103. Acknowledge God

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Hymns: RHC 7 God Moves in a Mysterious Way, 10 Still, Still With Thee, 40 God the Omnipotent

Job 37:14-20

14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. 15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? 16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? 17 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? 18 Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass? 19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. 20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

Acknowledge God

OUTLINE

  • Hear and Consider His Works (v14)
  • Our Imperfect Knowledge – Humility in the Sight of the All-Knowing God (v15-17)
  • We Are Not There when He Created the World (v18)
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INTRODUCTION

It is for man to acknowledge God in worship and complete obseience when he understands more clearly the Person of God.

Elihu here addresses himself closely to Job, desiring him to apply what he had hitherto said to himself. He begs that he would hearken to this discourse (v14), that he would pause awhile: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.What we hear is not likely to profit us unless we consider it, and we are not likely to consider things fully unless we stand still and compose ourselves to the consideration of them. 

The works of God, being wondrous, both deserve and need our consideration, and the due consideration of them will help to reconcile us to all his providences. [Matthew Henry]

  • Hear and Consider His Works (v14)

14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

How great is God and how puny is man! Can man bargain and reckon with God? Can he show his displeasure to Him being a creature in the hand of his Creator? Surely, it is as the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:21 (KJV) “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” We are moved along life by the minutest and momentous works of His hand in arranging the weather and the seasons. 

By two imperatives, “hearken” and “consider” (understand, discern), be awakened to the presence of God ordering our lives. We are not living in a “evolved” world over millions of years but in a world created and sustained the Almighty God.

The foolish and ignorant man goes on living without understanding. It is not to their bliss but harm. The sooner we come to know our Creator, the faster we can redeem the time of our limited earthly existence. 

For Job, know this … that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:3-4 (KJV) This was what the Lord was doing trying Job in the afflictions that came upon him. Unless Job comes to a right frame of mind, the greatness and majesty so awe and humble him before God that he learns to come to faith and silence before God, he cannot find the breakthrough in his walk with God.

The psalmist David expressed this well in Psalm 39:1-5, 6:

Psalm 39:1-5 (KJV) To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 4 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 

Psalm 39:6 (KJV) Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

The psalmist was determined to remain silent in the scoffers’ presence, and not to sin with his mouth by accusations against the Lord (v1), v4-6 are best understood as the impatient utterances of a man overcome by frustrations and anger by his plight. His reflections on the brevity and futility of life in comparsion with God’s everlasting nature are a valuable perspective from which to view his and our own affliction. 

Psalm 39:7-10 (KJV) And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

In striving towards a position of trustful prayer (v7-10) he is also an advertisement of the divine grace and power which enable believers to trust in God under the most severe circumstances. [KJV Devotional Bible]

  • Our Imperfect Knowledge – Humility in the Sight of the All-Knowing God (v15-17)

15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? 16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? 17 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

Elihu, for the humbling of Job, shows him, that he had no insight into natural causes, could neither see the springs of them nor foresee the effects of them (v15-17):

Dost thou know this and know that which are the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? 16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

We are here taught the perfection of God’s knowledge. It is one of the most glorious perfections of God that He is perfect in knowledge; He is omniscient. His knowledge is intuitive: He sees, and does not know by report. It is intimate and entire: He knows things truly, and not by their colours – thoroughly, and not by piecemeal. To His knowledge there is nothing distant, but all near – nothing future, but all present -nothing hid, but all open. 

We ought to acknowledge this in all His wondrous works, and it is sufficient to satisfy us in those wondrous works which we know not the meaning of that they are the works of one that knows what He does. 

The imperfection of our knowledge. The greatest philosophers are much in the dark concerning the powers and works of nature. We are a paradox to ourselves, and every thing about us is a mystery. The gravitation of bodies, and the cohesion of the parts of matter, are most certain, and yet unaccountable. It is good for us to be made sensible of our own ignorance. Some have confessed their ignorance, and those that would not do this have betrayed it. But we must all infer from it what incompetent judges we are of the divine politics, when we understand so little even of the divine mechanics. [Matthew Henry]

We know not what orders God has given concerning the clouds, nor what orders He will give (v15). That all is done by determination and with design we are sure; but what is determined, and what designed, and when the plan was laid, we know not. 

God often causes the light of His cloud to shine, in the rainbow, in the lightning; but did we foresee, or could we foretell, when He would to it? If we foresee the change of weather a few hours before, by vulgar observation, or when second causes have begun to work by the weather-glass, yet how little do these show us of the purposes of God by these changes! 

We know not how the clouds are poised in the air, the balancing of them, which is one of the wondrous works of God. They are so balanced, so spread, that they never rob us of the benefit of the sun (even the cloudy day is day), so balanced that they do not fall at once, nor burst into cataracts or water-spouts.

The rainbow is an intimation of God’s favour in balancing the clouds so as to keep them from drowning the world. Nay, so are they balanced that they impartially distribute their showers on the earth, so that, one time or other, every place has its share! [Matthew Henry]

17 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

We know not how the comfortable change comes when the winter is past (v17). How the weather becomes warm after it has been cold. We know how our garment came to be warm upon us, that is, how we come to be warm in our clothes, by reason of the warmth of the air we breathe in. 

Without God’s blessing we should clothe ourselves, yet not be warm (Haggai 1:6).

Haggai 1:6 (KJV) Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

But, when He so orders it, the clothes are warm upon us, which, in the extremity of cold weather, would not serve to keep us warm. 

How it becomes calm after it has been stormy: He quiets the earth by the south wind, when the spring comes. As He has a blustering freezing north wind, so He has a thawing, composing, south wind; the Spirit is compared to both, because he both convinces and comforts (Song of Solomon 4:6). [Matthew Henry]

Song of Solomon 4:6 (KJV) Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

  • We Are Not There when He Created the World (v18)

18 Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?

That he had no share at all in the first making of the world (v18): “Hast thou with him spread out the sky? Thou canst not pretend to have stretched it out without him, no, nor to have stretched it out in conjunction with him; for he was far from needing any help either in contriving or in working.” 

The creation of the vast expanse of the visible heavens (Genesis 1:6-8), which we see in being to this day, is a glorious instance of the divine power, considering, that, though it is fluid, yet it is firm. It is strong, and has its name from its stability. It still is what it was, and suffers no decay, nor shall the ordinances of heaven be altered till the lease expires with time. [Matthew Henry]

Genesis 1:6-8 (KJV) And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

That, though it is large, it is bright and most curiously fine: It is a molten looking-glass, smooth and polished, and without the least flaw or crack. In this, as in a looking-glass, we may behold the glory of God and the wisdom of his handy work (Psalm 19:1). 

Psalm 19:1-3 (KJV) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

When we look up to heaven above, we should remember it is a mirror or looking-glass, not to show us our own faces, but to be a faint representation of the purity, dignity, and brightness of the upper world and its glorious inhabitants.

Can we not rest in the knowledge of creation as revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures even though we are not there and even though we cannot prove it? There is such a knowledge as true knowledge that can only be received by faith. As such, can we trust God in His providence whenever the circumstances it is in our lives? 

Do we need to live by prove? Or can we live in peace and joy by faith in God? There is surely a better way to view our afflictions and our response to them was the gist of Elihu’s discourse.

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19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. 20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

That neither he nor they were able to speak of the glory of God in any proportion to the merit of the subject (v19-20). He challenges Job to be their director, if he durst undertake the task. He speaks it ironically: “Teach us, if thou canst, what we shall say unto him (v19). 

Thou hast a mind to reason with God, and wouldst have us to contend with Him on thy behalf; teach us then what we shall say. Canst thou see further into this abyss than we can? If thou canst, favour us with thy discoveries, furnish us with instructions.” 

He owns his own insufficiency both in speaking to God and in speaking of Him: We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. The best of men are much in the dark concerning the glorious perfections of the divine nature and the administrations of the divine government. Those that through grace know much of God, yet know little, yea, nothing, in comparison with what is to be known, and what will be known, when that which is perfect shall come and the veil shall be rent. 

When we would speak of God we speak confusedly and with great uncertainly, and are soon at a loss and run aground, not for want of matter, but for want of words. As we must always begin with fear and trembling, lest we speak amiss (De Deo etiam vera dicere periculosum est—Even while affirming what is true concerning God we incur risk), so we must conclude with shame and blushing, for having spoken no better. Elihu himself had, for his part, spoken well on God’s behalf, and yet is so far from expecting a fee, or thinking that God was beholden to him for it, or that he was fit to be standing counsel for him, that

He is even ashamed of what he has said, not of the cause, but of his own management of it: “Shall it be told him that I speak? (v20). Shall it be reported to Him as a meritorious piece of service, worthy His notice? By no means; let it never be spoken of, “for he fears that the subject has suffered by his undertaking it, as a fine face is wronged by a bad painter, and his performance is so far from meriting thanks that it needs pardon. When we have done all, we can for God we must acknowledge that we are unprofitable servants and have nothing at all to boast of. He is afraid of saying any more: If a man speak, if he undertake to plead for God, much more if He offer to plead against Him, surely he shall be swallowed up.

If he speak presumptuously, God’s wrath shall soon consume him; but, if ever so well, he will soon lose himself in the mystery and be over powered by the divine lustre. Astonishment will strike him blind and dumb. [Matthew Henry]

CONCLUSION

May we not sin with our tongue and keep our mouth before God. Amen.