The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 590

III. A POWERLEBB vo10B, The silent lightning is deadly. On the .other ha.nd, there are no thunderbolts; it w&S ignorance that attributed the effects of the eleotrio flash to the thunder that followed it. But this was in accordance with a common way of thinking. We pa.y most attention to that which makes most noise, Yet whon the noise is heard the power is past. Men are always undervaluing the lightning and o,•ervaluing the thunder. Sin is ignored, its con~equences a.re made much of. Goodness is forgott.en, fame is worshipped. Fidelity is not 88en, success makes the welkin ring with applause. IY. A vorOB OF MERCY. The thunder cannot do anything directly, with all it11 noise and fury. The deeds are done by the swift, subtle electricity; and the boasting thunder is nothing but noise. Still, there is a messa.ge in the thunder. 'l'he noise of the thunrler tells us that the lightning ha.s come and gone I The fearful flash has passed, and st.ill we live untouched, unhurt.. Moreover the storm, of which the thunder is one element, is a most refreshing influence, clearing the atmosphere, cooling the temperature, bringing rain to thirsty fields and gardens. Thus the voice that seems only to roar in rage is to be associated with grateful thoughts. The same may be said of other thunderous voices. Calamities burst over our heads like tJmnderstorms. At first they st.un us ; but by degrees we begin to see that they have brought showers of blessing, and that they have not crushed us as we expected. Here we stand, in spite of the 11torm, still living and still enjoying the loving-kindness of God.-W. F. A. Vers. 11-13.-The rainstorm. I. ITS SOUROE. It is produced by Goel, and it Is directed by God. He brings it about, and he guides it. 1. It CO'TTUMJ/t·om God. Now, this is most certainly an integral part of nature. We ha.ve seen that th11 thunder belongs to nature. That was not al ways apparent to men; there seemed to be something so weird and awful about it that men attributed it to supernatural agencies. But the rain is manifestly in the order of natural phenomena. Yet this is as Divine as the thunder. God is in all nature, and as much in its quiet, normal occurrences as in whai is startling and exceptional. 2. It is piloted by God, The clouds seem to pass ' over the heavens in wild confusion. We can see no reins to hold them in, nor any whip t.o drive them on. _The science of meteorology is about the most backward of all the sciences, because it is so difficnlt to reduce the phenomena of the weather to their place in an orderly scheme, on account of their ceaseless variations and apparently boundless irregularities. But we are already seeing that there are laws behind the weather, and some of them are already known. Hence our weather prognostications in the newspapers. Now, the Scripture view of the weather, as much as that of the most orderly and changless phenomena, attributes all its movements to the will of God. God is in what looks to us most conflicting and purposeless. If he is steering it, we can trust to him to bring it to a happy end. II. ITS PURPOSE. 1. Thus is det.ermined 'by God. The march· of the clouds is commanded by their great Captain. In nature as well as in human life God works with a purpose, and the end is with him. 2. It is obscure. We cannot tell whether the raiD is for one particular purpose which we have in mind, or for another that has never occurred to us. In all life God works out many purpo~es quite beyond the reach of our thoughts. 3. It may be "for a sC-Ourge." God sends what we regard as untimely rain-rain in harvest; or too much rain -floods that devastate fields, drown crops, and invade houses. For God sometimes looks very stern in his actions, whatever Lis thoughts may be. In other ways God chastises bis people by natural calamities. Let Ill! not be amazed when these things happen to us. They are predicted, and therefore they should be expected. 4. It may be in mercy. " For the good of his land." The dry soil needs rain. Thirsty crops are refreshed by the downpour that is diBtressing to the traveller. What looks like a calamity may be a blessing. Instead of complaining of the inconvenience of what happens to us, let us look round us a.ud see if it iii bringing good in some other direction. 5. In any ease it is for a blessing, The scourge is a blessing in disguise. Though various results may issue from God's variolll! actions, in so far as they are designed by God they all make for righteousness and the welfare of his children. Thunder and rain bless even by their calamities. Horrow and loss, pain and tears, scourges and thoms, a.re instruments of discipline that bless wht:u they hurt.-W. F. A. OH, XXXVII. 1-24.) 'rHE BOOK OF JOB. 605