Scientists know our planet is precisely the right distance from the sun to benefit from its heat. A little closer and all the water would evaporate, as on Venus. Only a bit farther and everything would freeze like it does on Mars. Earth is also just the right size to generate the right amount of gravity. Less would make everything weightlessly sterile like our moon, while more gravity would trap poisonous gases that suffocate life as on Jupiter.
The intricate physical, chemical, and biological interactions that comprise our world bear the imprint of a sophisticated Designer. We catch a glimpse of this complex craftsmanship when God speaks to Job about things beyond our understanding. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” God asks. “Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone?” (Job 38:4–6).
This glimpse of creation’s magnitude causes us to wonder at Earth’s mighty oceans bowing before the One who “shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, . . . [who said] ‘This far you may come and no farther’ ” (vv. 8–11). In wonder may we sing with the morning stars and shout for joy with the angels (v. 7), for this elaborate world was made for us that we might know and trust God.
INSIGHT
After more than thirty-five chapters of debate between Job and his accusers, a new conversation takes place—Job hears from God Himself! Throughout most of these chapters, as Job’s friends were accusing him, Job was accusing God. In fact, Job actually demands that He come and answer for His actions: “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing” (Job 31:35). Now, at the end of Job’s story, the Creator comes to respond to the charges Job has raised against Him (chs. 38–41), centering His response in a series of questions. Job bows before God and acknowledges his own weakness, saying, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3). A true encounter with the Almighty is a humbling experience.
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