Seeking unto God.
As usual, the advice of Eliphaz is excellent in the abstract. The error is in the particular way of applying it to Job. Here is the sting of it. But its general truth is always instructive. This is certainly the case with the recommendation to "seek unto God."
I. INQUIRE WHAT IT IS TO SEEK UNTO GOD.
1. It begins with remoteness from God. We have lost God if we have to seek him, as we need not think of finding what we already possess and enjoy. God is lost by sin; but the sense of God's presence is often deadened by the oppression of sorrow and by the intrusion of worldly scenes.
2. It means an earnest effort of the soul. We are not to wait for God to come to us, but to "seek unto" him. This requires the mind and will. We have to be watchful to note any indications of his presence, and active in pressing forward towards him.
3. It implies that God can be found. It is useless to seek for that which is hopelessly lost or absolutely unattainable. If we seek, we must expect to find. This process would be folly in the eyes of the Agnostic. Now, the encouragement is that others have sought and found God. They have seen him, not with bodily vision, indeed, but with true spiritual experience. Job himself did seek God, and he found him at last; for he exclaimed, in a magnificent burst of thankful gladness, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:5).
4. It leads to confidence. It is useless to seek God out of mere curiosity. We have much to do with him when we find him. But first of all we must place entire confidence in him, confessing to him our sin and our sore need.
II. CONSIDER THE ENCOURAGEMENTS THAT INVITE US TO SEEK UNTO GOD. The author of the Book of Job is a great lover of nature. Scenes from the physical world, more especially in its majesty and grandeur, fill his spacious canvass in later stages. Here we come upon the first burst of that glory of nature which shines out with ever-increasing volume as we proceed through the book. This leads on to the wonderful deeds of providence. Notice some of the points to which Eliphaz calls attention.
1. The
Therefore he must be able to help us all in all kinds of trouble.
2. The graciousness of God in his milder works. This is illustrated by the phenomenon of rain (verse 10). "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass" (Psalms 72:6). Therefore "the bruised reed will he not break," etc. (Isaiah 42:3).
3. God's goodness to the lowly. He sets up on high those that be low (verse 11). Therefore to be humiliated is to have a special reason for expecting his help.
4. His judgments in defeating the crafty (verses 12-14). His very wrath brings mercy to the oppressed. The poor man cannot escape from his unjust oppressor; but God can bring deliverance. With him is the final court of appeal, and there right is always rendered, there the rich have no favour and the cunning no opportunity of cheating justice.
5. God's deliverance of the poor and helpless. He is "a just God and a Saviour'" and he delights to reveal himself in the activity of grace redeeming and recovering his suffering children. With such manifestations of the power and goodness of God in nature and providence the troubled soul may well seek unto him for deliverance.—W.F.A.