“No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; who then is he that can stand against Me? Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.” “I am angry at you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” Job 41:10-11; Job 42:7
The first passage quoted above is a comparison God makes between Himself and Leviathan, a sea monster He created. (This animal that Job was familiar with has clearly gone extinct as no living animal compares to all God says about this creature.) In His lengthy description of this animal God makes it clear that no one can tame the Leviathan, no one can put him on a leash for his girls, no one can frighten him with spears or arrows, and no one dares to rouse him. The point of the argument is that if this is true about a created animal, how much more is it true about the God who made it and everything else that exists.
The Lord is angry with Job’s three friends because they have sought to tame God by their theology. They were sure that they understood what was going on in this world and how God would act in any given situation. They were confident that what was happening to Job was brought on by something Job had done because surely God would never allow so much suffering to one who was innocent. Their theology put God in a box that ultimately was about their own protection. God was angry by their short-sighted, man-made beliefs which sought to limit His sovereignty, so we must be careful not to make God out to be something that He is not today.
“You have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” What did Job say? That it’s not always fair in this life; that sometimes sin isn’t punished in this life; that sometimes righteousness doesn’t seem to pay off in this life; and that it often feels like God is indifferent to the injustices that are happening on His planet.
Part of learning to be meek of heart, like Jesus, is to trust God’s heart even when you don’t understand His ways. He is accomplishing a good purpose in every judgment He brings, every circumstance He allows, and in every test that He orchestrates. He gets no pleasure from our pain, but He will use our pain to speak to us eternal truths that will in the long run save us from greater pain. God is good, but He won’t be tamed, and that’s one reason that it is an adventure being one of His children.
One Thing 