Through His description of the Leviathan, God speaks of His relationship with mankind. As the sea monster is mighty and fearsome, so is God. Independent, strong, the only One the creature bows to is God and no man can hope to tame it. In His mercy to us, God is softer, gentler, but He is still mighty and powerful, a slave to nothing and no one. How then could we hope to know Him, to draw near to Him? It is by God’s choice that He is approachable, and it is our choice to approach Him. We do not demand as if it is our right, but we come before Him with knowledge that everything before us is His.
What Need Have I?
No one is so fierce [and foolhardy] that he dares to stir up Leviathan; who then is he who can stand before Me [or dares to contend with Me, the beast’s creator]? Who has first given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. [Who can have a claim against Me who made the unmastered beast?]
Job 41:10-11 AMP
When God first spoke to Job in Chapter 38, He began with asking Job: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (38:4) From there God then moves through the span of creation, from the foundation to the stars to the creatures, until we get here and God asks Job, Who has first given to Me that I should repay him?
He’s literally asking Job, “What have you given Me that I had need of first?”
Everything we have to keep or to give was first given to us by God. He created everything with us in mind. What could we learn about the world and the universe that surrounds us that He does not already know?
It is often amazing to me to think that everything we have need of, from food to the materials to create modern and future comforts, is already in place within the creation surrounding us. Adam and Eve had no idea what a cell phone was but the materials we would need to create them were already in place in the world they lived in.
Job lived in a time of the Mosaic Law, and yet God was already laying out His plan for salvation. He was already at work placing the signs and writing out what they were all pointing toward. Jesus’ arrival, sacrifice, and resurrection. In a time of crime and punishment, of strict rules and regulations, God was acting in mercy and showing it even to Job.
We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) That is evidenced from even the beginning. We can switch the statement around even to read, We give because He first gave to us.
There is nothing we could give God that He would need to repay us for, not only because He has first given us everything, but because everything we have given, He gave first. We lay aside our lives, denying ourselves what others do not, giving Him first fruits of all we have. Did Jesus not do the same? We praise and worship Him above all else. Did God not give us the same honor when He created us? He made humankind in His image, breathing His very breath within us, and placed us above every other creation.(Gen. 1:26-30)
There is nothing we could give God that He does not already have first. Yet He has given us everything, from His promises to His friendship to His life. He is our example to follow.
However, instead of following His example, we tend to contend with Him. We dishonor Him, speak against Him, and even choose our path above His.
We cannot forget that in this Chapter, God speaks of the Leviathan, a fearsome sea monster that cannot be caught or tamed. By reading about God’s description of it and of anyone who attempts to go after it that there is a healthy respect for this creature among the people. While we might not have such a creature today, there are plenty of animals and elements that we do have the same cautious respect for.
When faced with such creatures, we use wisdom and discretion to deal with them. Do we show even half of that to God?
Granted, God is more approachable than say a crocodile or a dragon, but that doesn’t mean we steamroll over Him as if He owes us something. I wonder why and how we could act that way toward God when it was man who defied and left Him, rejecting Him?
We should remember that any power or might that that makes us fear earthly creatures does not compare to that of the Creator. While we should not be afraid of God, we should fear Him, treating Him with great respect and honor. Seriously, a summarization of all of this could be: God gave us everything and all He asks for is the respect and honor He deserves.
The First Layer of Our Lives
His strong scales are his pride, bound together as with a tight seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another; they stick together and cannot be separated.
Job 41:15-17 AMP
These scales on the Leviathan’s body are its bodily armor, literally his first form of defense. And I wonder if we are as close to God as this creature’s scales are to one another.
Is God our first defense? Is God such a pat of us that nothing can come between? Do we make and allow God to be so close to us? To be as such with God would mean we have to be actively drawing near to Him, actively pursuing Him, and seeking Him.
Is God our pride, the thing we hold to us more tightly than anything else? Is God our pride, not ourselves or our accomplishments? Is His seal upon us, unbroken or cracked? Are we inseparable from God? Is His handprint the biggest mark on every area of our lives?
To be so close to God would mean walking in tandem with Him. Step for step. Not deviating away from the path He is walking down.
God is a banner of protection over us, but is He our first skin or our second? Meaning, do we go by what He says first and what we want second, or is it the other way around? Do we abide in Him, hidden in Him? Or does He simply abide in us, hidden within us somewhere?
I have this image of God being this larger than life avatar type thing with us hidden at the center. He’s so big that nothing attacking us could touch us. That when there’s a step, His foot hits the ground before ours. Everything in our life is touched first by Him and then us, and whatever we do or touch it’s His impression that lasts. That’s what I think of when I say hidden in Him.
God gives every indication that He is like the Leviathan’s scales in our life. Closer than the air we breathe, nothing can take us away from Him. We just have to choose to let Him be those things to us in our life. Every aspect of our life. If we try to pick and choose where He can be those things then there will be gaps, making us vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks.
Our relationship with God cannot simply be hidden within us somewhere. It needs to be evident everywhere. His Holy Spirit should surround us as the first impenetrable layer of our lives. Our first defense, our first choice.
Who is God to You?
Is He your first skin, your first example? The first One you thank when things go right and the first One you turn to when things go wrong?
Are you demanding He repay you for things He’s already done? Or do you live, love, and give because He first did so for you?
Examine your relationship with Him. The good news is that He is there to do it with you.
Above My Waves 
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