“‘God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.’” (Job 37:5)
Job and his friends wrestled with the difficult question of Job’s circumstance for quite a long time. The Biblical account of their discussion spans 29 chapters, during which the three friends accuse Job of sin and Job defends himself. After that, a young man named Elihu takes the stage. He rebukes all four older men, insisting they are looking at the problem from entirely the wrong angle. Instead of wondering if Job has or hasn’t sinned, they should instead be focusing on God’s glory. No matter what has happened, His majesty remains the same. Elihu expounds on this for six chapters, glorifying God because of everything that has happened. Then, when he is finished, God Himself speaks.
The last few chapters of Job are some of the most fascinating passages in the Bible. In them, we get a firsthand glimpse of how God sees the world. It is He Who controls the weather, Who watches over the creatures. He knows when the mountain goats give birth, and He stores up hail for times of trouble. His majesty is evident in all things that grow. There are many great beasts in the world, but God is Lord over them all. Men may have feared the Behemoth and the Leviathan, but God speaks of them as beloved pets. Just a portion of this glimpse into His glory is overwhelming; how much more so when He keeps on going! By the end of God’s discourse, Job realizes that he has in fact been in the wrong. He has been discussing things he doesn’t truly understand, trying to justify himself instead of God. In the end, however, the young Elihu was right; this whole situation was all about God.
In the troubles of our own lives, we can apply this same message. Even when we don’t understand, we can still look to God, because His majesty will never fail. Things won’t always make sense. God doesn’t always give us a direct answer as to why things are happening the way they are. But what He does assure us is that He is glorious. His power extends over everything, from lotus trees to the Leviathan. Nothing is too small to escape His notice, not even the ostrich eggs abandoned by their mother. He is glorious, full of majesty; and in the end, that’s all we need to know. When we rest in the fact that He is in control, we can have peace in the midst of chaos. He is God, He is majestic, and that is enough.
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