Job 38 Oct 21 Sermon Notes

partially. The Divine One won;t be questioned by Job ,but he will give Job a remarkable gift, a tour of the cosmos. In the 19th century, young wealthy Americans would get to go on a Grand Tour of Europe. People go on cruises to get away from it all. I notice on Facebook that people are constantly posting pictures of getaways as their ideal, but they rarely post pictures of their own home. Realizing that Job has become terribly depressed, God want to move him away from dwelling on the injustice of his troubles. No one in the history of the world could go on a similar tour of the wonders of the universe as can we. From the micro world of the virus, to the quantum world of physics to the immensity revealed by the Hubble telescope peering into time’s galactic distance, worlds unfold before us. Out of this tour, Job learns some powerful positions. 1) the world does not revolve around human beings alone. 2) The world is complex and is not structured only for human well-being alone. 3) We are connected to a vast and complicated universe. Its interlocking nature concerns God as much as the needs of an individual. recall the movie with Jim Carrey, Bruce Almighty, obtaining divine power and he is unable to process all of the conflicting demands that are pouring in from earth. 4) Human notions of value do not necessarily apply to God. Notice how God lifts up the wild v. the domesticated animals. The rain falls where crops do not grow. I’ve noticed that when people speak of God in creation, they usually bring up a pretty sunrise, but I rarely hear about adulation of a mosquito or manure. Even Leviathan, the great sea monster, the very symbol of all that is uncertain, chaotic, destructive of the created order somehow fits within creation and God even delights in its display. God seems to have a soft spot for the untamed majesty of nature, but that means it may well be inimical to human beings. Did some of you watch Wild Kingdom, where Marlon would be safe and sound while Jim was getting strangled by a python? Bill McKibben writes that God finds creation to be of unbearable beauty.5) Our field of vision is not nearly as wide as the Creator of the universe. We cannot get the field of divine optics through our weak eyes. A friend of mine went out at 1 in the morning to look at the Perseid meteor shower and it was enough to remind her that “it is not all about me.” Copernicus gave us a new view of our place in the cosmos, that we circled the sun. Really, most of us could use the inner Copernican revolution to come to realize that the world does not revolve around us, the sun does not rise and set on us. Climbing up the old four mile trail in Yosemite, I was level with the top of a tree, and a raven cried out. Maybe it was protecting young, or it was speaking to me out of a Poe poem, nevermore, nevermore, should you even try this climb, (you house of flab.) When we are down and depressed, we tend to do a bit of dwelling inward. God changes the perspective for Job and gives him a different view, an expansive view. Job sees his troubles, but also the world around him in all its dizzying complexity. That change allows Job to go on. He can expect blessings, but not immunity from the trials life brings us, He then can see a God not in terms of simple cause and effect, but involved in a most complex world.