Elihu Says God Is Back of the Storm
37 “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 [a]lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 “After it, a voice roars;
He thunders with His majestic voice,
And He does not restrain [b]the lightnings when His voice is heard.
5 “God thunders with His voice wondrously,
Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.
6 “For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
And to the [c]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 [d]den.
9 “Out of the [e]south comes the storm,
And out of the [f]north the cold.
10 “From the breath of God ice is made,
And the expanse of the waters is frozen.
11 “Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud;
He disperses the cloud of His [g]lightning.
12 “It changes direction, turning around by His guidance,
That [h]it may do whatever He commands [i]it
On the face of the inhabited earth.
13 “Whether for [j]correction, or for His world,
Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to [k]happen.
For today, we’ll stop being so hard on Elihu, as he’s made some interesting observations that every weather forecaster should take note of. The weather of this world is a tremendous force that God has put into motion. We can read that there are times when God has deliberately “tampered” with the natural flow. For example, when He withheld rain from Israel for 3 years. Then, when the people repented, He responded with a torrential downpour.
Yet, did He actually need to tamper with it? Given that God knows the future, it’s entirely possible that He knew exactly when Israel would need a 3-year drought to bring them back to Himself. That’s an incredible thought, but that area experienced a 7-year famine in the days of Egypt, so it’s not impossible for God to have set those things in motion from the very beginning. Who knows the intricacies of the weather like God?
For all our modern science, we still only make educated guesses at what will happen. They’ve become more and more accurate, but there are so many incalculable factors that the forecasters simply cannot account for every variation with absolute accuracy. Yet God knew precisely what our weather would be last night, and He knew it at the beginning of time.
So as Elihu rightly says “That it may do whatever He commands it… Whether for correction, or for His world, Or for lovingkindness…” The second reason seeming to simply be, just because the planet needs what He provides. I think Elihu is trying to imply that the literal storm that Job experienced earlier might have been for correction. We know now that such a thing is entirely possible, but how can we know? Do God-fearing farmers always get perfect weather for their crops?
Certainly not, sometimes they get a lovely batch of hail that ruins an entire growing season. Are we to assume that the farmer has sinned then? That’s also a resounding “no”! What do we know then? We know that God can use the things of this world, including the weather, for whatever is best for us at any given moment. That may be for correction, that may be just what our lawns or crops need, that may be an extra blessing.
Whatever it may be, know that God sees you and knows you better than you know yourself. He knows exactly what you need before you ever ask. But don’t take it for granted, don’t forget to ask your Father for what you need or even want. Put it through the filter of what will be best for His kingdom, and then ask away, and trust that God will do what is best.