Job 37:1-24 - Homiletics

Elihu to Job: 5. The wonderful works of God.

I. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR VARIETY . Beginning with the thunderstorm (verse 2), with its quickly spreading clouds ( Job 36:29 ), its sharp, gleaming bolts (verse 3), its crashing and reverberating peals (verse 4), Elihu passes on to descant upon other natural phenomena—such as the falling of the snow and the rain upon the earth (verse 6); the sweeping of the whirlwind, or hot simoom, from the remote regions of the southern desert, alternately with the rushing of the cold blasts from "the scatterers," or north winds (verse 9); the congelation of the water-drops by the breath of winter, and the straitening of the rivers by thick blocks of ice (verse 10); the replenishing of the emptied rain-cloud with fresh loads of water, and the distribution far and wide of the cloud of his light, i.e. of the cloud that is pregnant with lightning (verse 11). And yet such phenomena are only an infinitesimally small portion of that endless variety which Nature in her movements and manifestations affords. This variety, too, besides being an eminent enhancement of nature's beauty, contributes in a high degree to nature's usefulness, and is a testimony by no means unimportant in favour of nature having been the production of an all-wise Artificer, since the suggestion is little short of inconceivable that a world so wondrously fair, so exquisitely diversified, so harmoniously adjusted in all its parts, could have been the work of blind, unintelligent force, directed in its operations by purposeless chance, or could have emanated from any other source than that of an infinite mind.

II. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR ORIGIN . The presumption above created is explicitly confirmed by Elihu, who commends to Job's attention the entire circle of nature's interesting phenomena as "the wondrous works of God" (verse 14), "the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge" (verse 16), and "his work" (verse 7), i.e. as the productions of his almighty finger. Does the thunder cannonade along the sky? It is God who roareth with the voice of his excellency (verse 4). Do the heavens shake their snowflakes, distil their gentle showers, or pour their copious floods upon the earth? It is God who saith to the snow and rain, "Be thou on the earth" (verse 6). Does the frost arrest the flowing river, congeal the water-drop, lie like crisp white beads upon the ground, or trace its fairy pictures on the windowpane? It is God's breath that sends the frost into the air (verse 10). Do the rain-clouds fill and empty themselves upon the earth? It is God who loadeth them with liquid burdens (verse 11). Does the lightning-shaft, leaping from the dark bosom of the storm-cloud, career through the murky sky? It is God who directeth it under the whole heaven (verse 3). Nor is this simply superstition, like that which caused the untutored savage and the cultured Greek alike to transform every mountain and stream into the abode of a divinity. And just as little is it merely poetry which, personifying dead things, deals with them as beings endued with life and intelligence. It is piety which, with a keener and truer discernment than is sometimes evinced by modern scientists, overleaping every intermediate cause, takes its station with adoring wonder beside the throne of him who is the absolute and uncreated Author of this universal frame. The characteristic here ascribed to Elihu, the youthful prophet of Arabia, was one which in an eminent degree pertained to the Hebrew mind. The psalms of David, in particular, are distinguished by the boldness with which they recognize the hand of God in the ever-varying phenomena of this terrestrial sphere (cf. Psalms 8:1-9 .; 19.; 29.; 65.; 68.). Nor was this peculiarity awanting to the later poets of the period of the exile (cf. Psalms 104:1-35 .). Even New Testament writers ( e.g. St. Paul, Acts 14:17 ; Acts 17:28 ) are not strangers to this devout practice. Above all, it was habitual with Christ ( Matthew 6:30 ; John 5:17 ). It is much to be re,tied that modern scientists should so frequently overlook the fact that in investigating nature's laws they are merely informing themselves as to the specific methods in which the supreme Creator has been pleased to work.

III. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR EXECUTION . If the phenomena of nature are in themselves such as to demand an infinite mind for their conception, much more does their production call for a supreme Artificer of unlimited resources as to wisdom and power. Elihu declares them to be "doings" positively incomprehensible by the finite mind (verse 5); and, notwithstanding all the results of scientific observation, it is still true that the chief secrets of nature continue to baffle man's intelligence. Take the thunderstorm, for instance, to which Elihu alludes. Almost any scientific treatise touching on the subject will explain how the dark masses of cloud that pile themselves above the horizon and gradually spread along the sky are filled with water and charged with electricity, how the lightning is produced by the meeting of positive with negative electricity, and how the thunderclap results from the explosion of the overcharged clouds. But, after all, this does not impart a great deal of information to the mind. It leaves unresolved the deepest mysteries connected with the problem, such as the way in which the storm-cloud is formed, and the structure of the particles of which it is composed, the mode in which the earth and the air have been charged with different kinds or degrees of electricity, what electricity itself is, and what are the laws of its production and distribution. And even though all these matters were explored by the patient intellect of science, there would still remain the question how the phenomena themselves can be made, clearly showing that the utmost that is attainable by man is to understand the works of God (at least in part) when they are made, not to arrive at the wisdom by which they might be reproduced. The meteorologist can observe how God makes his thunder, but he cannot himself thunder with a voice like God's. He can descant upon the cause of snow, can expatiate upon the beauty of the snowflakes, and can tell that their crystals assume five leading forms; but with all his learning and amid all his researches he has never laid his finger on the art of making snow, or of saying to a single flake, "Be thou on the earth."

IV. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR CONTROL . If nature is not a vast machine from which God has departed, still less is it an engine which he has suffered to escape from his hand. Conceived by infinite wisdom and fashioned by almighty power, it has by the same combination of qualities been kept in complete subordination. Elihu instances the lightning-cloud as a work of God that is "turned round about by his counsels, and that doeth whatsoever he commandeth upon the face of the wide earth" (Verse 12). But it is the same with the snow and the rain, the frost and the wind. These are as submissive to his command as the thunder when it roars, or the lightning when it gleams. So, according to the concurrent testimony of Scripture, are all his works in all places of his dominion ( Job 23:13 ; Psalms 33:9 ; Psalms 119:90 , Psalms 119:91 ; Isaiah 40:26 ; Daniel 4:35 ; Ephesians 1:11 ).

V. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR IMPRESSIVENESS . More especially is this the case with the grandee and sublimer phenomena. The thunderstorm, with its ominous gloom, its lurid fires, its terrific detonations, carries a sense of awe to every sentient creature. At its first approach the cattle manifest their fear by herding together in the most sheltered spots that they can find. The birds, as they fly with sager haste to screen themselves among the boughs, give evidence that they are smitten with an unknown dread. Even the wild beasts that roam through the forest or scour the plain, the shaggy lion and the ferocious tiger, slink away to hide themselves within their dens Nay, man, whether civilized or barbarian, religious or unbelieving, cannot witness the dread commotion of the elements, cannot look upon "the sulphurous and thought-executing fires, vaunt couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts" as they flash across the murky vault of heaven, or listen to the "all-shaking thunder" as it crashes, rolls, and roars across the pavement of the skies, without instinctively holding his breath and feeling solemnized, as if he stood in presence of the supernatural. Even the heart of Elihu trembled and tottered from its place before the awe-inspiring manifestation of Divine power which was then taking place (verse 1), very much as Moses did in the presence of Mount Sinai, when it shook beneath the feet of the God of Israel ( Psalms 68:8 ), and he gave expression to his horror, saying," I exceedingly fear and quake" ( Hebrews 12:21 ). But scarcely less impressive to a thoughtful and devout mind is Nature in her quieter moods.

"The meanest floweret of the vale,

The simplest note that swells the gale,

The common sun. the air, the skies,

To him are opening Paradise."

Elihu speaks of God sealing up the hand of every man by the terrors of his thunder or the rigours of his winter (verse 7); that is, arresting man's customary occupations, and compelling man, by a period of enforced leisure, to meditate upon his work, so as to know and recognize it to be his. One reason why men fail to trace God's presence in his own creation is the want of a religious contemplation of his works. The supreme Creator has so constructed every portion of nature that, if rightly interpreted, it will speak of him.

VI. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR DESIGN . It is a fundamental article in biblical theology that the supreme Artificer never acts without a purpose ( Acts 15:18 ; Ephesians 1:11 ). The universe was not summoned into existence without a specific end in view ( Revelation 4:11 ). The earth was not created in vain, but formed to be inhabited ( Isaiah 45:18 ). So every single work of God has its particular aim. Elihu again recurs for an example to the thunder-cloud. When God causes a thunderstorm to burst upon a land, it is not an accident, or a haphazard operation, but an event with a well-defined object in contemplation. It is either as a punishment for sin, or as an act of mercy towards man, or as a means of fertilizing the land and thus conferring benefit on an entire population. That is to say, it is employed as an instrument in the execution of God's prearranged design, whether that be specific in its destination or general, i.e. for the benefit of an individual or the good of a country, and whether it be punitive or merciful. And every other phenomenon of nature is in like manner connected with the silver line of God's eternal purpose. Science may not be able to see how the two are linked together. But, if faith can, it is enough. It is not unscientific to affirm that God sends the thunderstorm and the whirlwind, the earthquake and the pestilence, since the hand of God confessedly is outside the cognizance of science; it is not required by religion to deny that all these phenomena are due to immediately preceding causes. Science traces back the links of the chain to the verge of its material domain. When science falters and becomes blind, faith, catching up the quest, penetrates the regions beyond, and discovers the last link of the chain to be the hand of God.

VII. WONDERFUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR TEACHINGS . These may be summed up in one word, "ignorance." Whatever else they attest, they emphatically proclaim man to be destitute of true knowledge.

1 . Concerning the phenomena of nature. Elihu asks Job with a touch of irony if he could explain what to men in general was incomprehensible-how God had imposed laws upon the cloud and the lightning, and by what means he caused "the light of his cloud" to shine—if he knew so much about meteorology as to be able to comprehend "the balancings of clouds"—nay, if he could tell how the action of the south wind, or hot simoom, made him warm (verses 15-17). Doubtless on every one of these points science has laid open to us much that was concealed from the mind of Job and even of Elihu; but still it is relatively true that in comparison with what remains to be explored man is as yet profoundly ignorant of the great secrets of nature.

2 . Concerning the position of himself. Man, Elihu reminds Job, was not distinguished from nature's phenomena as God was, being not the creator as God, but only himself a creature like nature. "Hast thou with him spread out the sky, strong and as a molten mirror?" (verse 18). Consequently, it was sheer presumption to imagine that man was competent to enter into judgment or controversy with God. If Job knew how to address God, Elihu would be glad to be instructed; as for himself, he would as soon think of saying that he wanted to be swallowed up as that he wished to speak with God (verses 19, 20). It is ever precisely in proportion as we understand the feebleness, insignificance, and sinfulness of our position before God that we are withheld from the offences of presumption and irreverence.

3 . Concerning the administration of providence. Exactly as the clear firmament overhead with its shining sun is obscured from view by the storm-clouds that intervene, so the principles on which God governs the world, allotting suffering to one and happiness to another, cannot be distinctly perceived by man. By-and-by they will be made to shine forth with resplendent lustre, as soon the darkened heavens will be swept of clouds, and the bright light, beaming clown from the ethereal heights, will in all its radiant glory be disclosed. Meantime man stands beneath the clouds, where all is dark, though above, i.e. to the mind of God, everything is clear ( 1 John 1:5 ).

4 . Concerning the character of God. Elihu means to say either that fair weather effulgent as gold (or disclosing the golden sun), cometh out of the northern quarters of the sky, or that men out of the northern regions of the earth extract gold; but that neither can the Divine Being, with whom is terrible majesty, be steadily looked upon by man, as man can contemplate the orb of day, nor can the nature of God be fathomed as men dig out gold from the mine. "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out." Not that this implies an utter ignorance of the attributes pertaining to the Supreme. On the contrary, man may gather from his wondrous works in creation and providence that God is "excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice;" nay, that he is compassionate and merciful also, being indisposed to afflict either willingly or severely, and never except as a means to an end.

5 . Concerning the rule of duty. "Men do therefore fear him." Such homage rests on the three pillars of God's power, God's justice, and God's mercy. Yet man, like Job, is prone to forget the reverence due to God. Hence it is ever needful to enforce attention to duty by reminders of God's supremacy and majesty. "He respecteth not any that are wise of heart." Self-righteousness and pride are wholly inconsistent with a right fulfilment of human duty towards the Supreme. "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off" ( Psalms 138:6 ).

Learn:

1 . That nature is the handiwork of God.

2 . That nature contains revelations of beauty, power, wisdom, goodness, justice, to the soul of man.

3 . That it is man's duty to study that which God has revealed.

4 . That the best preparation for a study of nature, as of any other revelation, is a deep conviction of personal ignorance.

5 . That the more we learn of the works of God, the less shall we think of ourselves.

6 . That rightly prosecuted, the study of nature leads to God.

7 . That the glory of God is ever greater than the grandeur of his works, or of Nature in her sublimest moods.

8 . That the sum of human duty, as expounded by nature, is to fear God and keep his commandments.

9 . That the discoveries of nature have been eclipsed by the revelations of the gospel.

10. That if it behoves man to study God in nature, much more does it behove him to study God in Christ.