14th July 2017

I love that powerful line from the Book of Job, where God describes the futility of trying to tame one of his wild creatures called Leviathan. “Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?” “Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering.” God’s point to Job was this: If this is true about Leviathan, how much more about Leviathan’s Maker.

I thought of that line yesterday while we were scanning the horizon for whales. There were dolphins a-plenty. And a few albatrosses riding the wind. There were white-tailed eagles soaring and swooping, and a few seagulls threatening to drop their parcels like B52s. But the whales were in hiding. Until one suddenly appeared. Not in all its massive glory. Just a dorsal fin, then a dark shiny back, and then a tail, flipping gracefully and granting an elegant farewell. So minimalist. So un-pet-like. Not cozying up to the boat hoping for some gentle caress. But wild and independent and wonderfully unpredictable.

Just like the God who made it. God is in many ways predictable. He keeps his promises. His laws are fixed. His character is perfectly consistent. But he can be neither mastered nor controlled nor totally figured out. Which was exactly the lesson to Job. God is not accountable to us, nor at our beck and call. He is completely independent, wonderfully sovereign, and best of all, nobody’s pet.

DM 14^th July 2017