Job 36:26-33 | KingComments | STEP | How great God is cannot be understood by us ( ). Whether it is His strength and power, His wisdom and knowledge, His love and grace, His counsel and His purposes; we humans cannot grasp the extent of it. Also “the number of His years is unsearchable”, it cannot be fathomed by us, for He is eternal. It determines us by our smallness and limitation as creatures and by the folly of our attempts to understand God’s actions and the reasons for them. The word “for” ( ) is the introduction to a number of examples that prove God’s greatness, omnipotence, and wisdom to mortals, as well as their inscrutability. Elihu begins with the origin of “the drops of water”, something that is clear to almost all people and all nations. But who is aware of how this happens, that God works in the way Elihu describes here? Imperceptible to man, God draws up drops of water in the form of vapor through the heat of the sun ( ; ). Then those drops are poured out over the earth in the form of rain. Of the raised-up water drops He forms the clouds, by which He bundles the raised water as it were into clouds ( ). He also sets the course of the clouds so that the raindrops “drip upon man abundantly”, that is on their fields. Thus He cares for them and shows them His goodness ( ; ). Man can only observe, sometimes predict, but not understand how God works in this. How the clouds spread under the heavens over the earth is also incomprehensible to man ( ). A cloud can start small and over time blacken the whole sky ( ). Who can understand how He expands the clouds, then dispels them and creates them somewhere else? Science can sometimes predict where and when there are clouds. But it cannot create or disperse the clouds, nor can it determine their course. The clouds are for God as “His pavilion” ( ). From there He sends His commands and sounds the thunder of His voice. We can see this, but it is impossible for us to understand why God does it.

‏ Job 36:26-33

God Is Exalted, and We Do Not Know Him

How great God is cannot be understood by us (Job 36:26). Whether it is His strength and power, His wisdom and knowledge, His love and grace, His counsel and His purposes; we humans cannot grasp the extent of it. Also “the number of His years is unsearchable”, it cannot be fathomed by us, for He is eternal. It determines us by our smallness and limitation as creatures and by the folly of our attempts to understand God’s actions and the reasons for them.

The word “for” (Job 36:27) is the introduction to a number of examples that prove God’s greatness, omnipotence, and wisdom to mortals, as well as their inscrutability. Elihu begins with the origin of “the drops of water”, something that is clear to almost all people and all nations. But who is aware of how this happens, that God works in the way Elihu describes here? Imperceptible to man, God draws up drops of water in the form of vapor through the heat of the sun (Psa 135:7; Amos 5:8). Then those drops are poured out over the earth in the form of rain.

Of the raised-up water drops He forms the clouds, by which He bundles the raised water as it were into clouds (Job 36:28). He also sets the course of the clouds so that the raindrops “drip upon man abundantly”, that is on their fields. Thus He cares for them and shows them His goodness (Mt 5:45b; Acts 14:17). Man can only observe, sometimes predict, but not understand how God works in this.

How the clouds spread under the heavens over the earth is also incomprehensible to man (Job 36:29). A cloud can start small and over time blacken the whole sky (1Kgs 18:44-45). Who can understand how He expands the clouds, then dispels them and creates them somewhere else? Science can sometimes predict where and when there are clouds. But it cannot create or disperse the clouds, nor can it determine their course.

The clouds are for God as “His pavilion” (Psa 18:11 ; Psa 97:2). From there He sends His commands and sounds the thunder of His voice. We can see this, but it is impossible for us to understand why God does it.

God Speaks in Lightning and Thunder

During the thundering thunderstorm God spreads His light over the earth by lightning (Job 36:30). He does so in the high, in the sky. By “His lightning” He covers “the depths of the sea”. The depths – Hebrew: roots – of the sea are the darkest places and invisible to us. But these dark depths of the sea are not hidden from God, Who is light. God’s greatness is seen in the highest and lowest regions of creation. He is everywhere and He reigns everywhere. He is in the light of lightning and in the impenetrable darkness of the water depths.

He can use the rain to judge peoples by causing a flood (Job 36:31; cf. Gen 7:11 ; 23). He may also use the rain as a blessing to moisten the land, so that corn and other agricultural products that depend on the rain grow well and there is “food in abundance”.

Lightning, which frightens us, is covered by His hands (Job 36:32). This means that lightning comes out of His hand and is guided by His hand to His purpose. He determines the purpose of lightning, where it hits the earth. We can wait for lightning, but never know when it will come, how it will go nor where it will go. The moment, the speed and the direction of lightning are unpredictable and inimitable for us.

When God gives rain, He announces it (Job 36:33). We hear rumbling in the distance and know that thunder is coming. That is His call. His call announces that He Himself is coming. The animals, the cattle, feel instinctively that a storm is approaching, which is noticeable by their behavior. Their behavior therefore also announces Him. The cattle react to His speaking and His coming. But man often does not recognize Him when He speaks and shows His presence.