GOD ASKS

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?’ » (Job 38:8-11, NV). 

I once visited the Island of Gorriti, on Uruguay’s Atlantic coast. I stood at the shore. The water roared with strength, but when it reached my feet it almost felt like a soft caress asking for permission. There, for the first time I thought about the question God asked Job, «Who shut up the sea behind doors?»

I thought of a God who locks a door behind which the most important and present element on this planet lies, who clothes the sea with clouds and different colors each day, who fixes limits and speaks to the raging waves to calm them down and tell them how far to go.

Our finite mind can’t fully understand the measure of His greatness, creativity and power.

But the God who takes care of the great sea monsters and the smallest birds, who as an Architect designed everything and gives it strength, is the same God who formed us and gave us a reason for us to worship Him for the things we know, as well as those we don ‘t understand.

The good news is we don’t need to go to an island to think of those things. It’s enough to just take a look around us. «God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth » (Steps to Christ, ch. 1, p. 10).

Job needed to hear those questions. He needed to be quiet and then give more praise. He needed to be willing to be taught.

He discovered that the God who is able to set limits on everything voluntarily allowed His love to be unlimited.

We need those same questions, lessons and answers. We need to remember that the same God who sets limits to the waves every day can set limits to sin in our lives. He can help us establish a firm foundation on the truth and make decisions for eternity.

He can help us tell the enemy today, «Your wicked plans will not go beyond here. I have a great God. The sea and the wind obey Him… and so do I.»