Day 23

The Mercy and Majesty of God

from the Job reading plan


Job 36:1-33, Job 37:1-24, Jeremiah 9:24, Romans 5:20-21

BY Melanie Rainer

Today’s readings are about mercy and majesty, two perfect descriptors of our perfect God. He is indeed merciful, and He is the King. But toward the end of this book about suffering, these two truths stand on trial. God has yet to show mercy to Job. If He is King, and sovereign, and has dominion over everything, why has His faithful servant suffered so much?

Like God Himself, weather is unpredictable, wild, and powerful. So when Elihu describes the power of God, he talks about the weather. “He says to the snow, ‘fall to the earth,’” and “Ice is formed by the breath of God,” and “He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.” The wild, untamable weather that, despite our most advanced radar and predictions, never does what we think it will—this weather is controlled by God, a testament to His sovereignty and majesty.

I write this while most of the United States is gripped by deadly freezing temperatures, the lowest in a generation. I write this after seeing our local weather-people get utterly destroyed on Twitter because they missed a forecast for snow. And always, their defense is simply this: weather is WEATHER. It is, by its very nature, impossible to control. We can read the radar, the charts, the signs, but at the end of the day, weather does what weather wants. Or rather, weather does what God wants.

But God’s majesty does have boundaries, lines drawn by His character and His goodness. In 37:13 we read, “He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love” (emphasis added). In verse 23, we are told, “The Almighty—we cannot reach him—he is exalted in power! He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness.” God may be utterly other, higher than anything we can fathom, but He has bound Himself by His character. And His character, proclaimed by Elihu and written throughout the Scriptures, is steadfast and faithful love, justice, and abundant righteousness.

The answer to the question, Can we trust God in our suffering? is yes, because of His abundant righteousness. Yes, because of His perfect will and His unbreakable commitment to His people, to us.

The psalmist wrote:

I wait for the LORD; I wait
and put my hope in his word.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning—
more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord.
For there is faithful love with the LORD,
and with him is redemption in abundance (Psalm 130:5–7).

We can wait, and we can hope, even in the deepest suffering, because there is faithful love and redemption in abundance in the arms of our good Father.

 

Post Comments (35)

35 thoughts on "The Mercy and Majesty of God"

  1. Andrea Martin says:

    I can Trust and Believe and therefore be obedient and confident in this season. There is newness happening! God mold me….

  2. Brandy Deruso says:

    I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help my help comes from the lord.

  3. Chloe M. says:

    One of my favourite blessings/ reminders of God is how he paints the sunsets. Where I live, sunsets are often stunning and prolonged. And they help me praise God for His beautiful brushwork across the sky. A little love letter to us, a reminder of who He is and what He can do.

  4. D Martin says:

    We hear it said over and over about Mother Nature being responsible for weather, etc., when as believers we know it is truly Father God who is control of all the Earth…weather, pollen (achoo, excuse me), etc. Thank you, Father God.

  5. Tina says:

    I’ve been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia with my young daughters over the course of this school year, and they say of Aslan, “he’s not a tame lion, but he is good.” It’s a sentiment that brings tears to my eyes every time because I see the correlation to God’s character right there. He may seem unpredictable at times because we as humans have our own limitations of understanding, but his character is always trustworthy because he is good.

  6. Katelyn Brown says:

    I have never viewed God as “wild” but I see now that that is a great addition to my understanding of Him. He is not an executive who has a long-term strategy in place. He is an almighty, wild and powerful Being who is beyond understanding and yet makes Himself knowable to us.

  7. Lois Cox says:

    Amen and thank you for this study. I love that at the end of it all there are other children and gifts abundant. ❤️

  8. Katelyn Kenney says:

    Several things stood out to me in today’s readings: “Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food.” (Job 36:16-17); “Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God’s wonders.” (Job 37:14); “But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me– that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord’s declaration.” (Jeremiah 9:34). That last verse in particular reminded me of the hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” I love that in the midst of this suffering and pain, we’re called to turn and remember God’s wonders, his majesty and bigness.

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