“Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? “ — Job 38:25–27.
Job was an admirable man, but the Lord meant to make him still better. The best of men are but men at the best; and though Job was in a certain sense perfect, yet he was not perfectly perfect, there was a further stage beyond that which he had reached, else would he not have been tried as he was. But, because the Lord knew that there was something better for Job than he had already attained, he had to be subjected to extraordinary trial. He was such a valuable diamond that there had to be more cutting for him than for a common stone. He was made of such good metal that he paid for being put into the furnace; there would come out something still more pleasing to the great Refiner if he cast that which was so precious into the most fervent heat. Hence it was that Job was so greatly tried; yet, after all his trials, it seemed as if he would miss their blessed result; or his three friends — the miserable comforters — appeared to be the marplots of the whole design. By their cruel, cutting, sarcastic observations, they irritated Job, so that it looked as if he would be harder instead of softer because of the fires. Sometimes, when a man knows that he is being unjustly and unfairly treated, he stiffens his back, and hardens himself, and influences which, by themselves, might have wrought great tenderness of spirit, are spoiled because something else is thrown in. Job was in this condition, and he therefore seemed to rise in his own estimation rather than to sink, as was desired, until at last the Lord ended the dispute by manifesting himself. Out of the whirlwind he spoke to Job, and bade him gird up his loins, and meet his Maker if he dared; then it was that Job was brought to his right position, and at the end he said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Then Job realized the benefit of his affliction; but not till then. When the Lord revealed to Job his supremacy, his eternal glory, and in that light compelled him to see his own imperfection and nothingness, then the patriarch’s trials became sanctified to him.
Our text is a part of God’s challenge to Job. The Lord seemed to say, “If Job is indeed as great as he half thinks he is, let him see whether he can do what his Creator does.” He is challenged about so slight a matter, apparently, as the sending of the rain. Does Job know how it is done? Can he explain all the phenomena? Our modern scientists tell us how rain is produced, and I suppose their explanation is the correct one; but they cannot tell us how it is that power is given to carry out what they call “the laws of nature,” neither can they make the rain themselves; nor, if a drought were to continue till the nation was on the verge of famine, would they be able to cover the skies with blackness, or even to water a single acre of land. No; with all our explanations, it is still a great mystery, and it remains a secret with God how it is that he waters the earth with rain.
I am not going into that matter at this time; I intend to use the rain as an emblem of the grace of God, as it usually is in Scripture, — a figure of that blessed overflowing of the river of God’s love which comes down to quench our thirst of sin, to refresh us, to enliven us, to fertilize us, to soften us, and to cleanse us. This matchless water of life has all sorts of uses, and God sends it, when he pleases, in abundant showers upon his own people according to that ancient word, “Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.” The Hebrew means, “Thou didst pour out blessings,” as from a cornucopia, and so “Thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.” There are many here who are weary, they want to be refreshed, and they are praying to God to send a gracious shower, a copious distilling of his matchless grace upon their hearts and lives. I am going to preach upon this passage with the desire that, while I am speaking, such a blessing may come upon us, or that, at any rate, we may begin to pray for it.
I. My first point is that, As God Alone Giveth Rain, So God Alone Giveth Grace.
Jehovah asks of Job the question, “Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth?” It is God, and God only, who creates rain. We cannot make it, but he can and he does give it; and it is absolutely so with his grace, The Lord must give it, or there will be none. If it had not been for his eternal plan, whereby he purposed to give grace to the guilty, the whole race of mankind would have been left, like the fallen angels, without hope and without mercy. The angels that kept not their, first estate, but rebelled against God, were given over to punishment, without any intimation whatever of redemption for them, or of any possibility of their restoration. God, who does as he wills with his grace which is most sovereign and free, passed over the fallen angels, and made his grace to light on insignificant and guilty men. And it has been after the same fashion in all history; if God has withholden the blessings of his grace from any of the nations, they have not been able to procure them for themselves. One lone light Burned in Israel for hundreds of years, while the rest of the inhabitants of the earth were left in darkness; and the world, with all its wisdom, could not and did not find out God. Men, in their ignorance, set up idols almost as numerous as their worshippers, and in their blindness they went way and that way, but always astray from God. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from Father of lights,” as certainly as the rain comes down from heaven. There is but one source of supply for grace, and that source is God himself. He giveth grace, and “he giveth more grace;” else there would be none whatever amongst the sons of men.
And, moreover, it is God who finds the way by which his grace can come to men. I will not enter into any elaborate explanations of my text; it signifies that God finds a way by which the ram comes down from the upper regions to water the thirsty fields. “Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters?” Only God himself has made a channel for the rain; we could not have made it. So is it with his grace; otherwise, how could grace have come to man? How was it possible for the thrice-holy God to deal leniently with sinners who had provoked him to anger? How could it be that the Judge of all the earth, who must be just, should, nevertheless, pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin? This is a problem which would have perplexed a Sanhedrim of seraphim. If all the mightiest intelligences that God has ever made had sat together in solemn conclave for a thousand years, yet they would not have been able to solve this problem, — How can God be just, and yet the Justifier of the ungodly? Infinite wisdom devised that matchless way of substitution, by which, through the death of the Son of God, men might be saved. There is the stamp of Divinity about that verse, “the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
