Job 37 — Stand Still and Consider the Wonders of God

Today’s Passage: Job 37

Elihu reaches his finale, and the gathering storm becomes his pulpit. His heart pounds at the thunder, which he hears as the very voice of God, and he watches snow and rain fall at a command, ice form by the breath of God, and clouds swirl about, accomplishing all that God commands. Then comes the charge, “Stand still and consider the wonders of God,” and he begins to ask questions no one can answer. He ends where a man should end, confessing that the Almighty is beyond our reach and that in His justice He does not oppress. Then he stops, because the next word to be spoken will not be a man’s.

As you read, hold this: Stand still and consider the wonders of God.

Job 37:1–7 (BSB)

¹ “At this my heart also pounds and leaps from its place. ² Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. ³ He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth. ⁴ Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds. ⁵ God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend. ⁶ For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’ ⁷ He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work.

Elihu’s own body answers the storm, his heart pounding and leaping from its place, for he hears in the thunder the voice of God and sees the lightning flung to the ends of the earth. God does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds, and snow and rain come down at a bare word, “Fall on the earth.” Verse 5 is the heart of it all: God thunders wondrously, and He does great things we cannot comprehend. Then verse 7 gives the interruption a purpose. The storm seals up every hand, halting human work, so that men may know His work. There is a real mercy in being halted, for when the labor stops the noise of self-importance falls silent. Sometimes the work has to cease before anyone will look up.

Job 37:8–13 (BSB)

⁸ The wild animals enter their lairs; they settle down in their dens. ⁹ The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds. ¹⁰ By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen. ¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them. ¹² They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth. ¹³ Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.

The whole creation takes shelter, the ice forming by the breath of God and the clouds moving on assignment, whirling at His direction. Nothing in the weather is random. And verse 13 holds a key, for the same storm can be punishment on one field and mercy on another, and in both God is acting in loving devotion. The God who governs every drop is not cold, and even His thunder serves His steadfast love.

Job 37:14–18 (BSB)

¹⁴ Listen to this, O Job; stand still and consider the wonders of God. ¹⁵ Do you know how God dispatches the clouds or makes the lightning flash? ¹⁶ Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge? ¹⁷ You whose clothes get hot when the land lies hushed under the south wind, ¹⁸ can you, like Him, spread out the skies, as strong as a mirror of bronze?

Here is the charge, to stand still, and then the questions begin, the very kind God Himself is about to ask. Do you know how He dispatches the clouds, or makes the lightning flash, or balances the floating clouds, or spreads out the skies? Each question exposes the limit of a man. Notice verse 16, where the clouds are called the wonders (פָּלָא) pala, pronounced pah-LAH. Strong's H6381, to be wonderful, marvelous, beyond understanding. “Stand still and consider the wonders of God.” Elihu directs Job not to demand explanations but to contemplate niphlaʾot. Job will soon confess he spoke of things too wonderful for him (42:3). The posture before mystery is not “explain Yourself.” It is “I will stand still.” The God who does wonders in the clouds is the God whose ways in suffering are wonders too. Elihu can name the posture. He cannot give the encounter. of Him who is perfect in knowledge. The title Elihu had dared to take for himself in 36:4 is now returned to God alone, and the man who claimed perfect knowledge stands under clouds whose Maker alone possesses it. This is the right humbling, and it is exactly where God wants Job: stilled, looking up, and out of answers.

Job 37:19–24 (BSB)

¹⁹ Teach us what we should say to Him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. ²⁰ Should He be told that I want to speak? Would a man ask to be swallowed up? ²¹ Now no one can gaze at the sun when it is bright in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. ²² Out of the north He comes in golden splendor; awesome majesty surrounds Him. ²³ The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress. ²⁴ Therefore, men fear Him, for He is not partial to the wise in heart.”

The conclusion is a confession: we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness, and to demand a hearing is to risk being swallowed up. Out of the north He comes in golden splendor, wrapped in awesome majesty, and then comes the last sentence. The Almighty is beyond our reach, exalted in power, and in His justice He does not oppress. God is both unsearchable and righteous, and therefore men fear Him, for no human wisdom impresses Him. With that, Elihu falls silent. Every human voice has now spoken, and the next sound will be the voice from the whirlwind. The young man was partly right, but he was still not the Voice.