“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;
Job has just cried out that he wishes he knew where to find God. Verse 8 reports what that search found. He looks in every direction and cannot find Him. What does it mean for a believer to lose the sense of God's presence without losing God?
The Four Directions
The verse is a compass sweep. "Forward" and "backward" are east and west. The next verse adds north and south. Even in that empty sky Job holds one certainty.
William KellyBut there was his fresh trouble: he did not know where to find God. If he went east or west, it was equally useless; either He was not there, or Job could not perceive Him. If he turned to the north, with its hail and snow, where He works, he could not catch a glimpse of Him. Still less could he see Him where He veils the south in mist and cloud. But of this he was sure, that God knew the way with Job, and that, after His trial of him, he would come out as gold.
Distance Felt, Nearness Wanted
What the verse describes is not the calm of a man who has given up on God. It is the condition of someone who feels how far off God is and cannot rest until that distance closes.
The Bible TreasuryTwo points come out in Job 23 and Job 24. The first is that Job is aware of his distance from God, and while he feels it, he wants to be brought near. It is the true exercise of a quickened soul — groping, as it were, in darkness for what it longs after. "Behold," he says, "I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him." Along with this, he senses that God's purpose never changes.
A Needle That Keeps Turning
Job's problem is not that he wants God less than his friends do. It is that he wants Him more, and cannot reach Him.
William KellyTheir spirit was judicial from beginning to end, and such a spirit is always wrong... They did not know God as Job did. "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there." This was his trouble. He could not enjoy God, for he had not yet the key to his distress at His hand.
Underneath the searching, something steady is at work. Whatever Job says, his heart keeps turning back to the same point.
William KellyThere, you see, was a heart always turned towards the centre of attraction, always to God. He might waver under the affliction — just as a needle may be very unsteady for a little. But leave it to rest, and it always turns to the pole.
Doubts Carried to God Himself
Job's complaints in this chapter are sharp, and some of them are accusations. Even so, there is a better and a worse way to be wrong about God.
Samuel RidoutHe doubts God's ways, accuses Him, but is confident that if he could only see Him all would be cleared... It is all a strange contradiction. Yet it is far better to long to go before God like this than to have the pride that would say to Him, "Depart from us, for we do not want the knowledge of Your ways." It is always better to bring even our doubts of God to Himself, if we have nothing else to bring.
The Search Running the Other Way
The verse reads like a dead end, and it would be one if only one party were looking.
Samuel RidoutIt is all most tragic; and if it were only Job seeking God, he might well sink in despair. But, unknown to himself, God is seeking Job, and will find him too, before long.
That reverses how the meeting will finally happen — not by a successful search, but by a surrender.
Leslie M. GrantJob feels he has tried everything to find where he may meet with God. But God was not far from him, and God was seeking Job's deepest blessing. Job would not find it by his seeking, but by honest submission to God's hand.
Where God Is To Be Found
Job's question — where is He? — is not his alone, and the answer does not come from more searching.
James BoydWherever a heart desires to return to God, the gospel has produced that desire. And the gospel is the preaching of Christ. It tells us of the goodness of God, and where He is to be found. By nature we neither know God, nor where to find Him. The gospel makes God known to us. We learn that He is merciful, gracious, and full of kindness and love to man. We learn this in Christ, in whom He is to be found.
Summary
- Searching — Job looks east and west, north and south, and finds no trace of God.
- Longing — the search itself shows a living soul. He feels his distance from God and longs to be near Him.
- Turning — his heart works like a compass needle. Shaken for a while, it still turns back to God.
- Sought — if only Job were seeking, he would sink in despair. But God was near, seeking Job's deepest blessing.
- Found — the meeting comes by submission, not by searching. The gospel shows us God in Christ, where He is to be found.