Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. – Job 37:2-3

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 26, 2018): Job 37

As a child, there was nothing I liked better than to wander outside in the early evening and watch the sky darkening with the approach of a storm. I just loved to watch the dance of the lightning and hear the roar of the thunder and, on a very hot day, feel the chill of the wind as the storm made its approach. And then, as the rain began to fall, to move inside and watch, through the living room picture window, drops of rain pound the yard, and the lightning as it lit up the sky, and once again feel the vibration of the thunder as the storm passed over our head. Maybe I should have become a storm chaser. There was just something intriguing about the raw power of the storm that could not be contained by our own feeble efforts.

Elihu feels that Job needed a lesson in the power of God, and there was no greater lesson than in watching a thunderstorm. For Elihu, the voice of God was heard in the thunder, vibrating the earth with its force, and speaking its decision with finality. The nineteenth-century pastor and theologian Adam Clarke agreed.  

“Nor is there a sound in nature more descriptive of, or more becoming, the majesty of God, than that of thunder. We hear the breeze in its rustling, the rain in its pattering, the hail in its rattling, the wind in its hollow howlings, the cataract [a large, powerful waterfall] in its dash, the bull in his bellowing, the lion in his roar; but we hear God, the Almighty, the Omnipresent, in the continuous peal of thunder! This sound, and this sound only, becomes the majesty of Jehovah” (Adam Clarke).

We can almost picture the conversation between Job and his friends happening as the wind begins to pick up and dark clouds gather in the distance. Lightning and the distant roar of thunder announce the approach of God. And Elihu makes use of the storm to once more drive home to Job the severity of his situation.

In Job, Elihu’s words foreshadow what it is that is about to take place. It is not just a storm that is approaching. God has heard enough, and now it is his turn to make his argument. The voice of God is about to be introduced into the discussion. He will be the next to take his turn in the discussion.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 38