The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 380

HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-7.-Job to EUphaz: 1. The experience of a seeker after God. I. GRE..1.'l' BORROW. (Ver. 2.) Two wonders. 1 . .An ajfiicted man a seeker after God. Designed to recall men to God (eh. xxxvi. 8, 9; Isa. xix. 22; Jer. ii. 27; Hos. v. 15), temporal calamity is not always a.t~nded by so blessed a result. Unaccompanied by grace, it tends to harden rather than soften the human heart, to repel rather than attract the soul's confidence· and love. Happily, however, in Job's case its natural tendencies were corrected. With greater urgency and vehemence than before, it impelled him to inquire after God (cf. 2 Chron. xv. 4; xx.xiii.12; Ps. xxxiv. 6; lxxvii. 2; cxix. 67; Hos vi. 1; Luke xv. 18). 2• .A seeker after God an ajfiicted man. Strange that one who sought God so sincerely as Job did should have been subjected to such overwhelming tribulation. Yet the more triumphant waxed Job's faith, the heavier seemed to fall the pressure of his misery. Notwithstanding the lofty declarations of confidence in God which had fallen from his lips (eh. xiii. 15; xix. 25), his complaint still bade defiance, while his hand lay heavy upon his groaning (DtJlitzsch), refusing to let it go, because, of cow·se, the cause of it was not removed. His physical disease was in no degree abated. The calumniations of his friends were aggravated, not ameliorated. The felt absence of God was become more intolerable than ever. Even the groaning which involuntarily escaped his lip• was pronounced rebellion. But saiuts and seekers after God have no guarantee of exemption from trouble. Rather, trouble is to them as a refining fire. Hence the loftier their piety, the hotter may be made the furnace through which they walk. Nay, their afflictions may so abound, bodily pain, mental distress, spiritual desolation, that they are compelled to "groan, being burdened" (2 Cor. v. 4); but, -like true saints and genuine seekers after God, they will neither complain too bitterly nor groan too heavily, but study to keep their complaint in subjection, and to make their groaning less than their suffering. II. .AnDENT LONGING, (Ver. 2.) 1. .A seeker ajt'i>r God at a Zoss to find him. Con- sidering t!iat God desires (.Acts xvii. 27) and commands men to seek him (Isa. lv. 6), and promises that they who seek shall find (Matt. vii. 7), it would almost seem as if such a thing should be impossible. But Job being witness, and David (Ps. xiii. 2), even 11, saint, losing his inward consciousness of God's presence and favour, may be unable to recover either. .And if a saint., then much more a sinner, who has never yet met with God, may find it hard to reach his seat. It is, of course, certaiu that true seekers will ultimately find. Only the time of finding, for wise and holy purposes, may be delayed; sometimes to try t1lle faith or increase the earnestness of the seeker, sometimes because of sin or wilful defect in the seeker, sometimes to make known to the seeker the unchallengeable soveroignty of God in discovering himself to men. 2. A  894 'i'nE BOOK 'OF JOB.