God sometimes made His self-revelations to people in a storm symbolic of the disturbing effects His awesome presence produced (cf. Exod. 19:16-17; 1 Kings 19:11-13; Isa. 6:4; Ezek. 1:4; Zech. 9:14). One wonders if Job's friends thought God was about to strike Job dead with a bolt of lightning.
"Job's troubles began when a great wind killed his children (1:19). The Lord was in that storm, and now He speaks from the tempest (cf. Ezk. 1:4)."157
God began His speech with a challenge to His opponent's understanding, as the five human debaters on earth had done. He accused Job of clouding the truth about Him by saying things that were not true. Job should have defended God's justice rather than denying it since he claimed to be God's friend. His lack of adequate revelation led to this error. Likewise every believer should be slow to affirm that he knows God's will about the affairs of an individual's life, his own or someone else's. We still do not know all the facts concerning why God is allowing what takes place. God then told Job to prepare for a difficult job: to explain His ways in nature. If God had done wrong, Job must have known what was right!
