This Far and No Further

"Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in the thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no further,' here is where your proud waves halt?" (Job 38:11)

After 37 chapters of argumentative dribble, God had had enough. Job's friends ended their argument with him. Job ended his rebuttals with them and his quest to justify himself. Isn't it like God to have the last word on the subject. 

"Brace yourself like a man; I will question you (you've been questioning me and my motives) and you shall answer me." 

The Q and A begins with "where were you when I did this...and this...and this..." The Apostle Paul used this argument to justify the judgment of the ungodly, unbelieving person pointing out the testimony of creation before him. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen being understood by what has been made, so that men are without excuse." But I digress. Job was not questioning the existence of God. He was challenging His sovereignty. God can and does what His perfect will has determined. He says to the waves, "This far and no further." He sets limits to what his creation can do - constructive and destructive. 

When I lived and pastored in Alpena, Michigan, there was a very long man-made break wall that often kept the crashing waves of Lake Huron from overtaking and damaging resting boats. But there were times when the lake became so tumultuous that the waves came over the break wall - when resting boats became large thrown-about toys in an enclosed pond. Its why larger boats will often anchor out a few miles into the lake itself so that they will not suffer the wind and wave damage of being so close to the dock and other boats. Man can only do so much. He is no match for the creative forces of an almighty God. We often wondered how far the water would come ashore. "This far and no further." 

I have been questioning God lately. Writing my own Job-like chapters. Why this? Why that? And in God's mercy He answered me with this text. I needed a reminder of the sovereignty of God. It is the only thing that quiets my fear and subdues my anger. "This far and no further." When will the virus die out? When will the ethnic rioting stop? When will the erasing of history, no matter how offensive it is to others, be seen for what it is? When will lawlessness and deeds done in the darkness be brought into the light? When will righteousness prevail? In the word's of the Psalmist, "How long, O Lord?" When will this be over? 

"This far and no further," says the Lord. 

Aren't you glad He has the last word?