~ Day Forty-One ~

Job's mouth may have been closed and his lips silent, but his heart was still not right with the Lord. He was silent, but not yet submissive. In order for Job to be sufficiently humbled, the Lord needed to address the pride in His servant's heart. So the Lord presented Job with the creature that is king of all pride - Leviathan. "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11).

On the night of our Lord's arrest, Peter used his sword to cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus corrected Peter for his act of self-will and instructed him to put his sword in his sheath. "Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" (v. 11b). As Jesus voluntarily submitted to the Father's will and was taken away to stand trial, instead of going home as Jesus had instructed and enabled the others to do (v.8), Peter defiantly followed the Lord. [Feast upon: John 18:12-27] "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me" (v. 23). As Jesus stood trial before the high priest Annas, Peter stood by the door of the house and faced his own trial, just as the Lord had predicted he would (John 13:36-38). Up to this point, Peter had been silenced by the Lord's words to him, but now, when he finally did speak, he would be confronted with the truth of how much pride truly ruled his heart. "The servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." (v. 17) As a chill ran down his spine from the words of denial that had so easily fallen from his lips, Peter moved near the fire to warm himself. Inside the Lord was being questioned about His disciples, and He answered the high priest, "Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said" (v.21). As He spoke these words, one of the officers slapped Him in the face, but the sting on His cheek was nothing compared to the pain He felt in His heart as Peter denied knowing the Lord in all three of the questions that were asked of him. Proud Peter had fallen, and the rooster crowed right on schedule just as the Lord had said he would (v. 27). The Lord showed His servant Job his inability to control the creatures, but how His creatures silence us with their obedience in doing what God has created them to do. We have much to learn from God's marvelous creation! How loudly and wonderfully Creation speaks of Almighty God's divine government, but how arrogantly we are in our refusal to submit to His gracious and benevolent administration that works all things for our good. If only we would be brought to holy silence under the sky of the Lord's awesome majesty, as His servant Job was, rather than be silenced by our foolish pride, as proud Peter was. With a single look the Lord subdues the mightiest beasts that roam the earth, and with a tender look He subdues and silences our beastly hearts. "And the Lord looked at Peter" (Luke 22:61a). Our Lord suffers the harshest blows from the unbelieving, wicked world, must He also endure the pain in His heart from those who are His followers? Our Lord Jesus has been falsely accused for being evil and doing wickedly; when, in truth, He has always been infinitely good and kind. He has taken upon Himself all our stripes and has borne all our sorrows and griefs. The accusations and persecutions we receive from the world are for what is true about us: we are followers of Jesus Christ. They may criticize us for our devotion, faith, dependence, and trust in the Lord - it seems foolishness to them. But what fools in love we are when we in our arrogance think we add one speck of good to the spotless majesty of God, when all our righteousness are rags! How arrogantly we think we are following after the Lord, when we are really standing in the shadows, continuing to warm ourselves by the fires of temptation, all the while believing we won't get burned. Peter would have been safe, if he would have just obeyed the Lord and went home with the others and prayed. His prideful actions robbed the Lord of honor and glory more than the cruel soldiers did who stripped the Lord and beat Him. Oh, Lord forgive us for our prideful, arrogant hearts! One look from You is all we need to bring us to repentance! Both Job and Peter had the pride in their hearts exposed and dealt with; they arrogantly thought they knew best how to run God's righteous government. They didn't understand that they gain power in obedience, not in rebellion. When we rebel we lose power and freedom; and just as Job couldn't subdue Leviathan, we soon find out how powerless we are to rid our hearts of the monster of pride. We must humble submit and repent and lay our hearts bare before the Lord, allowing Him to tenderly look upon us and take the sword of His Word to our hearts to rid them of this evil that battles daily to rule us from within and which robs Him of honor and glory. Let us praise the Lord for the daily victory He gives us that makes us conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37!) as we humbly submit to His righteous rule in our lives, and for providing us through the power of prayer that inner peace that surpasses all understanding when all around us is chaos and turmoil. May we join Him in His intercession for that day when that beast Leviathan will be cast down forever at the end of the ages (Revelation 12:9). Until then let us be found walking in humble obedience with our Lord! "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent" (Revelation 2:4, 5). "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3). 

Job had been stripped of all his worldly wealth and possessions as well as grieved the loss of all ten of his children, and on top of all that he suffered impossible pain from disease that disfigured his body and destroyed his health, but still he held onto his pride. In all his tribulations and trials he never cursed God to His face, as Satan hoped he would, but he did attempt to assert his rights and challenge God. "For Job has said, "I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice" (Job 34:5). In order to readjust his thinking and realign his heart, the Lord set before Job two formidable beasts to show him how arrogant was his desire to correct God, and how absolutely powerless he was to usurp His throne. Job found out soon enough that he was no match for the untamable Leviathan, and stood dumbfounded and corrected in his belief that he was in somehow in the same league as Almighty God. "Lay your hand on him; remember the battle - never do it again! Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?" (Job 41:8-10). In the Old Testament scriptures, the leviathan is used figuratively to describe Israel's enemies (Isaiah 27:1); especially Egypt (Psalm 74:13, 14), and particularly Pharaoh (Ezekiel 29:3, 4); but literally, the leviathan was a large sea marine animal like the whale (Psalm 104:26). In Job's account, the description portrays a beast more terrifying than the behemoth, perhaps that of the whale or crocodile. Therefore, there was no hook large enough to catch him, and certainly no cage could contain him. And even if Job could possibly capture Leviathan, what was he going to do with him once he had him? He surely didn't think he was going to tame the beast and make him his pet, did he? "Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you leash him for your maidens?" (v. 5). The Lord was showing Job how foolish he was to continue his controversy with the King of heaven, if he couldn't even win the battle with the king of creatures (vv. 33, 34). Leviathan may have been mighty, but the Lord is infinitely more powerful. Who was Job to imply that God owed Him anything - whether it be an explanation for his current circumstances or restitution for all that had been taken from him? "Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine" (v. 11). The arrow from the Lord's final message hit the intended target and exposed the pride in Job's heart and brought him low. The Lord, who has the power to subdue the proudest of all creatures, Leviathan, will humble men in their pride and cause them to bow before His infinite majesty. "On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear. He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the children of pride" (Job 41:33, 34). All of God's manifold works in His creation humbly submit to His divine government and obediently fulfill the role for which He created them - from the starry hosts in the sky to the creatures that navigate the oceans floor to the beasts that roam the earth - all, that is, except for human beings, who are made in God's image and given dominion over earth. Let us repent of our prideful, arrogant hearts in thinking we know better than God what is best for our lives. May we stop arguing and debating with Him, and instead start submitting to Him and extolling Him for the awesome, almighty, holy, merciful, forgiving, God of righteousness and justice that He is! Just as Job was unable to subdue the behemoth or the leviathan, we may feel powerless against the evil forces that battle all around us in this world, but God has given us His Holy Spirit to strengthen our hearts for the greater battle that rages within us and enables us live victoriously in Jesus as conquerors every day. Prayer is our most powerful weapon against the enemy, but we don't spend enough time sharpening this vital weapon as we ought. Let us learn to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)! When we humble ourselves before the Lord and pray with a heart of gratitude, God gives us His peace that surpasses all understanding to settle our hearts and strengthen us to stand against the forces of evil with the invincible strength like the leviathan, while we wait upon the Lord to fight the battle for us. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6, 7). "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3).

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