Acknowledge Him...

‘…acknowledge Him…’ [Proverbs 3: 6]

‘His beloved Son – all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.’ [Colossians 1: 13, 16 – 17]

'“Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Who set its measurements?...who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk?...who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?...who enclosed the sea with doors, when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it, and I set a bolt and doors, and I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop’?

Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place…?... Have you entered into the springs of the sea?...have you walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you?...have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this?

Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place?...

You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow…have you seen the storehouses of the hail…? Where is way that the light divided, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

Who has cleft a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderbolt;

to bring rain on a land without people, on a desert without a man in it, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the seeds of grass to sprout? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost from heaven, who has given it birth?

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?

Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that the abundance of water may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the innermost being, or has given understanding to the mind? Who can count the clouds by wisdom or tip the jars of the heavens, when the dust hardens into a mass, and the clods stick together?

Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions…? Who prepares for the raven its nourishment…?

Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer? Can you count the time they give birth?...Who sent out the wild donkey free? And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey…Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Or will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes? Or will he harrow the valley after you? Will you trust him…and leave your labour to him? Will you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it from your threshing floor?...Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like a locust?...Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching its wings towards the south? Is it by your command that the eagle mounts us, and makes his nest on high?...”

Then Job answered the Lord and said, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply…?”

Then the Lord answered,…“Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you may instruct Me.

Will you really annul My judgement? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God? And can you thunder with a voice like His?

Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity; and clothe yourself with honour and majesty. Pour out the overflowings of your anger; and look on everyone who is proud and make him low…

Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you…

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook?...Can you put a rope in his jaw?...Will he make supplications to you?...Will he make a covenant with you?...Will you play with him as with a bird?...Can you fill his skin with harpoons?...Lay your hand on him; remember the battle; you will not do it again! Behold your expectation is false; will you be laid low even at the sight of Him? No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him…

WHO THEN IS HE THAT CAN STAND BEFORE ME?

WHO HAS GIVEN TO ME THAT I SHOULD REPAY HIM?

WHATEVER IS UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN IS MINE.

I will not keep silence…”

Then Job answered the Lord, and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; BUT NOW MY EYE SEES YOU…”

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job…and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold…And Job died, an old man and full of days.’