Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
– Job 26:14
As Job is surrounded by supposed friends who are trying to explain to him the ways of God, Job recognizes that his mind, that our minds are so small and God is so grand, majestic, glorious, mysterious, that our finite minds cannot fully comprehend who he is and all that he does. Now, praise God, he does reveal himself to us. It’s not like we’re in the dark. We have his word.
Job 26:14 teaches that we cannot fully comprehend the power of God.
We have a light revelation of who God is and how God works. At the same time, we cannot fully comprehend the power of God. It’s what Job is saying, the thunder of his power. Who can understand? Can you or I fully understand the power of God or the wisdom of God or the love of God or the justice of God or the mercy of God? We could go on with all of his attributes that are infinite, the eternity of God, the limitless nature of God. All of his attributes are ultimately beyond our total comprehension, which means when we walk through difficult days, when we walk through suffering, there will be some mystery to his ways that we don’t understand, that we won’t know.
Even as we do know all these things that are true about God, that he is all powerful, that he is all wise, that he is all loving, that he is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. And in this way verses like Job 26:14 lead us to pray in simple, humble praise to God, for us to say together right now, oh God, there is no one like you. We bow our hearts, our minds before you in worship, in awe of your greatness, of your glory, of your grander, of your infinite power, your infinite wisdom, your infinite love.
Job 26:14 teaches us that God’s power is unquestioned and that his mercy is constant.
We bow in awe of your perfect justice and perfect mercy and absolute sovereignty over all things. You are God and we are not, and we praise you for your revelation of yourself to us. We praise you for all the things that you have told us about who you are and how you work that we can bank our lives on now and forever. And especially when we walk through suffering that we could know you are good and you are great, that your power is unquestioned and your mercy is constant toward all who trust in you, that you are working all things together for our good.
We praise you for your glory that makes promises like these possible for us to stand on when we don’t understand everything that’s happening around us. God, I pray for people who are walking through difficult days right now, challenging days. God, I pray that you would comfort them with what you have revealed to them about who you are. Even amidst their questions… That they would be reminded of who you are and how much you love them in such a way that they would say… Amidst the mysteries of this world, this fallen world that we would say we trust in you.
Prayer for the Chechen People
We hope in you. We worship you. Lord, we rest in you. We need you. We seek you. God, we pray that you’d help us to make you known in the world around us… To point people to who you are. God, help us to point people today, to encourage people today with who you are in our lives. And God, we pray for people around the world like the Chechens. We intercede right now for Chechens, almost two million of them, hardly any followers of Jesus. God, we pray for Chechen men, women, and children, to hear the good news of who you are… How much you love them in Jesus to be reached with the gospel.
God, we pray for them. We pray that you would raise up your church to go and tell them what we do know about you… That they might trust in you as the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving God, who you are… Who has sent your son to die on a cross for their sins. Oh God, we pray all of this in awe of who you are according to your Word in Job 26:14. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
