Three Reasons to Revere the Almighty
Discovering Holy Awe Through God's Unsearchable Power and Perfect Justice
Sermon Summary
This sermon addresses the modern tendency to reduce God to human dimensions during seasons of mystery and hardship. By examining Elihu's final speech in Job 37, believers are called to cultivate genuine reverence for God based on His sovereign power over nature, His unsearchable wisdom, and His absolute righteousness. The desired spiritual response is humble surrender, trusting worship, and renewed awe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
We live in an age that craves control and quick explanations. When sudden storms disrupt our personal plans, our families, or our livelihoods, our immediate instinct is often to demand answers or question God's motives. In Job 37, Elihu addresses Job at the end of a long, painful debate about suffering. Before God speaks directly from the tempest in the very next chapter, Elihu urges Job to stop talking, stand still, and look at the sky. Through thunder, snow, wind, and blinding atmospheric light, God reveals that He is actively managing a cosmos far beyond human comprehension. Real spiritual transformation begins not when we force God into our logical boxes, but when we pause to behold His majesty and revere Him for who He truly is.
Main Scripture
Job 37:14-24
Listen to this, Job. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? You whose clothing is warm when the earth is still by reason of the south wind? Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we will tell him, for we can ’t make our case by reason of darkness. Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty. We can ’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. Therefore men revere him. He doesn’t regard any who are wise of heart.
Job 37:14-24 forms the decisive threshold leading directly into God's dramatic answer to Job from the whirlwind. This passage is central to the sermon because it reframes human suffering within the vast landscape of divine majesty. Elihu demonstrates that because humanity cannot comprehend or manage the simplest natural phenomena like cloud formations or desert winds, we are entirely unfit to put God on trial. By establishing God's exalted power, perfect knowledge, and unyielding justice, this text demands that believers replace self-justification with holy reverence.
Main Sermon Points
1. He Controls Creation with Absolute Power
God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things, which we can ’t comprehend. For he says to the snow, ‘ Fall on the earth, ’ likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain. He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it. Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens. Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north. By the breath of God, ice is given, and the width of the waters is frozen. Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning. It is turned around by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them on the surface of the habitable world,
Elihu describes how God commands atmospheric forces, halting human work so humanity remembers its physical limitations.
Paul confirms that all visible and invisible things were created through Christ and are sustained by His sovereign word.
In ancient Hebrew thought, weather was not viewed as an automated system of luck or blind physical laws, but as the direct manifestation of God's active governance. God speaks to the snow and directs the lightning to its target. By sending frost or rain, God sovereignly pauses human labor, reminding every farmer, worker, and king that human effort is ultimately subordinate to divine authority.
When natural disruptions, economic downturns, or personal obstacles pause your daily work, do not default to anxiety or anger. Intentionally pause to acknowledge God's sovereign hand over your circumstances, surrendering your personal schedules to His higher agenda.
Quick Insights
- God actively governs every natural force in the universe.
- Unplanned delays are divine invitations to acknowledge our human limits.
- The power that controls the storm is the same power holding your life.
2. His Wisdom Far Exceeds Human Understanding
Listen to this, Job. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?
Elihu challenges Job to explain the physics of cloud movement to show how limited human understanding is compared to God's omniscience.
Paul praises the unsearchable depth of God's wisdom, knowledge, and judgments which transcend human investigation.
Elihu uses simple atmospheric wonders to expose the limits of human intellect. If Job cannot explain how clouds remain balanced in the air or how heat shifts with the south wind, he cannot possibly unravel the moral universe or demand that God explain His sovereign decisions. Reverence grows when we recognize that God is perfect in knowledge while our perception is limited.
Stop demanding that God give you a complete explanation for every painful season or unanswered prayer. Choose to trust His perfect mind when you cannot trace His complex methods in your family, workplace, or personal life.
Quick Insights
- Human intellect is finite while God's knowledge is infinite.
- You do not need to understand every detail to trust God completely.
- True wisdom begins when self-reliance ends.
3. He Governs in Perfect Justice and Mercy
Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty. We can ’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. Therefore men revere him. He doesn’t regard any who are wise of heart.
Elihu closes by affirming that although God is unapproachable in His majesty, His exercise of absolute power is never tyrannical or unjust.
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice form the eternal foundation of God's throne, while loving kindness and truth go before Him.
Power without righteousness produces tyranny, but God's supreme power is eternally bound to perfect justice and loving kindness. Elihu notes in verse 13 that God sends atmospheric moisture either for correction or for His land's covenant mercy. Because God cannot act unjustly or oppress the innocent, holy reverence is the only appropriate human posture.
Refuse to yield to bitterness when life seems unfair. Anchor your heart in the truth that God will execute righteous judgment in His perfect timing, and extend His merciful grace to all who approach Him with a humble spirit.
Quick Insights
- God's omnipotence is always guided by His unyielding justice.
- Divine correction and divine mercy work together for our good.
- Reverence guards the human heart against pride and bitterness.
Bottom Line
We revere the Almighty because His sovereign power controls creation, His infinite wisdom exceeds human comprehension, and His eternal governance is always perfectly just and merciful.
Memorable Quote
We do not revere God because we understand all His ways; we revere Him because His unsearchable ways are always good.
Theological Point
This passage highlights the doctrine of divine sovereignty and incomprehensibility, demonstrating that God exercises absolute control over nature and history while remaining perfectly righteous, holy, and transcendent above human critique.
Prayer Guide
- Pray for a renewed sense of holy awe and reverence in your daily walk with God.
- Ask God to help you surrender your desire to control unexplainable life circumstances.
- Thank God for His faithful care expressed through both gentle blessings and divine discipline.
- Seek God's help to trust His unsearchable wisdom when facing seasons of mystery.
Responding to God’s Word
In returning to our title, Three Reasons to Revere the Almighty, we are reminded that true worship begins when we stop arguing with God and start beholding His majesty. Elihu urged Job to stand still and consider the wondrous works of God, and that same invitation comes to us today. We revere Him because His power commands the universe, His wisdom far surpasses our finite minds, and His righteousness guarantees that He will never oppress His children. Ultimate revelation of this glorious God is found in Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, who commanded the wind and waves with a word and bore our sins upon the cross. As you step out today, release your need for self-justification, yield your pride, and bow your heart before the Almighty in faithful obedience, worship, and enduring hope.
