He Gives Rain

Job 5:8-10

“But as for me, I would seek God,
And to God I would commit my cause—
Who does great things, and unsearchable,
Marvelous things without number.
He gives rain on the earth,
And sends waters on the fields.”


When I see rain I might think that it’s a blessing as it’s beneficial for the farmers, or I might even complain because it inconveniences me. I certainly wouldn’t think that it is a great and incomprehensible wonder. But Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, does. In his mind, rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. Why this difference in reaction? What can we learn from Eliphaz’s words? What can we learn from the rain?

One reason I pay so little attention to God's theatre is that I am a fallen, sinful creature. I cannot imagine that the angels in heaven get tired of God's beauty or that God himself grows weary of the beauty of his Son. There is in heaven an ever-renewed energy of perception and enjoyment. But fallen man is plagued by familiarity. C.S. Lewis puts it so well:

“Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children - and the dogs? They know what snow's made for” (That Hideous Strength, 1945).

But since it is caused by our sinful state, our redemption means that we will be freed from that increasing contemptuousness. And since our redemption has already begun in this age, Christians ought to have better eyes than people in the world for seeing the awesome beauty around us. We ought to be the kind of people who walk out of the house in the morning with the same sense of suspense and expectancy with which we go to a new movie at the cinema.

Eliphaz wasn’t the only one who marvelled at creation around him. Frequently David mentions it in his psalms. Psalm 19 is a great example of David’s vision of the panorama around him:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

David imagines creation as speaking to the whole world—to every tribe and language throughout the earth. It speaks to us and reveals knowledge continually. This knowledge is not literally spoken to us. It is a visual, not verbal, declaration of God’s handiwork and glory.

Creation is a revelation of knowledge. The first verse of the psalm tells us what this knowledge is. It declares that behind all of creation is a glorious God as maker of the world. The world is His handiwork, and He is glorious. This should lead us to belief in God and His glory as creator, and therefore every man who can perceive nature is accountable to honour God and thank him. Paul speaks more about this in his New Testament letter to the Romans:

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. (Romans 1:20-21)

Creation is enough for us to know about God. Creation alone is enough to show us His invisible attributes. Creation alone is enough to condemn all those who do not respond in humble thanks and praise to Him.

Not everyone responds to creation with thanks and praise to God. Some largely ignore nature. Some try to investigate its origins and completely omit God from the picture. Why does Romans say it is so obvious and yet so many cannot see? Paul gives us the answer to that too. He says in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4,

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Satan, ‘the god of this age’, blinds some people so they cannot see what is so clearly in front of them. He doesn’t want the whole world to see creation as God’s glorious artwork, and so he warps their vision so they cannot see it like that.

But for me, God has graciously lifted that satanic veil so that all is revealed. I can see the flowers being cared for by mighty God, and the grass of the field being clothed. I can see Him feeding the sparrows, and providing for the gazelles. I can see His Fatherly hand behind the rain that falls on the wheat and fills the dams. I can see now that this is a great and unsearchable and marvellous thing that God has done and continues to do. I think I should be thankful – a lot more thankful than I am.

C.S. Lewis again:

“Nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one. I do not see how the ‘fear’ of God could have ever meant to me anything but the lowest, prudential efforts to be safe, if I had never seen certain ominous ravines and unapproachable crags.” (The Four Loves, 1960)

I see nature and I see God’s glory. As for me, I would seek God, and to Him I would commit my cause, because He does marvellous and great and unsearchable things (Job 5:8-9). I will praise Him because He is the father of the rain and He has begotten the drops of dew (Job 38:28). I will praise Him because He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries (Psalm 135:7).

So as I see the rain falling, I will remember that it is God who sends it. I will remember that it is a great thing. I will open my eyes to the art around me, and enjoy what C.S. Lewis refers to as “the divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic reality in which we all live”. I will become as a child, with a fresh vision that delights in rain and flowers and cliffs and birds and fish. I will remember that every event in my life is one more stroke on God’s perfect and beautiful painting that will be revealed at the end of time and I will remember that every one of my actions is one more act in the glorious and marvellous film that is unfolding on the stage of God’s creation.