Our Untamable God

Last Sunday at church we sang “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin. I don’t know how many times I’ve sung that song but I know it well. It’s a great song about how God is so big and so awesome that our human vocabulary fails to describe Him adequately. Like I said, I’ve sung the song hundreds of times but this time I was struck for the first time by the word “untamable”. I’ve been pondering it all week.

I’ve done a lot of studies on the attributes of God. I’ve read scripture after scripture about how God is patient, omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, etc. But, I don’t think I’ve ever studied the fact that our God is untamable. What does that even mean?

“‘No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; who then is he that can stand against Me? Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.’ ‘I am angry at you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.'” Job 41:10-11; Job 42:7

In verses 10 and 11, God is referring to a sea creature that He’d created. The leviathan must have been a creature that was around at the time of Job but no longer exists, but we still get the point. This sea creature was fierce. God makes it clear that this creature could not be tamed. So, if such is true about an animal God created, how much more true is it of God Himself.

In 42:7, God is angry at the three friends who have come to “comfort” Job in his time of suffering by trying to explain why they believe he is suffering. They were very confident that all of the horrible stuff that was happening to Job was happening because he had sinned against God. In their minds, God would never allow the level of suffering Job was enduring if he was innocent. God was angry at the limitation they’d put on His sovereignty.

God goes on to say that Job had a better understanding of God and His ways. Job believed that God was testing him through his suffering, but that God was also going to bring about His good purpose in every circumstance he faced. God gets no pleasure in our pain but He often uses it to speak to our hearts and draw us closer to Him. This time as I read Job I was struck by the fact that God is good but He won’t be tamed.

One of my favorite books is “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”. And, one of my favorite lines in the book comes when Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are trying to describe Aslan to the children.“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”  

Now, that’s the God I want to worship and serve. My God isn’t safe but He is good.