arms of God. And no person, no monster, no Leviathan, is outside of God’s ability to effect justice and righteousness in the world.
It may take some time to realize complete and total justice, but God has given me enough faith to rest in mystery, and to live with uncertainty.
May it be so, to the glory of God.
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep.
From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread underfoot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.
O Father, we ask your will to be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 