Job 37: 1 – 24
When Thunder Roars – Go Indoors
1 “At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place. 2 Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. 3 He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth. 4 After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard. 5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. 6 For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength. 7 He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work. 8 The beasts go into dens, and remain in their lairs. 9 From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds of the north. 10 By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. 11 Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. 12 And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth. 13 He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy. 14 “Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. 15 Do you know when God dispatches them, and causes the light of His cloud to shine? 16 Do you know how the clouds are balanced, those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge? 17 Why are your garments hot, when He quiets the earth by the south wind? 18 With Him, have you spread out the skies, strong as a cast metal mirror?19 “Teach us what we should say to Him, For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. 20 Should He be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up. 21 Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, When the wind has passed and cleared them. 22 He comes from the north as golden splendor; With God is awesome majesty. 23 As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress. 24 Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”
Many times when someone has a discussion you will receive bits on information flash into your thoughts. Are these from God? Or are these just incidents of your past that has been triggered by certain stimuli. I suggest it can be both.
Picture with me that you are a bystander who is listening to these 5 men argue back and forth. You are out in an open field. Now as Elihu has taken center stage in the discussion the wind starts to pick up. In the distance you can hear thunder and some flashes in the sky which in a southern section is turning a scary black.
Partially you keep an ear and eye on the conversations while with the other eye and ear you are fixed on the approaching storm. You have seen the light flashes and begin to start counting until you hear the drum roll of thunder. Why are you doing this? You are trying to estimate how far this menacing danger is away before you need to run for shelter.
Lightning is a bright flash of electricity produced by a thunderstorm. All thunderstorms produce lightning and are very dangerous. If you hear the sound of thunder, then you are in danger from lightning. Lightning kills and injures more people each year than hurricanes or tornadoes; between 75 to 100 people.
Lightning is an electric current. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. The positive charges or protons form at the top of the cloud and the negative charges or electrons form at the bottom of the cloud. Since opposites attract, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The grounds electrical charge concentrates around anything that sticks up, such as mountains, people, or single trees. The charge coming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds and - zap - lightning strikes!
Thunder is caused by lightning. When a lightning bolt travels from the cloud to the ground it actually opens up a little hole in the air, called a channel. Once then light is gone the air collapses back in and creates a sound wave that we hear as thunder. The reason we see lightning before we hear thunder is because light travels faster than sound
If you see dark clouds, then lightning could be present, but the best thing you can do is to listen for thunder. If you hear thunder, then you need to go indoors or get in a car. Don't be outside, where lightning could strike! If your hair stands on end or your skin starts to tingle, lightning maybe about to strike. Get down on your hands and knees and keep your head tucked in. Do not lay flat, because it can give lightning a better chance of strike you.
Can you tell how far away a storm is? Yes, you can use thunder to tell how far away a storm is. Next time you see a storm, count the number of seconds between when you see the lightning and hear the thunder. Take the number of seconds and divide by 5 and that will tell you how far away the storm is in miles. For example: If you counted 10 seconds between the lightning and the thunder, the lightning is 2 miles away!
Not wanting to give up the floor to any of the other guys Elihu adjusts his words to incorporate the Creator’s natural conditions. Thunder and lightning, which usually go together, are sensible indications of the glory and majesty, the power and terror, of Almighty God.
By the word of God divine instructions are conveyed to the mind through the ear, by his works through the eye; but, because those ordinary sights and sounds do not duly affect men, God Is pleased sometimes to astonish men by the eye with His lightning and by the ear with His thunder.
1 “At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place. 2 Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
"For my part,' says Elihu, "my heart trembles at it; though I have often heard it, often seen it, yet it is still terrible to me, and makes every joint of me tremble, and my heart beat as if it would move out of its place.' Those who are very much astonished, we say, are thunder-struck. Even good people think thunder and lightning very awful; and that which makes them the more terrible is the hurt often done by lightning
Please note that Elihu also calls upon Job to pay attention to it: Thunder is called the voice of the Lord In the book of Psalms 29 we read “1 Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of the LORD Is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD Is over many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD Is powerful; The voice of the LORD Is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
3 He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth
God directs the thunder, and the lightning is His. Their production and motion are not from chance, but from the counsel of God and under the direction and dominion of His providence, though to us they seem accidental and uncontrollable.
. 4 After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard
The lightning is first directed, and after it a voice roars. The flash of fire, and the noise it makes in a watery cloud, are really at the same time; but, because the motion of light is much quicker than that of sound, we see the lightning some time before we hear the thunder.
The thunder is here called the voice of God's Excellency, because by it He proclaims His transcendent power and greatness.
He will not restrain them, that is, He does not need to check them, or hold them back, but lets them take their course. He says to them, Go, and they go-Come, and they come; -Do this, and they do it.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
We must then conclude that our Holy Creator’s other works are great, and such as we cannot comprehend. From this one instance we may argue to all, that, in the dispensations of His providence, there is that which is too great, too strong, for us to oppose or strive against, and too high, too deep, for us to arraign or quarrel with.
Elihu now moves on to other weather conditions. On cable TV they have a weather channel - 24 hours of weather. We had something like that where I grew up. We called it a window. I adjusted one of my famous quotes to television weather announcers. How do you like this one;
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me 350,000 times – you are a weather forecaster
6 For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.
Thunder and lightning happen usually in the summer, but here Elihu takes notice of the winter-weather. Then he said to the snow, Be thou on the earth; he commissions it, he commands it, he appoints it, where it shall fall and how long it shall lie. He speaks, and it is done
It should be noted that saying and doing are not two things with God, though they are with us. When he speaks the word the small rain distils and the great rain pours down as He pleases. The distinction between the small rain and the great rain is this, that the former is called a shower of rain, the latter a deluge of rain
People like to say ‘You don’t mess with ‘Mother Nature’. Yet in truth it should be said that you ‘Do not mess with God’s Holy Providence.’
Most Americans still believe that our weather patterns are 100% natural and that our government has absolutely no control over the weather. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. What you are about to read is evidence that weather modification is happening right now all over the United States.
Environmental modification techniques have been applied by the US military for more than half a century. US mathematician John von Neumann, in liaison with the US Department of Defense, started his research on weather modification in the late 1940s at the height of the Cold War and foresaw ‘forms of climatic warfare as yet unimagined’. During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The US military has developed advanced capabilities that enable it selectively to alter weather patterns. The technology, which is being perfected under the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), is an appendage of the Strategic Defense Initiative – ‘Star Wars’. From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction, operating from the outer atmosphere and capable of destabilising agricultural and ecological systems around the world.
Weather-modification, according to the US Air Force document AF 2025 Final Report, ‘offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary’, capabilities, it says, extend to the triggering of floods, hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes: ‘Weather modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally… It could have offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate precipitation, fog and storms on earth or to modify space weather… and the production of artificial weather all are a part of an integrated set of [military] technologies.’
The effect of the extremity of the winter-weather is that it obliges both men and beasts to retire, making it uncomfortable and unsafe for them to go outside.
7 He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work. 8 The beasts go into dens, and remain in their lairs.
Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm. Wild beasts must seek a shelter for themselves, to which by instinct they are directed, while the tame animals are housed and protected by mankind
9 From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds of the north. 10 By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. 11 Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. 12 And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth.
Can you see that something is happening here? How is understanding of the severe weather from a tornado? Here is a list of the signs of a tornado. See if this matches what Elihu has just listed.
There are several atmospheric warning signs that precipitate a tornado’s arrival:
A dark, often greenish, sky
Wall clouds or an approaching cloud of debris
Large hail often in the absence of rain
Before a tornado strikes, the wind may die down and the air may become very still
A loud roar similar to a freight train may be heard
An approaching cloud of debris, even if a funnel is not visible
13 He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy.
God causes the rain to come, either for the correction of His land or for a mercy to it.
Rain sometimes turns into a judgment. It is a scourge to a sinful land; as once it was for the destruction of the whole world, so it is now often for the correction or discipline of some parts of it, by hindering seed growth and harvest, raising the waters, and damaging the fruits.
At other times it is a blessing. It is for his land, that this may be made fruitful. See what a necessary dependence we have upon our Holy God, when the very same thing, according to the proportion in which it is given, may be either a great judgment or a great mercy, and without God we cannot have either a shower or a fair sunshiny day.
14 “Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
We read in our bibles the word ‘Selah’. It means to stop and think about what has just been said. Elihu is attempting to do the same thing here by getting Job to think about what he has said to him. What we hear is not likely to do us any good unless we consider it, and we are not likely to consider things fully unless we stand still and focus ourselves to the consideration of them. The works of God, being wondrous, both deserve and need our consideration, and the due consideration of them will help to reconcile us to all His wonderful ways.
15 Do you know when God dispatches them, and causes the light of His cloud to shine? 16 Do you know how the clouds are balanced, those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge? 17 Why are your garments hot, when He quiets the earth by the south wind?
Elihu, for the humbling of Job, shows him, that he had no insight into natural causes, could neither see the origin of them nor foresee the effects of them. These verses remind us of the perfection of God's knowledge and the imperfection of our knowledge.
We do not know what orders God has given concerning the clouds, nor what orders He will give. That all is done by determination and with design we are sure; but what is determined, and what designed, and when the plan was laid, we do not know. So, we need to cut some slack to the weather forecasters. Because as you and I both know we are only sure of what the weather is at the exact time we are exposed to.
We do not know how the clouds are poised in the air, the balancing of them, which is one of the wondrous works of God. They are so balanced, so spread, that they never rob us of the benefit of the sun (even the cloudy day is day. The rainbow is an intimation of God's favor in balancing the clouds so as to keep them from drowning the world. Our Holy Majestic and Merciful God has arranged the balancing of the clouds in order to distribute showers upon the earth
Verse 17 comes alive for me as I pen this study. In has been very cold here for a couple of days – in the single digits. Today, in our Lord’s Mercy he has allowed the weather to warm up with temperatures in the 60’s.I dressed warm this morning and as I warm up I peel off the heavier clothing. Thank You Merciful Lord.
18 With Him, have you spread out the skies, strong as a cast metal mirror?19 “Teach us what we should say to Him, For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. 20 Should He be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up. 21 Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, When the wind has passed and cleared them. 22 He comes from the north as golden splendor; With God is awesome majesty. 23 As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress. 24 Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”
Now that he is on this rant it almost seems ridiculous to challenge and insult Job about him having a role in the creation of the sky. He says to Job that he cannot pretend to have stretched it out without Almighty God, no, nor to have stretched it out in conjunction with Him; for He was far from needing any help either in designing it or in its daily working.
Please notice in verse 19 how ridiculous Elihu takes this as he challenges Job to be their director, that is if he would take up the task. He mocks Job by saying, ‘Hey man you have a mind to reason with God, and would you have us also contend with God on your behalf; teach us then what we shall say. Why don’t you favor us with all your great discoveries? How about you furnish us with instructions on how to challenge God.'
‘No’, Elihu goes on to say. He owns his own insufficiency both in speaking to God and in speaking of Him: ‘We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness’. In truth the best of men and women are much in the dark concerning the glorious perfections of the divine nature and the administrations of the divine government. Those that through grace know much of God, in reality know little, yes, nothing, in comparison with what is to be known, and what will be known, when that which is perfect shall come and the veil shall be rent. When we would speak of God we speak confusedly and with great uncertainly, and are soon at a loss for the correct understanding, not for want of matter, but for want of words.
In verse 20 Elihu is even ashamed of what he has said. He is afraid of saying any more: If a man speak, if he undertake to plead for God, much more if he offer to plead against him, surely he shall be swallowed up. If he speaks presumptuously, God's wrath shall soon consume him. This should be a fair warning to false teachers of God’s Holy Word.
Elihu here concludes his discourse with some short but great sayings concerning the glory of God, as that which he was himself impressed, and desired to impress others, with a holy awe of. He speaks concisely, and in haste, because, it should seem, he perceived that the whole group was going to need to run for cover.
He saw the cloud, with a whirlwind in the bosom of it, coming out of the south; but now it hung so thick, so black, over their heads, that they could none of them see the bright light which just before was in the clouds. The light of the sun was now eclipsed. This reminded him of the darkness by reason of which he could not speak (verse 19), and made him afraid to go on, [verse 20].
Yet he looks to the north, and sees it clear that way, which gives him hope that the clouds are not gathering for a deluge; they are covered, but not surrounded, with them. He expects that the wind will pass and cleared them for a violent danger and then fair weather will come out of the north and all will be okay.
Recognizing the power of nature which is created and controlled by our Great and Holy Creator, Elihu in a hurry gives praise and recognition of some of God’s Great Attributes;
1. He is a God of glory and such transcendent perfection
2. He is excellent in power,
3. In judgment and abundant justice
The lesson to take away with us this day is this -It is the duty and interest of all men to fear God. Men shall fear him; sooner or later they shall fear him. Those that will not fear the Lord and his goodness shall for ever tremble under the pouring out of the vials of His wrath.
