Where were you?

Job 38

The LORD Answers Job

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25"Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on a land where no man is,
on the desert in which there is no man,
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground sprout with grass?"

Passion & Purity

SUCH a good book. Here are some of my favourite parts:
"But the question to precede all others, which finally determines the
course of our lives, is What do I really want? Was it to love what
God commands, and to desire what He promises? Did I want what I
wanted, or did I want what He wanted, no matter what it might cost?
Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of
Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His
Lordship."
"'When the will of God crosses the will of man,' Addison Leitch said,
'somebody has to die.' Life requires countless 'little' deaths -
occasions when we are given the chance to say no to self and yes to
God...It is not that everything that has anything to do with ourselves
is in itself wicked and deserving of death. It did not mean that when
Jesus said, 'Not my will...' There could not have been even the
smallest part of His will that was wicked. It was a choice to lay
down everything - the good He had done and the good He might do if He
was permitted to live - for the love of God...There is a big however.
It is this: We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God
could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath
of life. We die in order to live."
"I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear
uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting
the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts."
"Tomorrow was not our business; it was His. Letting it rest with Him
was the discipline for the day, and it was enough."

a good poem I found in the depths of my computer

I don't know who wrote it.

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I plead and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said,
“Child, you must wait.”

“Wait? You say, wait!” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!”
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heart?
By faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.”

My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WHAT?
I’m needing a “Yes”, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a “No” to which I can resign.

And Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
“I’m wearing of asking! I need a reply!”

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taught
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting…for what?”

He seemed, then, to kneel
And His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want ~
But, you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power I give to the faint;

You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me;
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Yes, your dreams for your loved one
Overnight would come true,

But, Oh, the Loss, If I lost what I’m doing in you!

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, “Wait.”