Today's Reading: 2 Chronicles 25-27, Psalm 104.
Allow me to introduce you to a character in the Bible I can all but guarantee you haven't heard a sermon or devotion about. He goes by the name Leviathan, and has a brief cameo here, but is described in some detail in Job 41. There are extra-biblical writings that speak of some of the features of this beast as well, and it was predicted that upon the coming of the messiah, the Leviathan would be killed and it's meat would be served to all the faithful and it would be the best meat ever.
When we took a trip to the creation museum last year, in a move that seems rather silly but I guess it's important for protecting their biblical viewpoint, this and another beast in the Bible named the Behemoth were actually dinosaurs, living with people. For this reason, people were right to be afraid of this massive serpent living in the ocean. Aside from the number of issues present in the two preceding sentences, we shall move ahead with that notion of fear.
There is an awful lot of fear of the unknown. Most have, in recent times at least, given up the idea of the Loch Ness Monster, but I bet that there are still quite a few who wouldn't swim in that lake...just in case, you know. And serpents do have a well established place in the Bible for being evil, crafty, and against God; all the more reason to be wary of a giant one living in the ocean.
And yet we encounter in Psalm 104 this massive and fearful creature whom God made just "for the sport of it." Now mind you, elsewhere in writings, there are two leviathans originally created but God already destroyed one so that they would not reproduce and destroy humanity. While there are no doubt people who would still believe such a creature is swimming out there now, I feel pretty confident saying a search would turn up empty.
That is not to say there aren't leviathans. There are; they just don't happen to be gigantic serpents swimming around in the ocean. They are the challenges we face and the doubts we place on God's ability to work great things in us. They are the fear of the unknown. They are the chains which keep us from sharing our salvation story with others. There are leviathans everywhere, to which God says, "They are nothing."
The God from whom all things are created squashes these fears like a kid stomping on a scurrying ant. Fear not, brothers and sisters, for even our greatest fears cannot measure up to the cross.
Allow me to introduce you to a character in the Bible I can all but guarantee you haven't heard a sermon or devotion about. He goes by the name Leviathan, and has a brief cameo here, but is described in some detail in Job 41. There are extra-biblical writings that speak of some of the features of this beast as well, and it was predicted that upon the coming of the messiah, the Leviathan would be killed and it's meat would be served to all the faithful and it would be the best meat ever.When we took a trip to the creation museum last year, in a move that seems rather silly but I guess it's important for protecting their biblical viewpoint, this and another beast in the Bible named the Behemoth were actually dinosaurs, living with people. For this reason, people were right to be afraid of this massive serpent living in the ocean. Aside from the number of issues present in the two preceding sentences, we shall move ahead with that notion of fear.
There is an awful lot of fear of the unknown. Most have, in recent times at least, given up the idea of the Loch Ness Monster, but I bet that there are still quite a few who wouldn't swim in that lake...just in case, you know. And serpents do have a well established place in the Bible for being evil, crafty, and against God; all the more reason to be wary of a giant one living in the ocean.
And yet we encounter in Psalm 104 this massive and fearful creature whom God made just "for the sport of it." Now mind you, elsewhere in writings, there are two leviathans originally created but God already destroyed one so that they would not reproduce and destroy humanity. While there are no doubt people who would still believe such a creature is swimming out there now, I feel pretty confident saying a search would turn up empty.
That is not to say there aren't leviathans. There are; they just don't happen to be gigantic serpents swimming around in the ocean. They are the challenges we face and the doubts we place on God's ability to work great things in us. They are the fear of the unknown. They are the chains which keep us from sharing our salvation story with others. There are leviathans everywhere, to which God says, "They are nothing."
The God from whom all things are created squashes these fears like a kid stomping on a scurrying ant. Fear not, brothers and sisters, for even our greatest fears cannot measure up to the cross.
