Seize the Moment – Day 1042
The Hand of Yahweh!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 23.
During Job’s lament, there is a reminder of his unrelenting faith in Job 12:9-10, “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” Throughout the long dialogue between Job and his friends, this is the only usage of the sacred name of God – Yahweh.
Job’s usage of Yahweh is intended to grab your attention; it points us back to Job’s declaration of faith in Job 1:21, when he used the sacred name three times, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” A commentator highlights the importance of this connection:
Job sees only the hand of God in these events. It never occurs to him to curse the desert brigands, to curse the frontier guards, to curse his own stupid servants, now lying dead for their watch-lessness. All secondary causes vanish. It was the Lord who gave; it was the Lord who removed; and in the Lord alone must the explanation of these strange happenings be sought.[1] [emphasis added]
Job entrusts Himself and His suffering into the hand of Yahweh alone as the only explanation of cause and effect! As Job emphasizes in verse 13, “With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.” Job’s friends were quick to blame Job’s sin for his own suffering, looking for a logical explanation that helped the world make sense to them, but Job returned to the only explanation that is always true – “the hand of the LORD has done this.”
Seize the moment and place yourself securely into God’s hand – Jesus’ promises, “no one is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29b).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Francis I. Andersen, Job: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 14, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976), 93.