“The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nah 1:3).
Do you feel it’s time for a parable? Elihu thinks so (Job 36:24-33). So sit back and relax. Look out at the sky and watch a magnificent storm rolling in. The young man joins the chorus of others who have gazed into the sky and praised the Lord for His handiwork. “Remember to magnify His work, of which men have sung. Everyone has seen it; man looks on it from afar” (vv 24-25). The speaker has a particular lesson to teach us, but we must wait for a few verses to hear it. First, a declaration of faith: “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered” (v 26). Our God is incomparable, inscrutable, and eternal. It was natural for Elihu to liken Him to a storm cloud since this would be the biggest object he had ever seen. The tops of earth’s tallest thunderstorms have been measured to about 75,000 feet—more than 14 miles into the atmosphere! Even Everest’s peak is just 5.5 miles above sea level. But Elihu is also fascinated by the workings of a cloud. “For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (vv 27-28). Here is the Hydrologic Cycle 4,000 years ago: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, absorption. Also, with its accompanying thunder, there’s lightning (vv 32-33), which dissolves nitrogen and forms a fertilizer for plants, produces ozone to protect our planet, and maintains the earth-atmosphere electrical balance. But there’s more! The same clouds that produce hail and damaging wind—Job knew about that!—also bring the blessing of rain. “For by these He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance” (v 31). “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22).