Reflections on Job 41

 Job 41 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Can you catch a sea monster by using a fishhook? Can you tie its mouth shut with a rope?
   
2. Can it be led around by a ring in its nose or a hook in its jaw?
   
3. Will it beg for mercy?
   
4. Will it surrender as a slave for life?
   
5. Can it be tied by the leg like a pet bird for little girls?
   
6. Is it ever chopped up and its pieces bargained for in the fish-market?
   
7. Can it be killed with harpoons or spears?
   
8. Wrestle it just once-- that will be the end.
   
9. Merely a glimpse of this monster makes all courage melt.
   
10. And if it is too fierce for anyone to attack, who would dare oppose me?
    
11. I am in command of the world and in debt to no one.
    
12. What powerful legs, what a stout body this monster possesses!
    
13. Who could strip off its armor or bring it under control with a harness?
    
14. Who would try to open its jaws, full of fearsome teeth?
    
15. Its back is covered with shield after shield,
    
16. firmly bound and closer together
    
17. than breath to breath.
    
18. When this monster sneezes, lightning flashes, and its eyes glow like the dawn.
    
19. Sparks and fiery flames explode from its mouth.
    
20. And smoke spews from its nose like steam from a boiling pot,
    
21. while its blazing breath scorches everything in sight.
    
22. Its neck is so tremendous that everyone trembles,
    
23. the weakest parts of its body are harder than iron,
    
24. and its heart is stone.
    
25. When this noisy monster appears, even the most powerful turn and run in fear.
    
26. No sword or spear can harm it,
    
27. and weapons of bronze or iron are as useless as straw or rotten wood.
    
28. Rocks thrown from a sling cause it no more harm than husks of grain. This monster fears no arrows,
    
29. it simply smiles at spears, and striking it with a stick is like slapping it with straw.
    
30. As it crawls through the mud, its sharp and spiny hide tears the ground apart.
    
31. And when it swims down deep, the sea starts churning like boiling oil,
    
32. and it leaves behind a trail of shining white foam.
    
33. No other creature on earth is so fearless.
    
34. It is king of all proud creatures, and it looks upon the others as nothing.

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God continued to speak to Job. In His speeches He did not attempt to answer any of Job's questions or defend His sense of justice. They are all aimed at one point: "Who then can stand against Me? Who confronted Me, that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to Me." (41:10-11)
God began in earlier passages with creation of the physical elements of the universe. Then He brought up smaller creatures of the animal realm. Finally, He described the behemoth and the Leviathan, the two largest, most fearsome, beasts of creation. Job would not have even considered confronting these animals. If Job feared these creatures, how, then, could he consider confronting the One who made them?

The question of Job's challenge of God is about more than his fear of God, though. What about his trust of God? Could he not trust One who is so great and wise and powerful to have made such awesome creatures? And what about God's love? Should he doubt the love of One who not only made all creatures, including man, but also sustains them and nurtures them? It seems that man has a very narrow lens through which he judges God and others and that is his feelings. One is blinded to all rationale or logic based on how he feels. Job was suffering, someone must be to blame, and that someone must be God. Therefore thoughts of an unjust God override all other thoughts of God's greatness.

There is none of us who has not suffered to some degree. We sympathize and identify with Job and understand his inclination to strike out at God. But now that God speaks and reminds Job, and us, of His greatness we realize there is a better way, and it is trust. What comfort is there in anger and blame compared to trust and submission?