Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
(This was followed by a farewell address from his son, Thomas
Spurgeon.)
But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night;
who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser
than the fowls of heaven?'Job 35:10-11.
ELIHU PERCEIVED the great ones of the earth oppressing the needy, and
he traced their domineering tyranny to their forgetfulness of God: None
saith, Where is God my Maker?' Surely, had they thought of God they
could not have acted so unjustly. Worse still, if I understand Elihu
aright, he complained that even among the oppressed there was the same
departure in heart from the Lord: they cried out by reason of the arm
of the mighty, but unhappily they did not cry unto God their Maker,
though he waits to be gracious unto all such, and executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. Both with great
and small, with oppressors and oppressed, there is one common fault in
our nature, which is described by the apostle in the Romans, There is
none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.' Until
divine grace comes in and changes our nature there is none that saith,
Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?' This is a very
grave fault, about which we shall speak for a few minutes, and may the
Holy Ghost bless the word.
I. And first, LET US THINK OVER THESE NEGLECTED QUESTIONS, beginning
with Where is God my Maker?' There are four questions in the text, each
of which reminds us of the folly of forgetting it. First, Where is God?
Above all things in the world we ought to think of him. Pope said, The
proper study of mankind is man'; but it is far more true that the
proper study of mankind is God. Let man study man in the second place,
but God first. It is a sad thing that God is all in all, that we owe
everything to him, and are under allegiance to him, and yet we neglect
him. Some men think of every person but God. They have a place for
everything else, but no place in their heart for God. They are most
exact in the discharge of other relative duties, and yet they forget
their God. They would count themselves mean indeed if they did not pay
every man his own, and yet they rob God. They rob him of his honor, to
which they never give a thought they rob him of obedience, for his law
has no hold on them; they rob him of his praise, for they are receiving
daily at his hands, and yet they yield no gratitude to their great
Benefactor. None saith, Where is God?' My dear hearer, do you stand
convicted of this? Have you been walking up and down in this great
house, and never asked to see the King whose palace it is? Have you
been rejoicing at this great feast, and have you never asked to see
your Host? Have you gone abroad through the various fields of nature,
and have you never wished to know him whose breath perfumes the
flowers, whose pencil paints the clouds, whose smile makes sunlight,
and whose frown is storm. Oh, it is a strange, sad fact'God so near us,
and so necessary to us, and yet not sought for!
The next point is, None saith, Where is God my Maker?' Oh! unthinking
man, God made you. He fashioned your curious framework, and put every
bone into its place. He, as with needlework, embroidered each nerve,
and vein, and sinew. He made this curious harp of twice ten thousand
strings: wonderful it is that it has kept in tune so long: but only he
could have maintained its harmony. He is your Maker. You are a mass of
dust, and you would crumble back to dust at this moment if he withdrew
his preserving power: he but speaks, and you dissolve into the earth on
which you tread. Do you never think of your Maker? Have you no thought
for him without whom you could not think at all? Oh, strange perversity
and insanity that a man should find himself thus curiously made, and
bearing within his own body that which will make him either a madman or
a worshipper; and yet for all that he lives as if he had nothing to do
with his Creator'None saith, Where is God my Maker?'
There is great force in the next sentence: Who giveth songs in the
night.' That is to say, God is our Comforter. Beloved friends, you that
know God, I am sure you will bear witness that, though you have had
very severe trials, you have always been sustained in them when God has
been near you. Some of us have been sick'nigh unto death, but we have
almost loved our suffering chamber, and scarce wished to come out of
it, so bright has the room become with the presence of God. Some of us
here have known what it is to bury our dearest friends, and others have
been short of bread, and forced to look up each morning for your daily
manna; but when your heavenly Father has been with you'speak, ye
children of God'have you not had joy and rejoicing, and light in your
dwellings? When the night has been very dark, yet the fiery pillar has
set the desert on a glow. No groans have made night hideous, but you
have sung like nightingales amid the blackest shades when God has been
with you. I can hardly tell you what joy, what confidence, what inward
peace the presence of God gives to a man. It will make him bear and
dare, rest and wrestle, yield and yet conquer, die and yet live. It
will be very sad, therefore, if we poor sufferers forget our God, our
Comforter, our song-giver.
Two little boys were once speaking together about Elijah riding to
heaven in the chariot of fire. One of them said, I think he had plenty
of courage. I should have been afraid to ride in such a carriage as
that.' Ah!' Ah!' said the other, but I would not mind if God drove it.'
So do Christians say. They mind not if they are called to mount a
chariot of fire if God drives it, We speak as honest men what we do
know and feel, and we tell all our fellow-men that as long as God is
present with us we have no choice of what happens to us, whether we
sorrow or whether we rejoice. We have learned to glory in tribulations
also when God's own presence cheers our souls, Why do not they also
seek to know the Giver of songs?
And then there is a fourth point. None saith, Where is God my Maker,
who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and make/h us wiser
than the fowls of heaven?' Here we are reminded that God is our
Instructor. God has given us intellect; it is not by accident, but by
his gift, that we are distinguished from the beasts and the fowls. Now,
if animals do not turn to God we do not wonder, but shall man forget?
Strange to say, there has been no rebellion against God among the
beasts or the birds. The beasts obey their God, and bow their necks to
man. There are no sin-loving cattle or apostate fowls, but there are
fallen men. Think, O man, it may have been better for thee if thou
hadst been made a frog or a toad than to have lived a man if thou
shouldst live and die without making peace with thy Maker. Thou
gloriest that thou art not a beast: take heed that the beast do not
condemn thee. Thou thinkest thyself vastly better than the sparrow
which lights upon thy dwelling: take heed that thou do better and rise
to nobler things. Methinks if there were a choice in birds, and souls
dwelt in them, their minstrelsy would be as pure as now it is: they
would scorn to sing loose and frivolous songs, as men do, but they
would carol everlastingly sweet psalms of praise to God. Methinks if
there were souls in any of the creatures, they would devote themselves
to God. as surely as angels do. Why then, O man, why is it that thou
with thy superior endowments must needs be the sole rebel, the only
creature of earthly mould that forgets the creating and instructing
Lord?
Four points are then before us. Man does not ask after his God, his
Maker, his Comforter, his Instructor: is he not filled with a fourfold
madness? How can he excuse himself?
II. Supposing you do not ask these questions, let me remind you that
THERE ARE QUESTIONS WHICH GOD WILL ASK OF YOU.
When Adam had broken God's command he did not say, Where is God my
Maker?' but the Lord did not therefore leave him alone. No, the Lord
came out, and a voice, silvery with grace, but yet terrible with
justice, rang through the trees, Adam, where art thou?' There will come
such a voice to you who have neglected God. Your Judge will enquire,
Where art thou?' Though you hide in the top of Carmel, or dive with the
crooked serpent into the depths of the sea, you will hear that voice,
and you will be constrained to answer it. Your dust long scattered to
the wind will come together, and your soul will enter into your body,
and you will be obliged to answer, Here am I, for thou didst call me.'
Then you will hear the second question, Why didst thou live and die
without me?' And such questions as these will come thick upon you, What
did I do that thou shouldst slight me? Did I not give you innumerable
mercies? Why did you never think of me? Did I not put salvation before
you? Did I not plead with you? Did I not entreat you to turn unto me?
Why did you refuse me? You will have no answer to those questions: and
then there will come another question'ah! how I wish it would come to
you while there is time to answer it'How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation?' To-night I put it to you that you may propose a
way of escape, if your imagination is equal to the task. You will be
baffled even in trying to invent an escape now, and how much more when
your time of judgment really comes! If you neglect the salvation of God
in Christ you cannot be saved. In the next world, how will you answer
that question'How shall we escape?' You will ask the rocks to hide you,
but they will refuse you that dread indulgence. You will beseech them
to crush you, that you may no longer see the terrible face of the King
upon the throne, but even that shall be denied you. Oh, be wise, and
ere you dare the wrath of the King eternal and dash upon the bosses of
his buckler, turn and repent, for why will ye die?
III. Now, if any seek an answer to the grave enquiries of the text, and
do sincerely ask, Where is God my Maker?' let us GIVE THE ANSWERS.
Where is God? He is everywhere. He is all around you now. If you want
him, here he is. He waits to be gracious to you. Where is God your
Maker? He is within eye-sight of you. You cannot see him, but he sees
you. He reads each thought and every motion of your spirit, and records
it too. He is within ear-shot of you. Speak, and he will hear you. Ay,
whisper'nay, you need not even form the words with the lips, but let
the thought be in the soul, and he is so near you'for in him you live
and move and have your being'that he will know your heart before you
know it yourself. Where is your Comforter? He is ready with his songs
in the night.' Where is your Instructor? He waits to make you wise unto
salvation.
Where, then, may I meet him?' says one. You cannot meet him'you must
not attempt it'except through the Mediator. There is one God and one
Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.' If you come to
Jesus you have come to God. God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself; not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation,' which word we preach.
Believe in Jesus Christ, and your God is with you. Trust your soul with
Jesus Christ, and you have found your Creator, and you shall never
again have to say, Where is God my Maker?' for you shall live in him,
and he shall live in you. You have found your Comforter and you shall
joy in him, while he shall joy in you. You have also in Christ Jesus
found your Instructor, who shall guide you through life, and bring you
to perfection in yon bright world above.
May the Holy Ghost use this little sermon as a short sword to slay your
indifference; for Christ's sake.
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Psalms 42, 53.
HYMNS FROM Our Own Hymn Book'550, 711, 606, 522.
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Loyal to the Core
A Sermon