Job 41
1“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope? 2Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? 3Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly? 4Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life? 5Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens? 6Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants? 7Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? 8If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it! 9Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming? 10No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me? 11Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. 12I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. 13Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? 14Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? 15His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. 16One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. 17They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. 18His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. 19Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! 20Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. 21His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. 22Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. 23The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. 24His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! 25When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. 26The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. 27He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. 28No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. 29A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. 30His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. 31He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. 32He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! 33Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear! 34He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
Life is short. Where are you going?
You just read God’s own words, and one day every one of us will stand before Him. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). This life will be over sooner than you think — do you know where you are going when it is?
The Bible says, “Man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). If you died today, would you be ready?
Are you a good person?
Most of us think we are. But God doesn’t measure us against other people — He measures us by His Law. Look honestly at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–17):
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness.
- You shall not covet.
Have you ever told a lie — even a small one? Have you ever taken something that wasn’t yours? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? Have you ever wanted what belongs to someone else? Jesus said that anyone who looks with lust “has already committed adultery … in his heart” (Matthew 5:28), and the Bible says “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
If we’re honest, we have all broken God’s Law — and “whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). “There is no one righteous, not even one … there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10–12).
That leaves every one of us guilty before a holy God. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This is why our world is full of tragedy — and without Christ, every life ends in the greatest tragedy of all.
But God made a way
“God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus lived the perfect life we never could, and on the cross He took the punishment we deserved: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later He rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
It’s like standing guilty in court when the judge steps down and pays your fine himself. Forgiveness is a free gift — you can’t earn it: “It is by grace you have been saved through faith … it is the gift of God, not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.” Jesus — John 10:10
What will you do with Jesus?
“Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15). Turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus alone — “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Don’t put it off — “now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
And when you turn to Him, you won’t be met with a frown — you’ll be met with a celebration. Jesus said, “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). He is “mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness … He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). Like the father who ran to embrace his lost son, He is waiting with open arms — and heaven throws a party when you come home (Luke 15:20–24).
If you died today, where would you spend eternity? Today you can be forgiven, made new, and have real, abundant life — now and forever.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), which is in the public domain.