Job 38:25–28

And then the rain clouds, the lightnings and their control. What questions these are. They cover every department of what man calls "natural sciences" — geology, meteorology, geography, oceanography, astronomy, and the rest. Job had not a single answer to these questions, and if he had spoken his words would have been folly. And we, more than three thousand years later, are still unable to answer these questions in a satisfactory way. All our boasted progress and our scientific discoveries of the great laws of nature have not changed that. But what is the Lord's aim in putting these questions? To show that God is greater than man and to humble man, to bring Job to the needed true knowledge of himself and to deliver him from the pride of his heart.

But storms and storm-clouds are only the prelude to the rain. Here, too, God is seen, bringing refreshment after the storm. So with Job, his chastening will be followed by the showers. Who knows how to "divide," to distribute, these refreshing showers? Man would distribute them unevenly, or at the wrong time. God knows when and how to send the welcome relief. In fact the lightning and the thunder are only the vehicles on which the showers come, as science now declares.

Though the Bible is the most ancient book in the world, it is the most up-to-date, and cannot be otherwise. Some years ago an officer in the army was lecturing to his fellow officers on electricity. He explained Lord Kelvin's great discovery: rain is always caused by an electrical discharge. That discovery has rightly made Kelvin's name famous. This officer was an earnest Christian man, and he carried a well-worn Bible under his red coat. He said, "Gentlemen, I happen to own a very ancient volume that clearly anticipates Lord Kelvin's discovery."

God does think of animals, He thinks even of the insect; He thinks of where no man is; there He has His thoughts and His plans and His goodness.

But God's work is not confined to the needs of humans, little as we may understand these things. Our purely human thoughts centre on ourselves, and that is nothing but misplaced pride. God's thoughts are infinitely higher than we naturally imagine.

How widely spread this rain is, reaching out beyond the places where people live, to the waste places of the earth. Wherever the tiniest blade of grass grows, there you see the truth that "His tender mercies are over all His works."

The voice that came to Job out of the whirlwind brought him into God's presence. Until now he had been greatly ignorant of His character. He had said many excellent things about God, but he had never before known His actual presence. This, we will find, is the key to the amazing change worked in Job.

God does think of animals. He thinks even of the insect. He thinks of where no man is. There He has His thoughts and His plans and His goodness.

Sometimes the rain causes overflowing floods. Sometimes this happens where nobody lives at all. Sometimes it happens where it badly affects the people living there. But God's work is not confined to the needs of humans, little as we may understand these things. Our merely human thoughts centre around ourselves, which is only unseemly pride. God's thoughts are infinitely higher than we naturally imagine.

But storms and storm-clouds are only the prelude to the rain. Here too we see God bringing refreshing after the storm. So with Job, the showers will follow his chastening. Who knows how to "divide," to distribute, these refreshing showers? Man would distribute them unevenly, or at the wrong time. God knows when and how to send the welcome relief.

This rain is spread so widely. It reaches beyond the places where people live, out to the waste places of the earth. Wherever the tiniest blade of grass grows, there you see the truth that "His mercy is over all that He has made."

Had Job been thinking that God did not consider his welfare? Was there any creature, small or mighty, that Jehovah did not care for — the leviathan of the flood waters, or the sparrow on the housetop? He cared for every creature of His in its need. Would God not care for Job too, the highest creature on earth, who also had a life beyond the grave?

These words are not so much a revelation of truth as a question. They ask Job whether he knows the truths that lie all around him in God's vast creation. It is this which makes these words of Jehovah so wonderful. He does not speak "in a tongue no man can understand." He speaks in the language of nature — about the earth, the sky, the clouds and rain, and animals and birds.

What questions these are. They cover every branch of what people call "natural sciences" — geology, meteorology, geography, oceanography, astronomy, and so on. Job had no answer to a single one of them, and if he had spoken his words would have been foolish. Even now, with all our boasted progress and our scientific discoveries of the great laws of nature, we are still unable to answer these questions in a satisfying way... But what is the aim of the Lord in putting these questions? It is to show that God is greater than man and to humble man. It is to bring Job to the true knowledge of himself that he needs, and to free him from the pride of his heart.

These things are not merely acts; they are, so to speak, the offspring of God's love and care. Rain and dew, ice and frost, are all the children of the great and good God.

Jehovah said to His servant Job, "Has the rain a father?" as if to show that the mighty God fathers even a drop of rain. Millions of tons of water rise from the oceans each day by evaporation. The clouds hold it as vapour until the ruler of nature needs it to water His garden.

Where and when the rain falls may seem to us completely random, but it depends simply on the will of our God and Father, who never makes a mistake.

As air cools it can hold less water. The point where the air can hold no more has a name — the "dew point." When the cooling air reaches the dew point, the extra water vapour in the air condenses and forms dew. Dew will form on anything that is cool enough compared with the air around it... This is a very gentle and delicate process, and is the way God "begets each drop of the dew."

Sometimes the rain causes overflowing floods, sometimes even where no one lives, and sometimes where the people are greatly affected by it. But God's work is not confined to the needs of humans, little as we may understand these things. Our merely human thoughts centre on ourselves, and that is nothing but improper pride. God's thoughts are infinitely higher than anything we imagine on our own (Isa. 55:8-9).

Let science tell us all it can discover about the laws and effects of snow crystals, about the changing temperature of air currents, about electric charges and how they even out. Let us go as deep as we can into these secondary causes. We will find that they are the outer court of His tabernacle, the display of His attributes. They lead us on into the holiest place of all, His revealed Person, as seen in Christ Jesus.