Job 37:17-24: a reflection

17You whose clothing is warm when the earth is still by reason of the south wind? 18Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror? 19Teach us what we will tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness. 20Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? 21Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. 22Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty. 23We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. 24Therefore men revere him. He doesn’t regard any who are wise of heart.”

Elihu, pointing Job to the greatness of God in the skies, the spreading heavens, the golden splendor out of the north, arrives at a confession of awe: We cannot reach the Almighty; he is exalted in power. And yet, crucially, he adds: in justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. The God who is beyond our reach, exalted and unsearchable, is not therefore arbitrary or cruel; his greatness is matched by his justice. Therefore, Elihu concludes, men revere him.

Notice how the two truths are held together: God's greatness and God's goodness. He is exalted beyond our reach, past our full understanding, so great that we cannot fully grasp him. And yet this immense God is just and righteous, one who will not oppress. His greatness is not detached from his goodness; the God we cannot fully comprehend is nonetheless entirely just, and can be trusted.

That balance matters, especially when God's ways are beyond our understanding, as Job's suffering was. There is a temptation, when we cannot understand what God is doing, to conclude either that he is not great, or that he is not good, that a God so far beyond us must be indifferent or unjust. Elihu holds both: God is beyond our reach, and he will not oppress. When God's ways puzzle you, when you cannot grasp what he is doing, hold both truths as Elihu did. He is greater than you can comprehend, and he is just and good beyond question. You need not understand all his ways to trust his righteousness. Revere the God who is both beyond your reach and never unjust.

Lord, Elihu confessed that we cannot reach you, that you are exalted in power, and yet that in justice and great righteousness you will not oppress. Help me hold both truths together. When your ways are beyond my understanding, keep me from concluding either that you are not great or that you are not good. You are greater than I can comprehend, and you are entirely just; I need not grasp all your ways to trust your righteousness. When I cannot understand what you are doing, help me revere you as both beyond my reach and never unjust. Let your greatness and your goodness together hold my trust.