“Behold, God is exalted by His power; who teaches like Him? Who has assigned Him His way, or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’? Remember to magnify His work, of which men have sung. Everyone has seen it; man looks on it from afar. Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered. For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from His canopy?” Job 36:22-29.

The scene here is of the man Job who lost everything including his children in a day, see Job chapter 1 and 2. At this point Job’s trial is not over and here he sits covered head to toe with boils.

To add insult to injury, Satan sent three of Job’s friends over to comfort him. Which they did by arguing with him and accusing him of some sort of sin. Their accusations finally goad Job into justifying himself before them and God.

Job’s problem was that he believed that he was pure in heart before God. And though, none of these men could find fault in Job, yet they still condemned him. A fourth man, a young man who had restrained himself from speaking before his elders, now vindicates God.

“So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” Job 32:1-3.

In his wrath Elihu chastised Job for his many unrighteous words questioning God’s motivations, including below:

“I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. Yet He finds occasions against me, He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths.” Job 33:9-11.

Hear the words of King David below

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5.

Sin is pretty hard to avoid since the sin nature is passed down to each one of us.

Elihu goes on to berate Job’s three friends for condemning Job without a basis. With this he tells these men that God trains men through trials. Elihu’s speech is a wonderful discourse, read chapters 32-37.

This leads us to the opening passage on the power of God.

“Behold, God is exalted by His power; who teaches like Him? Who has assigned Him His way, or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?” Job 36:22-23.

“God is exalted by His power…” God created everything, and He will disassemble everything at the end of time, and all believers will watch Him build a new Heavens and a new earth when we enter eternity.

Who can teach mankind like the eternal God?

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Hebrews 12:5b-8.

Who can tell Him what course to take in governing all of creation? Here is part of God’s answer below.

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’? Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, when the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together?” Job 38:34-38.

Who tells the omniscient God “You have done wrong”? Sinful, disobedient, mankind every day.

“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18.

The first sentence above means exactly what it says, there is none! “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”

The omniscient God declares that there is none – no, not one. You and I are guilty of one or several of the things listed above, even if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior.

For those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, His sacrifice on the cross has blotted out all of those sins past, present and future. But, beware, too many Christians love Jesus yet still cling to some of those sin habits. All of us must confess and forsake those sins as the Holy Spirit brings them up to us.

As for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please search through the list given above, and whatever speaks to you, I implore you, turn to Jesus and give your life and eternity to Him, and receive a peace which passes understanding.

As for those who desire to cling to their sin, there is only the spiral ever downward. Sin is a deceitful thing that will subtly change a person’s moral code dragging them into even greater depths of depravity. God illustrates this below.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress [hold down] the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest [obvious] in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” Romans 1:18-22.

If there those who feel mired in sin and unworthy of Jesus’ Sacrifice, never forget that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. This means you no matter how filthy or corrupt you think you are, Jesus will embrace you and clean all the filth away and give you a clean heart.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek [all who will accept Jesus].” Romans 1:16.

Power of God, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-14-25 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.