12/3/2011 6:51:03 PM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: God is great PT-2
Bible reading & Meditation Reference: Job 36:26-37:24
Message of the verses: Today’s SD is being done a little bit late because of a very early appointment that I had today. We will try and cover the last sub-point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline from chapter twelve of his commentary on Job, “Be Patient.” He entitles this sub-point “God’s mighty power in nature.” It will cover the verses that are mentioned above.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following as he begins this section: “Behold, God is great, and we know Him not.’” (Job 36:26) This is the theme of the last part of Elihu’s speech; and he illustrated it with the works of God in nature, specifically, God’s control of His world during the seasons of the year.”
“Autumn (36:27-35:7): “27 "For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist, 28 Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly. 29 "Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion? 30 "Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea. 31 "For by these He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance. 32 "He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark. 33 "Its noise declares His presence; The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.
“1 ¶ "At this also my heart trembles, And leaps from its place. 2 "Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth. 3 "Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, And 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 the lightnings when His voice is heard. 5 "God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.’” (NASB)
“27 He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain. 28 The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits. 29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven? 30 See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea. 31 By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance. 32 He fills his hands with lightning bolts and hurls each at its target. 33 The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.
“1 ¶ “My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me. 2 Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it rolls from his mouth. 3 It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes in every direction. 4 Then comes the roaring of the thunder- the tremendous voice of his majesty. He does not restrain it when he speaks. 5 God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.’” (NLT)
It is very interesting that Elihu knew the water cycle and how it worked. Evaporation, then comes condensation or as the NLT puts it distilling, and then comes precipitation. The need for electricity is added in the lightning as it helps get the system to work, and of course the thunder comes along too. Dr. Wiersbe points out that in the East where Elihu lived the summers were dry and then in the autumn comes the rain and the storms. Elihu has the mind of a scientist but writes like a poet.
“Winter (Job 37:6-10): “6 ¶ "For to the snow He says, ’Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ’Be strong.’ 7 "He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work. 8 "Then the beast goes into its lair And remains in its den. 9 "Out of the south comes the storm, And out of the north the cold. 10 "From the breath of God ice is made, And the expanse of the waters is frozen.’” (NASB)
6 ¶ “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. 7 Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power. 8 The wild animals take cover and stay inside their dens. 9 The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold. 10 God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water.’” (NLT)
As in the last section Elihu is saying that God is in these weather patterns and seasons by actually putting God in them, for instance look at verse ten of chapter 37, “From the breath of God ice is made.”
The song writer Isaac Watts sure agreed with Elihu when he penned the stanzas to this hymn: “I sing the goodness of the Lord That filed the earth with food; He formed the creatures with His word, And then pronounced them good.
“There’s not a plant or flower below But makes Thy glories known; And clouds arise and tempests blow By order of Thy throne.”
“Spring (Job 37:11-13)”: 11 "Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. 12 "It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth. 13 "Whether for correction, or for His world, Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.’” (NASB)
“11 He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with his lightning. 12 The clouds churn about at his direction. They do whatever he commands throughout the earth. 13 He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love.’” (NLT)
The winter snows and cold weather are over and now the spring rains begin. Elihu knew how important the wind was in the weather patterns throughout the world. Jesus spoke of how unpredictable of the wind in John 3:8: “"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’” Psalm 148:8 gives more insight into the wind and Who controls it, “Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word.” We can see that God is in complete control of the weather.
“Summer” (Job 37:14-18): “14 ¶ "Listen to this, O Job, Stand and consider the wonders of God. 15 "Do you know how God establishes them, And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine? 16 "Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, The wonders of one perfect in knowledge, 17 You whose garments are hot, When the land is still because of the south wind? 18 "Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, Strong as a molten mirror?’
(NASB)
(NASB)
“14 ¶ “Pay attention to this, Job. Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God! 15 Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds? 16 Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? 17 When you are sweltering in your clothes and the south wind dies down and everything is still, 18 he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror. Can you do that?’” (NLT)
Elihu is not telling Job about how hot the summer is and where the winds come from in the summer and how hot everyone is during this time of the year. However Elihu was trying to tell Job things about God, things he sensed that Job did not know about God, and now he will make his final thrust as Dr. Wiersbe writes, “If you can’t explain to us the everyday things of nature, then how will you every prepare a court case to defend yourself before God?” Now let’s look at verse 20: “Do you think I’m dumb enough to challenge God? Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?” (Message)
Job 36:21-22: “21 ¶ We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds. 22 So also, golden splendor comes from the mountain of God. He is clothed in dazzling splendor.” Elihu is speaking of the bright sunshine the “golden splendor” and the “awesome Majesty” of God. Elihu is saying how do you expect to look at God when you can’t even look at the sun.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Elihu’s closing words remind us that, even though we can’t fully understand God, we know that He is great and just and does not afflict men to no purpose. What should our personal response be? ‘Therefore fear Him!’ Job had come to the same conclusion after pondering the works of God in the world (Job 28:24-28)
“Job will now get what he’d been asking for: a personal meeting with God. Was he ready? Are we ready?”
At the end of some of the chapters in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job he writes what he calls and “INTERLUDE” and I want to quote this Interlude at this time: “With all his verbosity and lack of humility, Elihu did say some good things that Job needed to hear. Elihu’s use of rhetorical questions in Job 37:14-18 prepared Job for the series of questions Jehovah would ask him in Job 38-41. Unlike the three friends, Elihu assessed Job’s problem accurately: Job’s actions may have been right—he was not the sinner his three friends described him to be—but his attitude was wrong. He was not the ‘saint’ Job saw himself to be. Job was slowly moving toward a defiant, self-righteous attitude that was not at all healthy. It was this ‘know-it-all attitude that God exposed and destroyed when He appeared to Job and questioned him.
“So, even though God said nothing about Elihu, the man did have a helpful ministry to Job. Unfortunately, Job wouldn’t accept it.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I believe that after we see Job in the closing chapters of this book we will see a different Job, a Job who will be humble and not self-righteous. Being self-righteous is not a good thing for after all we brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of this world, for all we have has been given to us by the Lord and one day we will give an account of how we acted as His steward.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Pride is what caused Satan to fall and therefore humility is what is needed.
2. Continue to learn contentment, for in doing this humility be there too.
12/3/2011 7:53:45 PM
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