Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert, in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass?
– Job 38:25–27
Ah, I love these verses. So Job 38, God finally speaks. God speaks to Job, and all throughout the book, we’re waiting for answers to Job’s questions and wrestling about why this is happening, and we get to Job 38, and God speaks.
Job 38:25–27 speaks of a supernatural God.
And instead of giving some quick answer to all of Job’s questions, God starts asking Job question after question after question to demonstrate His power and His wisdom, His love, and His trustworthiness, and His glory. And these verses that I just read, what I love about them is … Let me just read it again.
“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt?” So we prayed about this, in light of Job 37, how rain doesn’t just happen. Rain is a supernatural occurrence that God brings about: rain and thunder and lightning. Then Verse 26 in Job 38 says, “to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert, in which there is no man.” So God sometimes brings the rain in a way that has nothing to do with man, woman, with people. “To satisfy the waste and desolate land,” Verse 27 says, “and to make the ground sprout with grass.”
Job 38:25–27 reminds us God is God-centered.
In other words, sometimes God does things that aren’t centered around you or me. Just let that soak in. You and I are not at the center of the universe. God is at the center of God’s universe, and everything He does ultimately revolves around Him and His glory. All creation, including you and me, revolve around God and bringing glory to Him, which totally transforms our perspective on our lives and our suffering.
I mean, this is what God is leading Job to realize: that ultimately, our lives are not about you or me. They’re about glorifying our God, and the good news of the Gospel is that our God, the God who’s worthy of all glory, the God who is at the center of the universe, He loves you and me. He has made a way for you and me to know Him, to enjoy Him as we exalt Him. He sent His son as a substitute sacrifice for our sin, so that we could be forgiven of our sin. Instead of being glorified in holy justice, where God is glorified, in showering us with a holy mercy, saving us from our sin, drawing us to a relationship with Him, where we get to enjoy relationship with our Creator, who is worthy of all glory.
This verse reminds us that we live to worship the Lord.
And so we pray, God. We, as part of creation, confess in this moment that we revolve around You. All creation revolves around You, not man, not me, not anybody listening to this right now. You alone are God, and we worship You. We glorify You. Lord, we fear you and we praise You. We thank You for Your love for us. We thank You for making us, for relationship with You, for making the way for us to be in relationship with You through Jesus.
God in the flesh, we praise You, Jesus, for Your death on the cross, Your resurrection from the grave, for making relationship with You possible by Your grace, by Your love for us, so that we might exalt You and enjoy You, so we might glorify You as we are glad in You. God, help us to live today for this purpose above all else. We pray that everything we do today will revolve around You, not ourselves. And reorient our lives today, we pray, to revolve around whatever brings You the most glory. Everything we do and everything we think, desire, say, do, in our work, in our relationships, we pray You’d help us to glorify You, the center of the universe, as we enjoy Your grace for us, toward us.
Prayer for the Dendi People
As we walk with You, God, help us to lead others to glorify You… To experience Your grace and Your mercy around us. Help us to spread Your glory today, where we work, where we live, and to the ends of the earth.
God, we pray for the Dendi people of Benin. For hundreds of thousands of them in this Muslim people group who don’t know Your glory in Jesus. We pray for the spread of Your glory, Lord Jesus, among the Dendi people of Benin… That they might join with all creation in giving You glory. Oh, God, bring all the nations to glorify Jesus, we pray. Help us to live for Your glory today.
In Jesus’ name we pray. 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.
