Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
– Job 38:39–41
These verses are a beautiful picture of how God alone provides for the needs of every living thing. This is Psalm chapter 145, “He opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing”. We might think that lions are the king of the jungle and can hunt their prey, any prey they want, and feast on anything they want. But the reality is, it’s God alone who satisfies the appetite of the young lions. The only way that lions can eat is if God provides them food and the ability to capture prey.
Job 38:39–41 reminds us that we depend on God for everything we need.
The same thing for the raven when its young ones cry to God for help. What a picture. Young ravens crying to God for help. This is Psalm 145. All living things look to God to receive what they need. And you and I are living things, which means we depend on God for everything we need, and we live so often under an illusion of independence. We can do things on our own, but the reality is, the truth is you and I can’t breathe on our own. Our hearts can’t beat on our own. We don’t have food and water on our own.
All of these things are provided by God. And one of the hardest things of all for our self-centered minds to entertain is that we are totally dependent on and desperate for God, for anything in our lives. We are not independent. We are totally dependent, which should drive us to prayer, to seeking God.
Job 38:39–41 challenges us to consciously depend on God.
If young ravens are crying to God for help, we should be smarter than young ravens. We should be crying out to God for help all day long, praying, continually looking to God, and trusting that he alone can satisfy our deepest needs. He alone can grant us, give us what we most need. So we pray, God forgive us and deliver us from our self-sufficient mindsets that think we can do anything on our own. God, we pray you’d forgive us for our pride. We creatures that are totally dependent on you as our Creator for everything we need.
And God, we praise you for your generosity, for your gracious willingness to provide us with everything we need. We praise you as the only one who can ultimately satisfy all the desires of every living thing, including us. So God, we pray that we would look to you, teach us to pray continually and humbly and desperately crying out to you for help, knowing you promise to give us all the help we need as we look to you.
God, we pray that you would help us to live humble dependent lives that accord with the reality that we are totally desperate for you at every moment.
Prayer for the Shenva People
And God, we pray specifically today for the Shenva people of India, the Gujarati-speaking people group that worships all kinds of different Gods, including Shri Chand Ji, this clan deity that they worship on festivals and during lifecycle ceremonies.
God, we pray that you would open the eyes of the Shenva people to realize that all the idols of this world, little g gods of this world are all empty, and you alone are the one true God and you love them and desire to satisfy them with eternal life in you through Jesus. Lord, we pray that the good news of Jesus and your grace, your mercy, your love would spread to the Shenva people, that they might be saved and satisfied by you. God, we pray all this according to your Word in Job 38:39–41. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the one who said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing”. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
