Sea Monsters

Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
Job 7:12
+
Sea Monsters
Job wonders out loud to God in this verse if He sees him as His enemy.  The vastness of the seas which can hide many horrible creatures and seems to swallow up ships was one of the reasons the sea was used to describe God’s most powerful enemies. Sea monsters as well often represented an enemy of God.  This is why Job askes God if He sees him as the sea or a sea monster.  We know the seas can bring devastation and only God can restrain it.  We know the many creatures which lurk beneath the waves can pose a real danger to anyone in the water, and it is only God who can protect us.  Job certainly knew this and questions whether God feels Job is such a powerful enemy as the sea and its monsters that God would need to restrain Job in his current condition.  Job feels God is being unjustly harsh to him.  Why has God brought down such calamity upon me, Job wonders.  What he is forgetting, what we too also forget, is that we are indeed enemies of God.  From the moment of our conception, we are set against God.  And it would be in this state of warfare where we would remain if not for God’s grace.  He reconciles us to Him. He gives us peace with Him.  He calms the storms in our lives.  And the monster which “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,” (1 Peter 5:8) is defeated only in Him.  Just as Christ rebukes the waves and the sea is calmed (Matthew 4:39), so too does He rebuke the devil (Matthew 4:10).  So know God is not your enemy, He is not fighting against you, but for you.  It is in Christ where you find the final victory over the real monsters in this life. It is only in Christ were you are led not to raging seas, but to still waters and green pastures (Psalm 23).