Chapter 37

Elihu introduces God to Job and his friends

The storm sounds like the voice of God
v1 This storm excites me. My heart beats hard. I can feel the movements of my own heart. v2 Listen! Listen to the noise (of the storm)! That noise is like Gods own voice. v3 From heaven, God sends the lightning. God causes the lightning to strike across the world. v4 The sound called thunder is after the lightning. This is like the sound of Gods voice. It is so powerful. v5 Gods voice surprises us. He does great things that we cannot explain. v6 He tells the snow, Fall down to the ground! And he says to the rain, Become a powerful storm! v7 God causes every man to stop work. So, they see the work of God. v8 The animals hide. Or, they stay in their homes. v9 Strong winds blow. And the weather becomes cold. v10 God causes ice. The lakes freeze. v11 God supplies water to the clouds. And he scatters lightning through the clouds. v12 He directs the movement of clouds across the world. The clouds do whatever God orders. v13 He might use the clouds to punish men (by a terrible storm). Or, he might provide rain because he loves the people on the earth. Chapter 37 Verses 1-13 For many chapters, Job and his friends had talked about God. Some things that they said were correct. But other things were wrong. Job and his friends were talking about things that they did not know (Job 38:2). Soon, the men would have an experience of Gods greatness. God himself would speak to Job. Then the men would start to realise how great God is. Elihu had a special task. First, he advised Job by the Holy Spirit. Elihu corrected some errors that Job and his friends had made. Then Elihu introduced God to the men. But God is too great for a mere man (Job 33:6) to introduce him. Nobody can control God (Job 36:23). Nobody can force God to act (Job 34:29). So really, God introduced himself. God speaks to people by many different methods (Job 33:14). Elihu described a dream (Job 33:15) and a servant of God (Job 33:23). Sometimes God has spoken to people in a very quiet way (1 Kings 19:11-13). But God spoke to Job from a storm (Job 38:1). Before God spoke, Elihu described the storm. There were lessons about God that people could learn from the storm: The storm was powerful. And it was loud (verse 2 and verse 4). Nobody could continue to work during the storm (verse 7). But God is much more powerful than any storm. Things happened during the storm that surprised the men. There was snow (verse 6). And there was lightning (verse 11). And Gods deeds often surprise us. For example, the first Christians did not expect that God would send them to tell Gods message to foreigners (Acts 11:1-18).

 Sometimes rain is good news, because the rain provides our water supply. But a terrible storm is bad news (verse 13). So whenever God acts, he helps good people. But he punishes bad people.

Gods wonderful works

v14 Listen, Job! Stand still! Think about Gods wonderful works! v15 You do not know: how God controls the clouds; how God causes the lightning to flash; v16 how clouds stay in the sky; or the wonderful works of God, whose knowledge is perfect. v17 You are so hot when there is a south wind. v18 But you cannot help God to make the sky, which seems as solid as metal. Verses 14-18 God does all these wonderful things. No person can do such things. Even today, people cannot control the weather. So we should learn that God deserves honour. He is greater than anybody else. We must respect him. This was Jobs greatest error. In his speeches, Job concentrated on his own life (chapter 29 and chapter 31). He emphasised that he was innocent. He spoke about his own rights. But Job did not realise that God is always right (Job 32:2). Job should have spoken about Gods greatness. But often, Job preferred to speak about himself.

God is coming!
v19 Teach us what we should say to God! But we can say nothing, because of our evil behaviour. v20 We do not deserve to speak to God. We only deserve to die. v21 When the weather clears up, even the sunlight is too bright for our eyes. v22 From the north, God comes. He is like a great king. Gold surrounds him. v23 God is greater than we are: He is important! He is powerful! He is fair! He is not cruel! v24 So, respect him! Do not pretend that you are wise! Verses 19-21 We have no right to speak to God, except the right that God has given to us. We do not deserve Gods help. Everybody has done evil things. God will only forgive us because of the things that he himself has done. God himself sent Jesus to suffer the punishment for our evil deeds. If God wanted, we would all die instantly (Job 34:14-15). But the wonderful news is that God loves us. God even wanted to speak to Job (chapter 38). God wanted to forgive Jobs friends (Job 42:7-8). God is great because of his power. But God is also great because of his love. Verses 22-24 Perhaps Elihu realised that God would speak soon. So Elihu told the other men clearly that they must respect God. In verse 23, Elihu reminded the men about the main ideas in his speech.

The men had argued about who was the wisest. But God is wiser than any man. In fact, even if God were foolish, his words would still be wiser than any man (1 Corinthians 1:25). But God is never foolish. He is wise and we all must respect him.