to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
God is questioning Job out of the storm, and here the questions turn to rain that falls where nobody lives. Why would God water ground that no one will ever walk on? And what does that say to a man who fears God has stopped caring about him?
The Voice behind the questions
These questions are not a lecture on weather. One writer points out that what changed Job was the speaker, not the subject matter:
Samuel RidoutThe 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.
Rain where no one is watching
So who is the rain for, if not for people? One writer answers:
William KellyGod 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.
Wider than human needs
If rain falls where it helps nobody, God's work is wider than human needs. That exposes something in the way we think:
Leslie M. GrantSometimes 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.
Grant points to Isaiah, where God says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD" (Isaiah 55:8, ESV).
Who decides where the showers fall
The verse assumes Someone decides where the water goes, and when. One writer sees in that a word for Job himself:
Samuel RidoutBut 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.
Mercy that reaches the smallest thing
Rain on empty land is not waste. It reaches the places no one owns, and the life no one counts:
Samuel RidoutThis 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."
Note: Ridout quotes the older wording, "His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9).
The comfort hidden in the question
Job's fear that God had overlooked him meets its answer in God's care for every creature:
William J HockingHad 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?
Summary
- Voice. What broke Job was not new facts about weather but meeting God Himself. He had spoken well about God without ever knowing His presence.
- Reach. Rain falls where no person lives. God's thoughts, plans and goodness reach places where no one is watching.
- Measure. We would spread the showers unevenly and at the wrong time. God alone knows when and where to send relief, and the storm is only the prelude to it.
- Mercy. Wherever the smallest blade of grass grows in the waste places, His mercy is over all that He has made.
- Trust. He cares for every creature in its need. So He has not stopped caring for the sufferer who feels forgotten.