“Can You Bind The Chains Of The Pleiades, Or Loose The Cords Of Orion?”

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?”

“Can you life up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together?”

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or life in wait in their covert? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?”

Job 38:31-41

“…I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you: therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:5-6

Astronomers may have found a giant hole in the universe. The void in the universe is in a region of sky southwest of Orion. The empty space has no galaxies, stars, or even dark matter. It is said that the hole in the heavens is a billion light years across. When I try to capture the meaning of such immensity, something happens to me. The fight goes out of me. I don’t know what to do with my thoughts. Who can relate to the magnitude of such emptiness?

Then I remember what the LORD did with Job. He drew His suffering servant’s attention to the same part of the night sky. Using the region of the constellation Orion along with the wonders of the weather and the natural world, the LORD brought Job to the end of his reasonings and arguments.

In the presence of such wonder, I want to join Job in collapsing before the LORD in surrender to His inexpressible power and wisdom. I want to let go of my anxiety, my anger, and my resistance to the mysterious leading of God. I want to claim my only confidence as being in the immeasurable greatness of our God.

The wonders of the universe compel us to worship our wonderful God.

Our Daily Bread – November 23, 2008