Treasures of the Hail

Job 38:22b hast thou seen the treasure of the hail?

Not long ago, I read that verse in Job. Never once did i think how significant it would be. Yesterday we knew rain was forecasted during the night. We knew that there was a chance of hail. However, once promised rain has passed by on the other side about so many time, a person has small faith. I have become a “i will believe it when i see it” type of person when it comes to rain. Well, a bit after midnight, i was believing. The storm hit with a fury. Searing lightning followed by immediate thunder told us it was directly in our yard. It started raining and i stood by the windows and watched. I was hoping we would get more than a few drops. Soon the predicted hail arrived on the scene. We all stood helplessly, with our hands over our ears, as it pummeled our home. By the time the storm run out of steam, five windows were shattered, my flowers were mangled, the dining room floor was splattered with rain and broken glass. There was no power and internet. We propped plywood up against the windows, swept up the glass, dried the floor, and went back to bed. This morning, I looked out on a bedraggled, soggy world. What wasn’t shredded by hail was flattened by rain. The dry stream bed to the east of the house was a roaring river. Fences and asphalt were washed out. Glass and hail littered the deck. Hail had literally sandblasted the stain off of the deck, leaving it weirdly polka dotted. Both county roads 428 and 429 were flooded in. There was shredded vegetation plastered everywhere; it looked like a finely chopped green salad. I’ve not seen the trees as bare as they are now, even in the winter. And I thought about that verse.

Job 38 starts out with this “Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind and said”. There had been quite a discussion going on between Job and his friends. At one point Job’s friends had ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. The Lord must’ve been a silent listener to their discussion and decided to step in. The next four chapters of Job are fascinating. I try to picture myself, swimming in pain, right in my own eyes, above reproach. And then out of a whirlwind God begins asking me the questions asked in those chapters. “Where is the way where light dwelleth? Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Hath the rain a father? Who hath begotten the drops of dew? Who giveth understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds in wisdom? Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacock? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command?” It would’ve been humbling to say the least.

Imagine you are in your life’s fiercest storm; constant lightning, howling winds, and torrents of rain. Hail breaks out the windows, shreds the only beauty left in life, and creates icy drifts against your door. The storms rages on in all it’s fury; you struggle along in your own power “right in your own eyes”. Advice falls on deaf ears, sympathies are scorned, and help is declined. It’s me, myself, and I against the world. I’m in control, the master of my own boat, and too proud to cry out to the Master of the storm. I know what I’m doing, thank you very much. Somehow we are right in our own eyes, thinking we know how to handle the storm, not recognizing the fact that it came from the storehouse of God. Job 38:23 says the hail “is reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle”. Maybe the storm comes to take away the skeptical “I will believe it when I see it” attitude. Maybe as the winds howl, we exchange our small faith for a solid strong faith. Maybe the storm beats against our hopes and dreams and our flesh cries out. It could be that God sees a long range view of where those dreams will take us. Maybe God knew we were headed for a “time of trouble” and we would need to wake up. Maybe He is helping us grow strong “against the day of battle and war” in mysterious ways. It seems like the refining fire never makes sense in the present moment, only in hindsight can we see the cleansing power. Does He see us having too much faith in our own intellect and allows a storm to clear our vision? Do we like to think that we understand life, know about how things should go and then question God when things go off script? Maybe it’s in these storms God asks the hard questions. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning stars all sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Hast thou an arm like God? Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the paths of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him?” Humbled we remember that we are dust. Bedraggled and stripped of our pride and reasoning, we once again submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him? Psalms 8: 3-4. And we cry out “Master, Master we perish. Then He arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was calm”.

No one chooses the storms that come. We want to avoid things that hurt. We cringe at the thought of pain. Can’t we learn lessons the easy way? Is the path of least resistance an option? And yet there is a long list of folks that have gone on before us that have weathered the storm, shouldered the cross, and learned hard painful lessons. There is a great cloud of witnesses that have walked the straight, narrow way, laid aside the sin that so easily beset them, and run the race with patience. These travelers to Heaven, obtained a good reward through faith. They had faith that the pain and terror of the storm would be worth it. They clung to that faith as hail shattered their dreams and shredded their flowers. They grasped the promise that all things will work together for good for those who love God. They knew that His “good”and their “good”may not look the same and still they chose His “good”. They accepted the treasure of the hail. May we live so that some day a generation we will never meet can see us in that cloud of witnesses. May they see that we learned lessons in the storms and we also accepted the treasure of the hail. 🤍e