Longing To Find God

Longing To Find God

(No. 2272)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 14, 1890.

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" Job 23:3.

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" Observe that Job is so taken
up with his one great desire that he forgets that everybody else is not
thinking in the same way–and he uses a pronoun, though he has not
before uttered the name of God. The man is carried away with his
desire. He does not say, "Oh, that I knew where I might find God!" but,
"where I might find Elm'" An overwhelming passion will often speak like
that. See how the Song of Songs, that sweet canticle of love, begins,
"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth for Your love is better
than wine." There is no mention of any person's name. We forget many
things when we are taken up with one thing. We forget that, as Madame
Guyon wrote–

"All hearts are cold, in everyplace" and when our heart grows warm, we
fancy that all other hearts are warm, too. Remember how Mary Magdalene,
when she met our Lord on the Resurrection Morning and, "supposing Him
to be the gardener," said to Him, "Sir, if you have borne Him hence,
tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." No, but
Mary, you have not mentioned the name of the Person! You begin, "If you
have borne Elm hence." How should another know of whom you speak? This
is the way of a concentrated individuality! When it is set, desperately
set, upon some one object, it forgets to whom it speaks–it only
remembers the beloved one upon whom its affections are fixed.

Now, this is one reason why the man who is earnestly seeking after God
is often misunderstood. He does not speak as one would speak who is
cool and calm. His heart is hot within him and his words are
fire-flakes, so that those about him say, "The man is mad! He is not
sober as he used to be. He is going out of his mind." I would to God
that many were so mad that they cried in the depths of their soul, "Oh,
that I knew where I might find Him!" If God knows whom you are seeking,
it is of small consequence whether your fellow creatures know, or do
not know! If He accepts you, do not be cast down if men misunderstand
you.

Thus, you see, Job's longing was all-absorbing. It was also
personal–he longed to personally find God. I know many people who have
great longings, but they are for things that are trivial compared with
the longing of Job! Job does not sigh to comprehend the
incomprehensible. He does not wish to find out the Divine decree. He
does not trouble about where free agency and predestination meet. He
does not desire to know out of mere curiosity, or for the attainment of
barren knowledge! His cry is, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Elm!
Oh, that I could get at God! Oh, that I could have dealings with the
Most High! Oh, that I could feel at perfect peace with Him, rest in Him
and be happy in the light of His Countenance!"

Now, some of you, perhaps, in years gone by, were very curious and
anxious about various theological questions. The time was when you
would have disputed with almost anyone who came along, but you have
given all that up and now you want to find God and to be reconciled to
Him. You want to know from God's own lips that there is peace between
you and that He loves you and will never cease to love you. You have
been, perhaps, for weeks trying to find a way of access to God and,
though there is such a way, and it is close to you, you have not yet
perceived it. This one thing occupies your mind–not that you may know
about God, or split hairs about doctrinal theories concerning Him–but
that you may find HIM. I would to God it were the case with everyone in
this congregation, that you either had Him or

were sighing and crying after Him. This is not a point upon which any
man can afford to be neutral. We must find God, for if we do not, we
are lost!

On further reading the text, I feel still more pleased with Job's
determination about getting to God. He says, "Oh, that I knew where I
might find Him!" He does not make any condition as to where he might
find God. If it were in Heaven, he would try to scale its heights. If
it were in the abyss, he would hopefully plunge into the deep. If God
is far away, at the uttermost ends of the earth, Job is willing to go
there. If God is to be found in His Temple, or, for the matter of that,
in the lowest dungeon, Job only wants to know where he may find Him.
And if he may find Him, he will not make any conditions as to where it
may be. We noticed in our reading that Job said, "Oh, that I knew where
I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat!" He was willing
to come even to God's Judgement Seat if he could not find Him anywhere
else.

It will be a great mercy for you if you are so anxious to find God that
you will not set any bounds as to where you shall find Him. You would
be glad to find Him at your usual place of worship, but you would be
just as glad to find Him in the midst of quite another people. You
would be thankful to find Him in your own chamber when you bow your
knees in prayer, but you would be quite as pleased to find Him in the
midst of your business. You would rejoice to find Him whether it was in
the heat of noontide, or in the cool of midnight. Your cry is, "Only
let me find Him, and time and place shall be of no consequence to me."

With regard to instrumentalities, also, you would be pleased to be
converted to God by a learned and eloquent minister, but you would be
quite as willing to find Christ by means of the most illiterate. You
will be quite content with the man against whom you have been
prejudiced, if God will but bless him to you. Yes, though it were your
own servant girl, or some boy in the street–if they could but tell you
the way of salvation so that you could find God–you would be perfectly
satisfied! I know you would, for you put in no, "ifs," or, "buts," or
conditions. Your one cry is, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!"
You are absorbed with that one desire! Your whole soul is possessed by
that one earnest longing to find God! This desire is intensely personal
and practical and it inspires you with the full determination that, at
all costs and all hazards, if you can but find out where God is, you
will come to Him.

Now, I am going to talk about this desire to find God. I have had it
from one or two here present who are deeply anxious, that this is the
cry of their spirit day and night, "Oh, that I knew where I might find
Him!" In trying to meet their case, our first enquiry will be, What
sort of desire is this?–the desire that makes a man, or a woman, or a
child cry out, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" And, secondly,
What is the answer to it? How can they find God? And, thirdly, Why are
some so long in finding God?

I. Our first question, concerning this longing to find God, is, WHAT
SORT OF DESIRE IS THIS?

I answer, first, that it takes many forms according to the
circumstances of the person who has the desire. In Job's case, it was a
somewhat hazardous desire to come before the court of God to have his
righteousness established. I have no doubt that, in bitterness of soul,
many a sincere man, when maligned and lampooned, has wished that he
could turn to God and have the matter judged by Him. "You know," he
says, "that I am not wicked. I have not been false. I have not been
treacherous. Let the case against me be tried by the Great Judge of All
who is righteous and impartial. Oh, that I knew where I might find
Him!"

But the desire is better and more usual on the part of children of God
when they have lost the light of His Countenance. Beloved, the model
Christian is the man who always walks in the Light of God, as God is in
the Light. But how comparatively few there are of these! Many, I half
fear the most of us, are at times in the dark. We wander. We lose our
first love. We grow lukewarm. And then God hides His face. Many and
many a true child of God has sighed out of the depth of his spirit,
"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" Are any of you less happy
than you used to be? Are you less holy than you used to be? Are you
less in prayer than in former years? Have you less tenderness of
conscience? Have you less joy in the Lord? Are you doing less for Jesus
and are you more content with the little that you do? Are you going
back? Well, then, if God has not hid His face from you, in all
probability He will!

And then, when you are in a dry and thirsty land where there is no
water, you will be like the fainting hart that pants for the brooks,
and you will cry out after God. If you do not, it will be a damning
mark. If you can live without your God, you who profess to be a child
of God, it will look as if you never were His child. God has spoiled
some of us for the world. It is never a matter of self-denial to us to
give up its pleasures, for we have no taste for them. If we do not find
joy

in God, we are, of all men, most miserable. The brooks and cisterns are
dry–and if the smitten Rock does not yield us water, we thirst, we
faint, we die.

But, Beloved, I want to dwell mainly upon this cry as coming from the
convicted sinner who has not yet rejoiced in God. He has a burden
pressing heavily upon him and he knows that he can never get rid of it
except through the Grace of God in Jesus Christ–and he wants to get
rid of it! So it has come to this, that day and night he says, "Oh,
that I knew where I might find Him!" I like this form of the desire
best of all and I would willingly spend and be spent that I might
encourage and help any who are thus seeking God as their Savior.

Let me say this to any such who are here. This desire is quite contrary
to the desire of nature. You feel yourself lost and yet this cry comes
to your tongue, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" My dear
Friend, this is not a natural desire! When you were satisfied with the
world, you never had this desire! Time was when it never crossed your
soul for a moment. When Adam and Eve sinned, they did not want to find
God–they hid themselves among the trees of the Garden. And you, while
you love sin, do not want to find God. You are like Jonah–you would
willingly take ship and flee from God's Presence, even to Tarshish. No,
the natural man, without the Holy Spirit, never said, "Oh, that I knew
where I might find Him!" I should like you to get just a ray of the
Light of God, not more, out of that remark. That ray of Light might
cheer you while we proceed.

I think that this desire never comes except by Grace. It never takes
full possession of any man unless it is worked in him by the Grace of
God. There may be a transient desire, but it is no more a sign of
spiritual health than is the hectic flush of consumption a proof that
the poor patient possesses vigorous physical strength. In the
excitement of a revival meeting, you may say, "I wish I were a
Christian," but to carry this desire about with you–to have it always
within you as a deep ground-swell of your soul, "Oh, that I knew where
I might find Him!"–this is the work of the Holy Spirit! I trust that
we have many here who feel these first pangs of the new birth, for
where God begins with us by working in us this desire, He will, in due
time, gratify it! If He gives us hunger, He gives us bread to satisfy
its cravings. If He gives us a desire for Himself, He gives us Himself
to satisfy that desire.

Then it is sweet to think that this desire is met by the seeking of the
Savior. The desire of a man after God is paralleled by Christ's desire
after him. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost." Now, when a sheep begins to seek its shepherd and, at the same
time the shepherd is seeking it, it cannot be long before the two meet!
I read to you, last Thursday night, a letter from a poor soul, a
harlot, who had come in here on the Sabbath morning and God had met
with her. You know how easy it is to make up such a letter with the
idea of asking for charity, but there was no name to this note, and it
contained no request for charity. It was a true letter. There was one
part of it that I commend to you. The writer said, "Before you receive
this letter, I shall be home at my father's house, from which I
wickedly ran away."

Ah, there is the point, that going home, that getting back to the
father! Now, I have no doubt that the father had sought his girl, but
when the girl began to seek him, there would be a meeting very soon! If
there is a soul here that wants Christ, Christ wants you! If you were
sitting, now, upon Samaria's well, He would come and sit by you, and He
would say to you, "Give Me to drink," for you alone can assuage the
Savior's thirst, the thirst to save, the thirst to forgive, the thirst
to bring wanderers Home to the great Father's House! Oh, Friend, if
this cry is your cry, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" I can
see much to comfort you in the thought that while you are seeking the
Lord, He is also seeking you!

But let me add that it will be well if this desire never gets satisfied
except by God, for there are so many who do not seek till they find
Him. A friend, writing to me, says, "You have taken away from me all my
comfort. You have destroyed my self-righteousness. You have left me in
a dreadful condition through the Word of God which you have preached to
me. I used to go to early celebrations. I was at church three times a
day. I thought that I took the very body and blood of Christ in the
holy Eucharist. I had rested in my works–and now the whole structure
is gone. I can rest in none of those things any more. My one cry is
(and please to sing tonight that hymn that ends)–

"Give me Christ, or else I die!"

My dear Friend, your letter gave me great delight! I was glad to give
out that hymn, but I pray you do not get content till you find God, for
you can come here, you know, and you may even succeed in deceiving us
so that you may be baptized, and join the Church and take
communion–and you may rest in all that without saving faith in
Christ–and you will not be an inch nearer to God than you were when
you rested in the ceremonies of your former church. It is only

God who can save you, only God in Christ who can give true rest to your
soul! Men may change their churches and only change their refuge of
lies. But if they come to Christ, whatever church they are in, if they
have found Him and are trusting in Him and in Him, alone, their peace
will be like a river and their righteousness as the waves of the sea!
God bless any here who are opening their mouths and panting with this
strong desire. But be sure that you are never comforted till Jesus
comforts you! Never be fed except with the Bread of Heaven. Never rest
until you find rest in Him whom God has appointed to be our rest, or
else you will make a blunder, a fatal blunder, after all.

II. Our second question, concerning this desire, "Oh, that I knew where
I might find Him!" is, WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

Well, in the first place, there is something in the desire, itself,
that gives you comfort, for God is near you now. If you want God, He is
everywhere. He is here, He is nearer to you than your hands and feet,
nearer to you than your eyes or your nerves. He is within you and round
about you. You might ask, with the Psalmist, "Where shall I flee from
Your Presence?" and find that task to be impossible. But if you really
wish to find God, you may readily do so. He is here! You have not to
pray at Jerusalem, nor at Mount Gerizim–

"Where'er we seek Him, He is found, And everyplace is hallowed ground."
Believe it and speak to Him now! Show Him your heart now! Appeal to Him
now, for He is truly near you at this moment!

But you wish to lay hold upon Him. Then remember that God is
apprehended only by faith. Eyes are of no use in this case–you cannot
see a Spirit. Ears are of no use in this case–you cannot hear a
Spirit. Your senses may be put aside now–the new senses–the new eyes,
the new ears, is faith. If you believe, you shall see and you shall
hear. Come, deal with God who is near you now, by faith. Believe that
He is near you. Speak to Him. Gladly trust Him. Faith will apprehend
all of God that can be apprehended and out of faith shall come many
other blessed things that will make you still more familiar with your
God. But now, even now, put out the arms of an inward faith and say, "I
believe You." Faith comprehends the Incomprehensible and takes the
Infinite within itself!

But still, if what you mean is, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him
in the sense of calling Him my own, and having a joyful belief in His
love!" well, then, I would say to you, if you want to find Him, search
His Word. If you will read the Bible with the steady resolve to find
God in Christ within its pages, I am certain that you will not have to
read it long. There is here a holy magnetism, which if a man comes in
contact with these sacred Words, shall begin to operate upon him. If
you will take the Book and search it through to learn how God is to be
found, you will find Him.

Then, in connection with the Word written, go and hear the Word spoken,
for there are minds that are more affected by speech than by what they
read. If you will only hear a faithful Gospel minister attentively, it
will not be long before you find God. If you go to hear a man merely
because he is clever, or one who will tell you stories and interest
you, you may never get any good out of him. But if you go saying, "I
want to find Christ during this service. I want to lay hold on God to
my soul's eternal salvation," I do not think that you will long
frequent some places of worship that I could mention without saying, "I
have found God."

Next to that, if you do not seem to profit by the reading and hearing
of the Word, seek the Lord in prayer. Get to your chamber and there cry
unto God and cease not your cries, for if you will seek Him as for
silver and search for Him as for hidden treasure, you shall surely find
Him! Prayer has a wonderful effect on God. He turns at the cry that
comes from the heart. He is sure to look to the man who cries to Him
for mercy.

And at the same time that you are in prayer, or in connection with it,
meditate on Divine things. Especially meditate on the Person of Christ,
God and Man–on the work of Christ, especially His atoning Sacrifice.
Meditate on the promises. Meditate on God's wonders of Grace recorded
in this delightful Book. Think and pray, and then think and pray
again–and my impression is that you will not long have to say, "Oh,
that I knew where I might find Him!"

Yet there is one more word for you. If you would find God, He is to be
found in Christ Jesus, "reconciling the world unto Himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them." Do you know the Man, Christ
Jesus? Can you, by faith, see Him? Fall at His feet! Accept Him as your
Savior! Trust Him as the Giver and Forgiver, as saving from death and
imparting life! Come and take Christ–and you have found God! No man
believes in Christ and remains without the favor of God. Oh, that you
would believe in Christ right now! This morning I preached about His
Incarnation, Immanuel, God with us. Think much on this.

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." God came here among men
and took the form of a mortal creature– and here lived and died! Think
of that, and believe in Him who is God and Man. Then think much of His
life, of the many that He healed, the sick ones that He relieved, the
sinful that came to hear Him, to whom He spoke only words of love. Look
through the life of Christ and I am persuaded that if you are willing
to do so, you will find among those who came to Him a case parallel to
your own and will find Him dealing with it in love and mercy. And,
while you are perusing that wondrous Life of love, you will find God!
But if it is not so, go a little further–

"Go to dark Gethsemane,

You that feel the tempter's power."

Stand amid the shade of the olives! Hear the Son of God groaning out
His very soul, His sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to
the ground. He pleaded there for sinners, for the guilty. Follow Him to
Pilate's Hall, see Him scourged and spat upon–and go, at last, to
Calvary and sit down there in meditation–and mark the wounds in His
blessed body, those sacred fountains of blood. See His emaciated frame
exposed before the sun to the gaze of cruel men. Watch Him till you
hear Him cry, "It is finished!" Then see the soldier set His heart
abroach, for, even after death, His heart poured its tribute for us and
then, as you remember that He made the heavens and the earth, and yet
did hang upon that tree for the guilty, believe and trust Him.

"Oh!" says one, "I cannot believe." Now it is a curious thing that when
I have met with persons who find it difficult to believe, I have often
been obliged to say to them, "Well, now, there is a strange difference
between you and me, for you cannot believe and I cannot disbelieve."
That is to say, when I see Christ, the Son of God, dying for guilty
men, I cannot make myself disbelieve. It seems to me to flash its own
evidence upon my soul and I am convinced by the sight I see. How is it
that you cannot believe when the Almighty God is one with His sinful
creatures and dies to save them from eternal death? "Who His own self
bore our sins in His own body on the tree." When you see that marvel of
marvels, how can you disbelieve? I charge you, by the living God, look
to Jesus on the Cross, as Israel in the wilderness, bitten by the
serpents, looked to the bronze serpent–and by that look live!

I think this is the way to find God, that is, to come to Christ, for,
remember that He is not dead. He is risen! Where is the Christ now? He
is at the right hand of God. He makes intercession for us–yes, for the
rebellious, also, that the Lord God may dwell among them! Do you
believe that Christ makes intercession for sinners? Then trust yourself
with Him, first as your Redeemer, and now as your Intercessor! And so,
by a simple trust, you shall find your God and no more say, "Oh, that I
knew where I might find Him!"

III. I have finished my discourse when I have very briefly answered the
third question–WHY ARE SOME SO

LONG IN FINDING GOD?

I answer, partly because they are not clear as to what they are
seeking. If you want to find God, well, here He is! You yourself know
that He is everywhere, so that you have found Him! But what I fear some
of you need is some kind of mark, some sign, some feeling. Now, that is
not seeking God–you are seeking something in addition to God. I am
sure that, in the hour of trial, nothing will stand a man in good stead
but simple faith in God by Jesus Christ. "Oh!" says one, "I read of a
man, the other day, who was under most wonderful conviction, and of
another who had a very remarkable dream, and of another who heard a
voice speaking to him."

Yes, yes, and all these pretty things are very well when you have faith
in Christ. But if you do not trust yourself to Christ, these things are
not worth a penny, for some day you will say to yourself, "How do I
know that I did hear that voice? Might I not have been deceived? How
can I be sure that that dream meant anything? May I not have eaten
something for supper that made me dream it? And that joy that I felt
may have been all a delusion." But if you want God without any of these
things, you want exactly what you need, and I pray you to come and take
it by faith in Jesus. Here am I, a guilty sinner–that I know and
confess. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners–that I know
by the witness of this Book. I am told that if I trust Him, I am saved.
I do trust Him–I will not ask for a dream, or a vision, or a voice, or
anything. Why should I? Beggars must not be choosers! If God gives me
His salvation as He gives it to anybody else, I am perfectly happy,
even though I have no striking story to tell and shall never point a
moral or adorn a tale with any anecdote about myself. I am afraid,
however, that many are not wanting God so much as wanting the odds and
ends that sometimes go with Him.

Again, there are some who are crying after God who are hankering after
their own idols. Ah, me! You would like to keep some of your
self-righteousness, or some of your sins. One of our friends, coming up
from the Norfolk Broads, told me that when the time came to row home,
he began pulling away at the oars and he thought that it was a very
long way, and that the scenery was very monotonous, with the same old
willow tree and everything the same as when he started. And someone
going by said, "I suppose you know, old fellow, that you have got your
anchor down." That is exactly what he had forgotten! He was rowing with
his anchor still down. You will not find God that way if you have an
anchor still down! I do not know what your anchor is–perhaps it is the
wine cup–you still take that drop too much. Perhaps it is an evil
woman. Perhaps it is some trick in trade that you have been used to.
Perhaps it is some secret sin that cannot be told. You cannot find God
while you keep that. Achan, how can God come to your tent unless it is
for judgment, while the Babylonian garment is hidden in the ground?
Away with the idols and then shall you find the true God!

And yet again, there are some who are waiting to feel their need more.
They think that they cannot come to Christ till they feel more than
they do at present. Now, again, I must get you to alter your cry. I
thought that your cry was, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!"
But now your cry is, "Oh, that I knew that I really needed Him!" Have
you not had enough of that experience? Time was with me when I thought
too much of it. I believe a deep plowing does us good, but, if a man is
always plowing and never sows anything, he will never have a harvest!
Some of you are looking too much to your sense of need. You are NOT
saved by your sense of need! You are saved by the supply of that need.
Come as you are. "I have not a broken heart," says one. Come to Christ
for a broken heart. "I have not a tender conscience," says another.
Come to Christ for a tender conscience. You are not to get half the
work done yourself, and then come to Christ to have it finished! Come
as you are, just as you are, hard heart and all! Come along with you
and trust yourself to Jesus–and you shall find God!

I am afraid that there are also a great many who are clouded in their
minds by the great sorrow through which they have passed, for you can
be so distressed and distracted that you do not judge clearly. You
remember Hagar, when the water in her bottle was spent, and her boy was
dying of thirst? Just there, close behind her, was a well of water! The
angel said to her, "What ails you, Hagar?" And we read, "God opened her
eyes, and she saw a well of water." Some of you have salvation at your
fingertips, but you do not know it. You have it in your mouth, as Paul
says, and you do not know it, or else you would swallow it down and
live by it at once! Salvation is not up there in the heights, or down
here in the deeps. The Apostle puts it thus, "If you shall confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man
believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved."

So runs the Gospel. Look for no other way. Believe! I said not, "Feel,"
but, "Believe!" Dream not, dote not, imagine not, but believe! Say with
your heart, "I believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners. And I trust Him to save me–

"Tis done, the great transaction's done;

Iam my Lord's, and He is mine" Now you shall begin a new life of
obedience and holiness worked in you as the result of your having
believed in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be the Propitiation
for sin! Will you have Christ or not, Sinner? If you will not have Him,
you must perish! If you will have Him, He gives Himself freely to
you–and nothing is freer than a gift! Take Him, and go your way happy
as the angels. God bless you! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON JOB23.

Job is in great physical pain through the sore boils that cover him
from head to foot. He is still smarting under all the bereavements and
losses he has sustained and he is somewhat irritated by the hard
speeches of his friends. We read, in the second chapter of this book,
that, "they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him
and to comfort him." "Job's comforters ," even to this day, are
regarded as those whose thoughts are preferred to their company. As the
result of all the trials through which Job was called to pass, there
is, in this chapter, somewhat of bitterness. We need

not wonder at it–the wonder is that there is not more. You ought, in
estimating a man's actions or words, to judge of his circumstances at
the time. Do not take Job's words by themselves, but consider in what
condition he was. Think what you would have done if you had been in his
place–and you will not censure him, as you might otherwise have done.

Verses 1, 2. Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter:
my stroke is heavier than my groaning. He could not express all his
pain. He felt that he did not complain too much. His stroke was heavier
than his groaning. His Words had bitterness in them, but he thought
that they were justified by his affliction.

3. Oh that I knew where I might find Eim! Job longed to find his God.
He wanted to come to Him. He had been slandered by men, so he turns
from the court of injustice below to the Divine Court of King's Bench
above, where he is sure of a righteous verdict–

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!"

3. That I might come even to Eis seat! To His Mercy Seat, and even to
His Judgement Seat. Job was willing to appear even there!

4. I would order my cause before Eim, and fill my mouth with arguments.
He felt that he dared plead before God. He was not guilty of the things
laid to his charge, so he would be bold to speak even before God's
Judgement Seat. If Job had known a little more of God, as he did before
his life ended, he might not have talked so glibly about ordering his
cause before Him and filling his mouth with arguments. We remember how
he afterwards spoke to the Lord, "I have heard of You by the hearing of
the ears: but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes." Who among us would desire to come and argue our
case with God without our heavenly Advocate?

5. I would know the words, which Ee would answer me, and understand
what Ee would say unto me. He was willing to hear God's side of the
argument, patient and anxious to understand the mind of God with whom
he desired to plead. So far so good. There are some who do not wish to
know what God would say to them. As long as they may express their own
passionate desires, they have no ear and heart waiting to hear the
voice of God. Very beautiful is the next verse–

6. Will Ee plead against me with Eis great power? No; but Ee would put
strength in me. He has confidence in the Lord that if he could have an
audience with Him, God would not use His power against him, but, on the
contrary, would strengthen him in order that he might state his case.
Do I speak to a troubled heart here? Come to God with your burden! He
will not use His power against you, but He will help you to plead with
Him. Trembler, come and bow at His feet! He will not spurn you! He will
lift you up. Despairing one, look to the Lord! He will not turn His
wrath upon you, but He will help you to plead with Him. "Will He plead
against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength in

me."

7-9. There the righteous might dispute with Eim; so should I be
delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but Ee is not
there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Eim: On the left hand, where
Ee does work, but I cannot behold Eim: Ee hides Eimself on the right
hand, that I cannot see Eim. Job had done his best to find his God.
Forward, backward, to the right, and to the left, he had gone in all
directions after Him, but he could not find Him. I know there are
persons here, tonight, who are in that condition. And you will never
rest, I hope, until you find the Lord. He is not far from you. I trust
that with many of you, tonight is the happy hour in which your long
searching shall end in a delightful finding!

10. But Ee knows the way that I take. If I do not know His way, He
knows mine! If I cannot find Him, He can find me! Here is my
comfort–"He knows the way that I take."

10. When Ee has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Here the true Job
comes to the front. You get the gracious man once more on his feet. He
staggered a little, but he now stands firm–"When He has tried me, I
shall come forth as gold." So will you, my tried Sister, my afflicted
Brother! The trial of your faith is but for a time–there will come an
end to this furnace work! And when God has tried you, tested you, and
taken away your dross–He will bring you forth and you will be pure
gold–meet for the Master's use–

"In the furnace God may prove you,

There to bring you forth more bright,

But can never cease to love you–

You are precious in His sight!

God is with you,

God your everlasting light."

11. My foot has held Eis steps, Eis way have I kept, and not declined.
Happy Job, to be able to say that, and to speak the truth! But there is
a touch of self about it which we cannot quite commend. Be holy, but do
not claim to be holy! Be steadfast before God, firm in your obedience
to Him–but do not mention it–for your hope lies somewhere else. Yet
we cannot condemn Job for declaring that he had kept God's way. His
friends were pleading against him, so he felt that he must defend
himself.

12. Neither have I gone back from the Commandment of Eis lips; I have
esteemed the words of Eis mouth more than my necessary food. Job was a
happy man to be able to say that. I hope that many of you can say the
same. If you were tried with great bodily pain and depression of
spirit, you could say, through Divine Grace, "I have not turned away
from God." These are days when we need men of principle–men who can
put their foot down and keep it down–men who cannot be turned aside.
They call this firmness, "bigotry." It is, however, only another name
for Christian manliness! If you dare to do right and face a frowning
world, you shall have God's commendation, "Well done, good and faithful
servant."

13. But Ee is in one mind, and who can turn Eim? God has one mind and
He will carry out what He wills. It is vain for any man to think of
turning Him from His eternal purpose.

13, 14. And what Eis soul desires, even that Ee does. For Ee performs
the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Eim.
You will find that men who are much tried fall back upon the granite
foundation of the Divine Decree. God has ordained it, so they yield to
it. They acquiesce in it because it is according to the eternal purpose
of the Most High. Though we say little about it, now, there may come a
time when some of you will have to say, as Job does, "For He performs
the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Him."

15. Therefore am I troubled at Eis Presence: when I consider, I am
afraid of Eim. It is a bad sign when a man of God becomes afraid of
God! Yet there is a holy awe which may degenerate into a servile fear
which has bondage. But even this may be the foundation of a holy
confidence which will keep us in obedience to the Lord.

16. For God makes my heart soft–and the Almighty troubles me. Are you
saying that tonight? If so, I am glad you are here! I have, for many
years, been compassed about with a large number of persons who come
from the ends of England and Scotland–and from longer distances, too,
in despair of soul, and seeking comfort–but I think that never in my
life have I had more than I have had this week–persons unknown to me
who are under conviction of sin and feeling the hand of God heavy upon
them. By hard tugs I have had to bring them out of Giant Despair's
Castle! The Holy Spirit, alone, can do this work, but He sometimes
makes use of a sympathetic brotherly word to give light to those who
are in the dark. I am praying that He may do so, tonight, for there may
be some here who say with Job, "God makes my heart soft, and the
Almighty troubles me."

17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither has Ee
covered the darkness from my face. He wished he had died before he came
to such trouble, or that by some means such trouble had been turned
away from him. May the Lord, if He sends you Job's trouble, send you
Job's consolation! May He glorify Himself by your patient endurance, if
He lays upon you His heavy hand!

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–607, 594, 606.