Stop and Consider
Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge, you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?
Job 37:14–17
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Stop and Consider
“Take time to stop and smell the roses,” we are told. What is meant is we need to pause to enjoy the everyday wonders which God has given us. This is undoubtedly true. However, what Elihu is telling Job, and us, is to “stop and consider the wondrous works of God.” Look all around and marvel at the majesty that is God’s creation. Once we do that, we realize that we can only scratch the surface of who God is and how powerful and wondrous His ways are. And if we understand that, we should recognize that we do not make demands of God. Indeed, we cannot begin to know God at that level. He tells us, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’” declares the Lord. “‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). But what we can understand is what He has revealed to us. In a Bethlehem manger, our Lord was revealed to us. In the Jordan river, our Triune God appeared to us. On a Roman cross, we beheld our Savior. God has opened our eyes and hearts to the truth of Jesus Christ, and in His promises, we can trust. So when we stop and consider our fallen state, we turn to the cross and know our salvation. We have a loving God who has revealed Himself in His Word and Sacraments. So we stop and “[c]onsider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that [we] may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:3).
Job 37:14–17
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Stop and Consider
“Take time to stop and smell the roses,” we are told. What is meant is we need to pause to enjoy the everyday wonders which God has given us. This is undoubtedly true. However, what Elihu is telling Job, and us, is to “stop and consider the wondrous works of God.” Look all around and marvel at the majesty that is God’s creation. Once we do that, we realize that we can only scratch the surface of who God is and how powerful and wondrous His ways are. And if we understand that, we should recognize that we do not make demands of God. Indeed, we cannot begin to know God at that level. He tells us, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’” declares the Lord. “‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). But what we can understand is what He has revealed to us. In a Bethlehem manger, our Lord was revealed to us. In the Jordan river, our Triune God appeared to us. On a Roman cross, we beheld our Savior. God has opened our eyes and hearts to the truth of Jesus Christ, and in His promises, we can trust. So when we stop and consider our fallen state, we turn to the cross and know our salvation. We have a loving God who has revealed Himself in His Word and Sacraments. So we stop and “[c]onsider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that [we] may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:3).
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