News Letter

Why Leviathan?

The Job chapter 41 in the Bible is a powerful passage.  Here it is as briefly as I can type it.  

God met with all the angels and Satan was there to.  Satan was likely (I can't prove this because the Bible does not say it.) boasting to God that he had corrupted all of mankind.  Yet Job feared and served Yahweh (God).   God asked Satan if he had considered Job.  Satan replied that Job only served God because God took care of him so God gave Satan permission to afflict him but he could not touch Job himself.   Job was very rich and had many children and servants.  In one day Satan killed all Job's kids and servants except one servant and obliterated all of Job's wealth.  Job said "The LORD gives and the LORD takes away.  Blessed be the name of the LORD."  Job knew that a relationship with Yahweh was the most important thing...even in his grief.

God later met again with the angles and Satan was there also.  Likely a repeat of the last time.  God asks Satan again if he had considered Job.  Satan replies that Job only served God because God protected him.  God then gave permission to afflict Job but he could not kill him.  Satan then afflicted Job with sores all over his body and then Job's wife told him that he should curse God and die.   Job remained faithful.   

Some of Job's friends came and sat by him and after several days continued to tell Job that he must have sinned and should repent.  Job stayed silent but when he could take no more, he lashed out at the for being awful friends. 

Here is the good part.   Job finally says that he wishes that God would meet with him and tell him what he had done.   Be careful what you ask for...

God appears to him and reprimands him. God time and time again asks Job where he was when God created all things in creation.  Finally God tells Job to consider the Leviathan.

Job chapter 41 describes the Leviathan as a creature that Job would have been familiar with.  The Leviathan had scales so close to one another that no air could pass between them and so strong that harpoons, spears, and arrows bounced off like they were nothing.   The Leviathan had powerful jaws and ferocious teeth.   It breathed fire and smoke.  As it swam in the deep waters it left a quake behind it.  God reminded Job that all who laid their hands on Leviathan regretted it and never forgot it.

The point is that Job was nothing to Leviathan and Leviathan is nothing to God.  Job repented of questioning God and God healed him, gave him more children and more wealth than Job ever lost... So why Leviathan?

I want our students offenses and defenses to be so good that opponents will not be able to hurt them and they will be able to hurt anyone who attacks them with ease to the point that the opponent (in sport or in life) will remember it and not try it again.   The flip side is I want our students to be humble and know that God is the Almighty and they need to know their place under Him.