Whether God is real to people or not does not stop them from being accountable. Denying gravity because you can't see it will not keep you from being pull to the ground if a person jump out of a window in defient to gravity. We can't see but we can see the effects of it.
12 God also asked: “Into what have its socket pedestals been sunk down?” Is that not a good question? We are probably familiar with a term that Job did not know—gravity. Most of us understand that the force of gravity from the huge mass of the sun keeps our earth in place, its socket pedestals sunk down so to speak. Still, who fully understands gravity?
13, 14. (a) What must be admitted about gravity? (b) How should we react to the situation that Job 38:6 highlights?
13 A recently published book entitled The Universe Explained admits that ‘gravity is the most familiar, yet the least understood, of nature’s forces.’ It adds: “Gravitational force seems to travel across empty space instantly, without any obvious means of doing so. In recent years, however, physicists have begun to speculate that gravity might travel in waves made of particles called gravitons . . . But no one is quite certain of their existence.” Think about what that implies.
14 Science has advanced for 3,000 years since Jehovah posed those questions to Job. Still, neither we nor expert physicists can fully explain gravity, which keeps our earth in the right orbit, just the position it should have to allow us to enjoy life here. (Job 26:7; Isaiah 45:18) This is not to suggest that we all need to pursue an in-depth study of the mysteries of gravity. Rather, giving attention even to this one aspect of God’s wonderful works should influence our view of him. Do you stand in awe of his wisdom and knowledge, and do you sense why we need to learn more about his will?
15-17. (a) On what did Job 38:8-11 focus, leading to what questions? (b) What must be admitted regarding knowledge about the oceans and their distributions on the globe?
15 The Creator continued his questioning: “Who barricaded the sea with doors, which began to go forth as when it burst out from the womb; when I put the cloud as its garment and thick gloom as its swaddling band, and I proceeded to break up my regulation upon it and to set a bar and doors, and I went on to say, ‘This far you may come, and no farther; and here your proud waves are limited’?”—Job 38:8-11.
16 Barricading the sea involves the continents, the oceans, and the tides. How long has man observed and studied these? For thousands of years—and very intensively in the last century. You might imagine that most of what is to be known about them must be settled by now. Yet, in this year 2001, if you investigated that topic at huge libraries or used the vast research power of the Internet to locate the latest facts, what would you find?
17 In a widely accepted reference work, you could locate this admission: “The distribution of the continental platforms and ocean basins on the surface of the globe and the distribution of the major landform features have long been among the most intriguing problems for scientific investigation and theorizing.” After saying this, the encyclopedia just quoted offered four possible explanations but said that these are “among the many hypotheses.” As you may know, a hypothesis “implies insufficient evidence to provide more than a tentative explanation.”
18. To what conclusions does Job 38:8-11 lead you?
18 Does that not highlight the timeliness of the questions we read at Job 38:8-11? Surely we are not to be credited for arranging all these aspects of our planet. We did not place the moon so that its attractive power would help to produce tides that normally do not overwhelm our coasts or us personally. You know who did, the Doer of wonderful things.—Psalm 33:7; 89:9; Proverbs 8:29; Acts 4:24; Revelation 14:7.
Give Jehovah Due Credit
19. The poetic expressions at Job 38:12-14 direct our attention to what physical realities?
19 Humans cannot take credit for the earth’s rotation, alluded to at Job 38:12-14. This rotation causes the morning dawn, often stunningly beautiful. As the sun rises, features of our globe become clearer, like clay being transformed under a seal. Giving even slight attention to the earth’s motion, we must marvel that earth does not spin too rapidly, which would be disastrous, as we can easily realize. Neither does it rotate so slowly that days and nights, being much longer, would bring extremes of heat and cold that would make human life impossible. Frankly, we should be happy that God, not any group of humans, set the speed of rotation.—Psalm 148:1-5.
20. How would you respond to the questions posed at Job 38:16, 18?
20 Now, imagine that God asked you these further questions: “Have you come to the sources of the sea, or in search of the watery deep have you walked about?” Not even an oceanographer could give a complete answer! “Have you intelligently considered the broad spaces of the earth? Tell, if you have come to know it all.” (Job 38:16, 18) Have you visited and explored all regions of earth, or even most of them? Giving attention to the beautiful locations and wonders of our earth could occupy how many lifetimes? And what marvelous times those would be!
21. (a) The questions at Job 38:19 might bring up what scientific views? (b) The realities about light should move us to do what?
21 Look, too, at the profound questions at Job 38:19: “Where, now, is the way to where light resides? As for darkness, where, now, is its place?” You may be aware that for a long time, the view prevailed that light travels like a wave, like the ripples we can watch in a pond. Then in 1905, Albert Einstein explained that light acts like packets, or particles, of energy. Did that settle matters? Well, a recent encyclopedia asks: “Is light a wave or a particle?” It answers: “Seemingly, [light] cannot be both because the two models [waves and particles] are so different. The best answer is that light is strictly neither.” Still, we keep on being warmed (directly and indirectly) by sunlight, even if no man is yet able to explain fully God’s works in this regard. We enjoy food and oxygen produced as plants respond to light. We can read, see the faces of our loved ones, gaze at sunsets, and on and on. As we do that, should we not acknowledge the wonderful works of God?—Psalm 104:1, 2; 145:5; Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 31:35.
22. How did David of old respond to God’s wonderful works?
22 Is the objective of our meditating on Jehovah’s wonderful works merely that we be impressed, as if awed or dumbstruck by it all? Hardly. The ancient psalmist admitted the impossibility of comprehending and commenting on all God’s works. David wrote: “Many things you yourself have done, O Jehovah my God, even your wonderful works . . . Were I inclined to tell and speak of them, they have become more numerous than I can recount.” (Psalm 40:5) He certainly did not mean, though, that he would keep silent about these grand works. David proved this by his determination expressed at Psalm 9:1: “I will laud you, O Jehovah, with all my heart; I will declare all your wonderful works.”
23. What is your reaction to God’s wonderful works, and how can you help others?
23 Should we not be equally moved? Should not our sense of wonder over God’s grand works move us to speak of him, of what he has done, and of what he will yet do? The answer is obvious—we should “declare among the nations his glory, among all the peoples his wonderful works.” (Psalm 96:3-5) Yes, we can manifest our humble appreciation for the wonderful works of God by sharing with others what we have learned about him. Even if they grew up in a society that dismissed the Creator, our positive, informative expressions may awaken them to recognize God. More than that, it may move them to want to learn of and serve the one who “created all things,” the Doer of wonderful works, Jehovah.—Revelation 4:11.