Am I a Sea or a Whale?

Am I a Sea or a Whale?

Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?

Job 7:12

If anyone in history had reason to send forth an anguished cry heavenward, it was Job.  Deprived of every human comfort and afflicted in every conceivable way, he excites our sympathy at every turn of the page.  His question in our text may seem to be an odd one, until we dwell upon it for a while.  Here a soul in tribulation asks whether God deals with us in a similar way to the way in which he deals with the rest of the animate and inanimate world.  God does ‘set a watch’ over the inanimate and animate world as other portions of the book of Job demonstrates.  In Job 38:8 God declares that He ‘shut up the sea with doors,’ and in verse 11 that He, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further:  and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.’  Job, 39:13-17 discusses how God has limited the wisdom of the ostrich.  Job, and other souls in trouble, might well wonder or feel that God is dealing with us as with the rest of creation.

The truth is, however, that He does not deal with us as with ‘the sea’ or ‘the whale.’  In the creation, God set apart man and woman with the distinct mark of His image.  God, in His discussion of Adam and Eve’s sin, gave them hope of redemption.  He also gave them dominion over all other creation.  Job most certainly knew that he was unique from both ‘sea and whale.’  Possessing the very image of God ought to encourage us as it is the basis of our relationship with our Creator and how He communes with us.

God counsels us to be not ‘as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding:  Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.’  Rather, He says to us, ‘I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:  I will guide thee with mine eye.’  We ought to be fully aware that God treats us with a great difference to the manner in which He treats the rest of the creation.  They have no eternal redemption.  They have no status as the ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”  Unto the sea is not granted the privileges of the sons of God.  Unto the whale is not given the promise of reigning with Christ.  The sea and the whale will only ever be what they are in their limited sphere.  We, however, shall be like Christ.  We shall enjoy the whole range of benefits reserved for the heir of salvation.

Our Great God,

Lover and Master of our souls,

Make us more like Christ

Help us to see our place as your beloved children.

Where the Bush is Burning

Tomm Tice