Job 40: Can You Trust What You Don't Understand?

Ever found yourself stuck in a moment of uncertainty, questioning if there's a bigger plan at play? Picture this: my daughter, confident in her navigation skills, leading us in circles. Sound familiar? This episode of the Bible Breakdown podcast with Pastor Brandon is all about those moments. We'll explore Job chapter 40, where God questions Job's understanding of the universe, highlighting our limited perspective through the awe-inspiring imagery of the behemoth. Drawing parallels to our own lives, we'll discuss why it's crucial to trust God's greater plan, even when it seems beyond our comprehension.

What about the prayers that seem to go unanswered? There's grace and wisdom in those moments too. We continue by reflecting on how these seemingly unanswered prayers can lead to unexpected blessings and how Job's faith can guide us through times of pain and confusion. Remember Job's powerful declaration in Job 1:21 about God's sovereignty? We'll break it down and show how trusting God, even when His ways are mysterious, can shape our lives for the better. Plus, a heartfelt prayer for trust and faithfulness will help you find strength in saying "yes" to God's will. Don't miss it, and be sure to tune in tomorrow as we tackle Job chapter 41.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Trusting God in Times of Uncertainty
• 7:41 Trusting God Through Unanswered Prayers

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everyone, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, Job, chapter 40, and today's title is Can you Trust what you Don't Understand? Can you trust what you don't understand? This is kind of a theme that is happening over what God is saying to Job, and he's going to continue this with this chapter as well. So we're going to dive into all that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're also going to the Facebook group discussion called Bible Breakdown Discussion, because they have an amazing team doing amazing work over there and the more we dig, the more we find. If you have your Bibles, want to open up with us to Job, chapter 40,. We are quickly coming to the end of this amazing book of the Bible and, if you remember, the overall theme is trusting God's wisdom and suffering, and Job had been going through all of this stuff and his friends were trying to help, but they're really kind of doing more harm than good even though they're trying to help and finally God shows up and he says okay, job, you've been wanting me to explain myself, you've been wanting to know why all this is going on. Well, here we go, and Job has been listening to God. It's now in chapter 40. It's been three chapters of God telling him hey, listen, I mean I can try to tell you, but you're not going to get it. You're not going to get it. And he continues this idea of trusting God when you don't understand. And that's basically what God asks Job. He just you don't get any of this Job. And you see where Job realizes he's in trouble, you know, and Job is, it tries to respond to God, but it's not working. And I wonder how many of us can kind of find ourselves relating to Job as he tries to talk to God. And so let's read this together and just see if you're kind of going yeah, I get that. And let's read and see what God's word has to say to us today. You ready, job, chapter 40, verse one, says this then the Lord said to Job do you still want to argue with the almighty? Are you God's critic? But do you have any answers? Then Now pause. So basically what's happened is God has laid all this out and go, okay. So you ready, you got all those answers I was asking about, like how all these things work. And Job's like no, I realize now I really have no idea. And God's like good, because I'm not done yet.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Here he goes, verse six. Then the Lord answered Job from that whirlwind and he says brace yourself, like a man, because I have some questions for you and you must answer them. So he says I got more. Verse 8. Alright, alright, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty, and give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. Humiliate the proud with a glance, walk on the wicked where they stand, bury them in the dust, imprison them in a world of the dead, and then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.

Speaker 1: 3:40

Take a look at the behemoth which I made just as I made you. He eats grass like an ox, sees its powerful loins and its muscles of its belly, its tail as strong as a cedar. Its sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together. Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron. It is the prime example of God's handiwork, and only its creator can threaten it. The mountains offer their best food where all the wild animals play. It lies under the locust plants, hidden by the reeds in the marsh. The lotus plants give its shade among the willows beside the stream. It is not disturbed by the raging river and not concerned with the swelling Jordan that rushes around it. No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Now I would encourage you, just for the sake of extra study, to study what a lot of scholars think the behemoth is. If you heard me read through that, you're like what in the world is this animal? Well, it's very interesting and I don't want to tell you here. I want you to go and study it. But it's very interesting. What a lot of. Depending on how you translate the Genesis 1 through 3, if you translate Genesis 1 through 3 as six literal days, there are some who think it's one thing, and if you think of it as six epochs of time, then they think it's other. But just go study that for yourself. Very interesting as we dig deeper into God's word. But I want to make sure that we don't miss the point. God is saying just like what's going on in your life? I'm doing a lot of things and sustaining a lot of other things that you're unaware of. That's much bigger than you are, so you act like you've got it all figured out. How would you handle this, joe? Go figure it out. And you know what's amazing about that is.

Speaker 1: 5:30

It reminds me of and I tell a lot of stories about my kids, because I really have no other stories but I remember when my girls were little. I've talked to you before about how I had one daughter who always thought she knew how to get from point A to point B. She knew, and she always thought I was going the wrong way, we would drive somewhere. And she'd always like Dad, you're going the wrong way. And I was never going the wrong way, it's just for some reason she had it in her head, right? Well, I remember one time I said OK, baby, here's the thing, why don't you tell me where we're going? Ok, there. And we were going nowhere near where we were supposed to be. And you could tell, as she's going, she's realizing we're lost. And so, even though she's in charge, she's getting more and more upset because we're getting more and more lost, right? Until finally I say okay, baby, can I take us home now? Do you know how to get home, daddy? Yes, of course I know how to get home and finally she's like okay, I really have no idea where I'm going, right?

Speaker 1: 6:25

I wonder if God sometimes lets us go our own way for a little while, just to show us okay, can I help you now? Have you ever wondered about that? Sometimes it's like, I wonder. Sometimes we want to go in a particular direction so bad, and God's word says we shouldn't go that way, we shouldn't do that thing, and we're like but I want to go that way, I want to go that way. It's like, instead of knocking to see if God's opening a door, we take a sledgehammer and try to knock that door down. I wonder if sometimes God will let us open that door. I need you to not go that way. I need you to trust me and just stay faithful. But God, I really want, god I really want. And I wonder if sometimes God's like okay, all right, I'm still going to get you where I need you to be, but here's a nice little detour because you think you need to do it your way. How many times, I wonder, does God let us do that so that we come back and go? Okay, god, you knew what you were doing.

Speaker 1: 7:22

I had to experience a lot of pain and a lot of difficulty, and I didn't have to, but I had to go my own way. And what I love about God is he's not mad at us, he's not frustrated. He's like come on back, come on back. So the lesson for us is as hard as it is. Can we trust when we don't understand?

Speaker 1: 7:41

One of the things I'm constantly aware of is I am so thankful for all the prayers that God didn't answer. I'm so aware that I have prayed for things that if I had my way, my life would be so very different right now, and not in a good way. And so I wonder for you, I wonder Are you thankful for all the prayers that God didn't answer? There's so many things that God says no to that in the moment we go. But God, that was so wonderful, he's going, but it's the wrong way. Can you trust what you don't understand? The answer is yes. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much, lord.

Speaker 1: 8:18

As we've been reading over the past three days, you're just continuing to come back to this. Can you trust me? Can you trust me? It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that you wouldn't understand if I did. Can you trust me? I pray, god, for all of us, that we will have a resounding yes, god, even in the pain, even in the not understanding, even in the discouragement, we'll always yes, because you, god, have proven over and over again that you are trustworthy. I love you and I'm thankful for you. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Well, remember, after losing everything, job got down on his hands and knees, and it says in Job 1, verse 21,. I came naked from my mother's womb. I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. What an amazing legacy of being faithful to God, even when we don't understand. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Job, chapter 41.