Job Chapter 39
Please read: Job 39 –
As a believer we know that God created all living creatures. But His interest in His creation did not end back in Genesis. We will learn just how much God sees and cares for all of His creation. This is more proof that shows us how interested God is in the affairs of our everyday life.
We tend to think that in those seasons when God is silent that God has maybe turned away and is paying attention to someone else. I hope that reading this book will show you that if God, the creator of the whole universe sees and cares about a mountain goat giving birth in the thicket on the side of a mountain, then you can know that God is interested in the details of your life and that He cares for you and loves you greatly. As you read the beautiful descriptions God gives us of the animals that He created, allow yourself to see His loving care and interest in all of His creation.
While Job has had a difficult time understanding all that had happened to him, the pain, the grief, and the suffering, God was busy proving that He truly loved Job to the forces of evil that stalk this earth trying to destroy the righteous. His love is seen as He speaks to Job and as He corrects him where correction was needed. And we will see God lovingly restore to Job all that was lost, and more, as we finish out this book.
Let's Reflect
1. What is the first animal that God describes and what details about the animal does he talk about that mankind would not be able to see as He does?
2. In verses 5-8 God describes a wild donkey and the particular place on this earth that He placed the donkey to be able to get what he needs for his diet. Where or what did God supply for the wild donkey? Evolutionists and scientists will tell us that animals came about in certain regions of the earth because they adapted to their surroundings. Yes, that is true, animals do adapt to their surroundings, but it was God who created them, and He created their surrounding for them.
3. Growing up on a beef cattle farm I quickly learned that cows could have a mind of their own, going where they want to go and not where you want them to go. God talks about the wild ox and how men try to keep them for use with their work of farming the land. And then God asks Job a peculiar question in verse 12. What question did He ask Job about the wild ox that demonstrates man does not have as much control over His created beings as they might think?
4. In verses 13-18 God describes the strange peculiarities of one of His animals. You can almost hear a chuckle in God’s voice as He describes this strange bird. As strange as the bird is, it can outrun a man on horseback when in danger. What bird was He lovingly talking about?
5. In verses 19-25 God describes the beauty and majesty of the horse. Have you ever stopped and looked at the way God designed a horse and realized that God created the horse for men to ride on? He also describes the strength and the command that a horse demands when it paws and stomps its hoof on the ground. God also described how He created the horse to be trainable and to have great instincts. What does He describe as something a horse can be trained for? I think it’s amazing that a horse can do this!
6. In verses 26-30 God asks if man has control over the birds of prey. What two birds are mentioned?
7. The chapter break seems in an odd place, and it is because God continues speaking to Job in the next chapter. But for now, why do you think God spoke to Job about these various animals and His knowledge of their ways?
