When It Rises Up, The Mighty Are Terrified

“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form. Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?

Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.

They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.

Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.

Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.

Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.

The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.

When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.

The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.

Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.

A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.

Nothing on earth is its equal—a creature without fear.

It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

Job 41:12-34

God reviewed His creation for Job’s benefit. In these chapters, God highlighted the wonders of weather, the vastness of the cosmos, and the variety of creatures in their habitats. These are things we can observe. Then God spoke of the mysterious Leviathan for an entire chapter. Leviathan is a creature like no other, with a harpoon deflecting armor, graceful power, and harpoon-deflecting armor.

Job broadens our understanding of God’s surprising character. The psalmist expanded on this when he wrote, “There is the sea, vast and spacious…and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.” After the terrifying description in Job, we learn that God created a playpen for this most fearsome of all creatures. Leviathan frolics.

We have the present to explore the ocean. We’ll have eternity to explore the wonders of our magnificent, mysterious, playful God.

Our exploration of creation teaches us about the Creator.

Our Daily Bread – July 10, 2018