Untamable

Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
Job 41:5–6
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Untamable
These verses give us an absurd picture. A small child leading around on a leash the great and terrible beast. No parent would allow their child to do such a thing. No sane person would attempt to domesticate such a beast. This is God’s point. Job cannot even attempt to do these things because it is so far out of his ability, yet God created this animal and has no fear of it. No more are we afraid of a painting of a fierce beast we might create is God afraid of His creation. He can tame the untamable. We are reminded of this in these verses and can draw comfort from them. For no matter how scary the world is, no matter how difficult a situation we find ourselves in, God is in control. Just as Jesus slept through the wild and turbulent storm while His disciple feared and then tamed it with just a word (Mark 4:35-41), so too can He calm the storms in our lives and tame the beasts that would threaten to devour us. With His Word of forgiveness, our sins are destroyed. In the water of Holy Baptism, the rough seas of a broken world are calmed. And in His true body and blood given at the altar, our faith is built up and the roars of the devil are silenced. Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection comfort us in the truth that we are freed from sin, death, and the devil and no longer need to fear for we rest secure in His arms.