God’s reply to Job will come in two speeches. Yesterday we heard the first half of God’s first speech – which was a barrage of questions. The barrage continues in the second half of the speech.

1 “Are you acquainted with the way
the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?
2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,
and do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch; they bear their young;
they bring forth the offspring they have carried.
4 Their young grow strong and grow up in the open;
they go off and do not return to them.
5 Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who released the bonds of the donkey,
6 to whom I appointed the arid rift valley for its home,
the salt wastes as its dwelling place?
7 It scorns the tumult in the town;
it does not hear the shouts of a driver.
8 It ranges the hills as its pasture
and searches after every green plant.
9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant?
Will it spend the night at your feeding trough?
10 Can you bind the wild ox to a furrow with its rope;
will it till the valleys, following after you?
11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?
Will you commit your labor to it?
12 Can you count on it to bring in your grain
and gather the grain to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap with joy,
but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork?
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground
and lets them be warmed on the soil.
15 She forgets that a foot might crush them
or that a wild animal might trample them.
16 She is harsh with her young,
as if they were not hers;
she is unconcerned about the uselessness of her labor.
17 For God deprived her of wisdom
and did not impart understanding to her.
18 But as soon as she springs up,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength?
Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust?
Its proud neighing is terrifying!
21 It paws the ground in the valley,
exulting mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.
22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 On it the quiver rattles;
the lance and javelin flash.
24 In excitement and impatience it consumes the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet is blown.
25 At the sound of the trumpet, it says, ‘Aha!’
And from a distance it catches the scent of battle,
the thunderous shouting of commanders,
and the battle cries.

26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle soars
and builds its nest on high?
28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,
on a rocky crag and a fortress.
29 From there it spots its prey;
its eyes gaze intently from a distance.
30 And its young ones devour the blood,
and where the dead carcasses are,
there it is.”

REFLECTIONS

I love the contrast between the yesterday’s questions and today’s. Yesterday was about God’s complete knowledge of the vast expanses of time and space: only God was there when the universe was created, and only God owns and directs the big, powerful forces of nature like storms and floods.

Today, God switches to the small things, the countless unseen “life events” that happen in the animal world. The language suddenly becomes gentle, almost playful. Every time an ibex gives birth in the remote steppes of Mongolia, it’s because God formed the baby and nurtured it through to birth. Do you even know how long a Siberian Ibex’s pregnancy is? God does, of course. God even knows why the crazy animals are crazy – like the ostrich, which is low on parenting skills but big on speed. Why is it crazy like that?

God doesn’t answer that, or any of these questions. Why would he? This is just a tiny sample of a billion trillion quintillion details of the universe … and God knows every single one. You can get irrationally angry at that – or you can rejoice in wonder and praise, and trust in his understanding of it all.