so that all men may know His work
This part of the verse highlights the purpose behind God's actions: to reveal His power and deeds to humanity. The acknowledgment of God's work is a recurring theme in the Bible, emphasizing the importance of recognizing His hand in creation and history. This aligns with passages like Romans 1:20, which speaks of God's invisible qualities being understood through what has been made. The phrase suggests that through God's intervention, people are led to a greater awareness of His presence and authority. It also points to the ultimate goal of God's actions: to draw people to Himself and to foster a relationship based on recognition and reverence of His divine work.

• “He seals up” highlights God’s deliberate action of shutting, stopping, or enclosing. Elihu has just described God sending snow and heavy rains that halt ordinary life (Job 37:6). By the phrase “He seals up,” Scripture affirms that the Lord actively intervenes in daily rhythms.

• Cross references:

– Job 33:16–17: “He opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, to turn a man from wrongdoing.” God’s “sealing” or interrupting serves a moral purpose.

– Psalm 31:15: “My times are in Your hands.” The believer’s schedule is not ultimately self-directed.

– Revelation 3:7: Christ “opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens,” underscoring divine authority over every barrier and breakthrough.

• “Hand” represents work, productivity, and power. By sealing the hand, God arrests human effort—whether through weather, illness, or circumstance.

• Cross references:

– Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Stillness is not optional; it can be imposed.

– Job 12:10: “The life of every creature and the breath of all mankind are in His hand.” Our own hands operate only by His permission.

– Proverbs 16:9: “A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps,” confirming God’s veto power over human plans.

• Practical takeaway: interruptions are not accidents; they are authored pauses meant to redirect attention from our projects to His purposes.

• God’s pauses are pedagogical. He halts activity “so that”—a purposeful phrase—people will recognize realities they would otherwise overlook.

• Cross references:

– Acts 17:26-27: God “marked out their appointed times… so that they would seek Him.”

– Psalm 107:25-28: sailors, overwhelmed by a storm from God, “cried out to the LORD in their trouble.” Crisis became classroom.

– Exodus 14:31: after the Red Sea, “the people feared the LORD and believed in Him.” Divine interventions cultivate awareness and reverence.

• When routine collapses, revelation often follows.

• The ultimate lesson is not human helplessness alone but the grandeur of “His work.” In context, Elihu points to creation’s displays—thunder, snow, ice—that spotlight God’s power (Job 37:14-18).

• Cross references:

– Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”

– Ecclesiastes 3:14: “Everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that men should fear Him.”

– John 6:29: Jesus said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” Every earthly pause can funnel us toward faith in Christ, the centerpiece of God’s redemptive work.

• Recognizing “His work” moves us from frustration over halted plans to worship of the Planner.

Job 37:7 teaches that when God “seals up the hand of every man,” He deliberately halts human activity to turn universal attention toward Himself. The disruption of our labor exposes our dependence, cultivates humility, and magnifies His sovereign works—from the wonders of creation to the gift of salvation. Interruptions, therefore, are invitations to know, trust, and worship the God whose hands lovingly overrule our own.