Job and I.

"What is man that you are mindful, the son of man that you care for him?"

The picture was taken by yours truly in Hawaii a few years ago. I was really excited when I finally got the shot because a) it actually had a nice crashing wave in it and b) there's a person in it who looks very small next to the vastness of the crashing ocean. And this picture said to me,  "I am a picture about man's smallness and God's bigness." And I agreed. 

I was reading about Job this morning and found it really encouraging. As my Pastor recently said: "You can handle difficulty two ways. You can fix your eyes on your circumstances, and they'll overshadow God. Or you can fix your eyes on God, and He'll overshadow your circumstances." I often find that I think far too much of my circumstance . . . and myself. 

I am small, and He is big and there is great comfort in that. 

Read this out loud to yourself and rest in the fact that He is good, and that He is bigger. 

Job 38, AMP

 ¹THEN THE Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,    ²Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
    ³Gird up now your loins like a man, and I will demand of you, and you declare to Me.
    ⁴Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare to Me, if you have and know understanding.

    ⁵Who determined the measures of the earth, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?
    ⁶Upon what were the foundations of it fastened, or who laid its cornerstone,
    ⁷When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
    ⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth and issued out of the womb?--

    ⁹When I made the clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
    ¹⁰And marked for it My appointed boundary and set bars and doors,
    ¹¹And said, Thus far shall you come and no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed?

    ¹²Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place,
    ¹³So that [light] may get hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wickedness [of night] out of it?
    ¹⁴It is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed; and things stand out like a many-colored garment.
    ¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

    ¹⁶Have you explored the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
    ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of deep darkness?
    ¹⁸Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know it all.
    ¹⁹Where is the ^[a]way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its abode,
    ²⁰That you may conduct it to its home, and may know the paths to its house?
    ²¹You must know, since you were born then! Or because you are so extremely old!

    ²²Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasuries of the hail,
    ²³Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
    ²⁴By what way is the light distributed, or the east wind spread over the earth?
    ²⁵Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain, or a path for the thunderbolt,
    ²⁶To cause it to rain on the uninhabited land [and] on the desert where no man lives,
    ²⁷To satisfy the waste and desolate ground and to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

    ²⁸Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
    ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who has given it birth?
    ³⁰The waters are congealed like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
    ³¹Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?

    ³²Can you lead forth the signs of the zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young?
    ³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth?
    ³⁴Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of waters may cover you?
    ³⁵Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?

    ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts [or in the dark clouds]? Or who has given understanding to the mind [or to the meteor]?
    ³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the [water] bottles of the heavens
    ³⁸When [heat has caused] the dust to run into a mass and the clods to cleave fast together?
    ³⁹Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions
    ⁴⁰When they couch in their dens or lie in wait in their hiding place?

    ⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food?