“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand” (Job 26:14)?
Bildad the Shuhite has attempted to elevate the essence and power of God in his descriptions in the previous chapter; and in this chapter, Job picks up the topic and shows how shallow those ideas are in view of the absolute majesty of God.
Attempting to elevate God’s matchless power to a higher level, Job mentions God’s dominion over the dead, over the universe, over the natural elements, over the sea, and even over heaven itself. Even then, Job says, he has touched only the “edges” of God, giving only a “whisper” of Him.
His power is like “thunder,” so powerful that man has great difficulty in comprehending it; that is, in being able to internalize it.
As in many other passages, this one attempts to bring an awareness of how great God is in contrast to the “littleness” of mankind. The message is that serving such an awesome, wonderful God should stimulate us to submit humbly to Him and to dedicate our lives in unselfish service to Him.