Job 37:5-24
To show Job the state of his soul and the ways of God with him, Elihu takes his examples from the sky on a stormy day (see previously Job 36:27-29; Job 36:32-33; Job 37:2 . . .). The dark clouds portray the sadness and affliction which, for a moment, had hidden the light of God’s face from Job. It is difficult for the natural heart to understand the mysterious balancing of the clouds (v. 16). But Job has to learn one thing: these clouds are laden by God with waters of blessing for him (v. 11 – JND translation; Job 26:8). For the rain can fall in many different ways: in kindness on the earth (Psalms 65:10), or on the other hand, in chastisement like a rod (v. 13; cf. Psalms 148:7-8). It comes down in plenteous and beneficial drops (Job 36:27-28) like fertilising showers (v. 6), or on the contrary in torrential floods – the rain of His power – which ravages the soil without soaking into it. In this latter case it is like judgment without any effect on the soul. But this is not in God’s mind in the case of His servant Job. He wants to bless him, He is correcting him in moderation (Jeremiah 10:24) and will make him say with the hymn writer:
"Still sweet ’tis to discover
If clouds have dimmed my sight,
When passed, eternal Lover,
Toward me, as e’er, Thou’rt bright."
(cf v. 21).