“Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Elihu is still speaking as a thunderstorm breaks overhead, and he stops Job with a command: halt, and look at what God is doing. Two questions follow: what can a suffering man learn from clouds and lightning, and what should he do with the parts of God's work he cannot explain?
A storm outside, a storm inside
The weather Elihu describes is not decoration. It matches what has been happening to Job himself.
Samuel RidoutThe storm is upon them now, and Elihu trembles. He calls on Job to hear God's voice in it all. We may well believe he also calls him to hear His voice in the storm of sorrow that has fallen on him. It has come blow upon blow, the sharp lightning stroke of affliction, the awful thunder of God's chastening. God has been doing marvellous things, things beyond our understanding, but it is God. "Be still, and know that I am God."
Why God says "stop"
The first word to Job is not an argument but a pause. That pattern goes beyond Job.
Scripture QuarterlyGod calls a halt and tells Job to listen, stand still and consider the wonderful works of God. Whenever God has something important to say, He calls man to stand still and listen. Everything in creation is evidence of God! In Romans 1 we read that created things show His eternal power and Godhead. So men everywhere are left without excuse. No one can plead ignorance. Nothing has appeared by chance, but by design — and that design is God's.
Wonders in the visible world
Elihu points Job to the weather, not to anything higher. One writer explains why that suits the early days the book belongs to.
William KellyThe chapter before turned our ears to the ways of God in providence. Those ways are clearly righteous and good, mighty as He is, and especially so in corrective blessing, where men do not rebel to their own shame and ruin. Job 37 now turns our eyes to the wondrous works of God in the outward world. I admit these are very far from presenting the depth of truth that the doctrine of Christ or His grace gives. It is not the unseen, but the visible. We are in the infant days even of God's saints, when they spelled out the vast letters of heaven and earth before the Scriptures were read. Because Christ was not here, God takes up the outward world. It shows His majesty, faithfulness, and gracious power in everything around man.
Questions no one can answer
After the command comes a run of questions about light, cloud and sky. Job cannot answer one of them.
William KellyWho and what was Job, then, to put God's ways on trial? It would be better to weigh it all, stand still, and consider His wonders. Did he know how God imposed law on the atmosphere, and caused the light of His cloud to shine? Did he know anything about the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge? Man can feel, but can he explain? Had Job spread out the skies with God, strong as a mirror of cast metal? If so, he could tell us what we should say to Him. If not, we have no power to set anything in order because of darkness.
From the clouds above to the clouds of life
The same writer presses the point past the weather.
William KellyHe shows the absolute sovereignty of God. And if that is true about natural things, is it not still more necessary in spiritual things? "He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy." The correction is what he was showing about God's dealings with Job. … Even with those men of God, we know only in part. There is great darkness even now.
That balance in the sky reaches into a sufferer's own life.
Samuel RidoutLet Job forget himself, his troubles, his "friends"; let him stand still and consider the wonderful works of God. Can he explain these purposes? Does he realise the light that shines behind the clouds? Does he understand the balancing of these clouds? All nature is balanced like this, one force against another — and there is a divine balance in the clouds of life too. He will "with the temptation provide the way of escape." All things work — but they work together for good to those who love God. These are the balancings of the clouds.
Summary
- Halt. God's first move with a man who has much to say is to call him to stand still and listen. The pause comes before the answer.
- Look. Elihu turns Job outward to sky, cloud and lightning. Creation is evidence by design, so no one can plead ignorance.
- Admit. Considering ends in questions Job cannot answer. Man can feel, but he cannot explain, and even God's own people know only in part.
- Trust. The God who balances the clouds balances the clouds of a life. The same rain comes for correction, for the land, or for mercy.
- Bow. If God's rule is complete in nature, it is more surely complete in spiritual things. So who was Job to put God's ways on trial?