{"id":7620,"date":"2023-12-21T00:01:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T08:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7620"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:36:27","slug":"job-267-he-stretches-out-the-north-over-empty-space-he-hangs-the-earth-on-nothing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7620","title":{"rendered":"Job 26:7: “He stretches out the north over empty space; \/ He hangs the earth on nothing.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job\u2019s friends had been hammering him chapter after chapter, condemning him and telling him that they knew and understood God\u2019s ways and what God was doing to him. Job responded here by declaring the power and magnitude of God, which is infinitely beyond us; and in so doing, showed how very little any of us, including his friends, could know or understand about the mysteries of God. Job accurately stated one of those mysteries when he said that God “hangs the earth on nothing.” The Hebrew word for \u201cnothing\u201d is beliymah<\/em>; it is used only here in the Old Testament, and literally means \u201cnot any thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is amazing that Job knew that the earth appeared suspended, since, as some believe, Job may be the oldest book in the Bible? This was a time in history when western Europeans were still drinking blood out of human skulls. And according to some, the Hindu’s view of the world was that the earth rested upon an elephant and the elephant upon a tortoise. In 1687, English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton published Principia<\/em>, where he offered the first mathematical proof that the earth floats freely in space, suspended only by gravitational forces. Of course today we have the benefit of photographs of the earth taken from space, which clearly show empty space surrounding our planet. But Job must have gotten this knowledge from God Himself.<\/p>\n

Job’s point was that God Almighty has done such stupendous things in creation that it should make us all put our hands to our mouths in humble silence. We are not like God; we can\u2019t know and understand everything. But we can know that He loves us, and we can trust that He is powerful enough to handle our problems today. The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true<\/em> faith is the end of anxiety. All that humanity understands about God is very little, only a fraction of the full picture of Him. But He has proven to us that we are safe in His hands, and that fact should help us all relax a little with regard to what concerns us today.<\/p>\n

“LORD, we trust You to handle all our problems, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

=============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job 26 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0But Job answered and said,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0How hast thou helped\u00a0him that is\u00a0<\/em>without power?\u00a0how<\/em>savest thou the arm\u00a0that hath\u00a0<\/em>no strength?\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0How hast thou counselled\u00a0him that hath<\/em>no wisdom? and\u00a0how\u00a0<\/em>hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee? 5<\/sup>\u00a0Dead\u00a0things\u00a0<\/em>are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>Hell\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>hangeth the earth upon nothing.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0He holdeth back the face of his throne,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>spreadeth his cloud upon it.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.\u00a0\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Lo, these\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Job\u2019s friends had been hammering him chapter after chapter, condemning him and telling him that they knew and understood God\u2019s ways and what God was doing to him. Job responded here by declaring the power and magnitude of God, which is infinitely beyond us; and in so doing, showed how very little any of us, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7620"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16466,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7620\/revisions\/16466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}