on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
Job has searched in every direction for God, and God stays out of view. The question is whether a God nobody can find has gone away — and why an upright man is the one left searching.
Searching the whole compass
One commentator takes Job's four directions as the four points of the compass. Notice what the verse grants: God is at work on the left hand, and still Job cannot see Him.
William KellyThere 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 snows, where He works, he could not catch a glimpse. Still less could he see Him where He veils the south in mist and cloud.
A heart that keeps swinging back
Job keeps turning to look for God. That turning itself tells you what his heart is set on.
William KellyThere, you see, was a heart always turned towards the centre of attraction, always to God. He might waver under the affliction. You know how a compass needle can be very unsteady for a little. But leave it to rest, and it always turns to the pole.
Not absence, but distance felt
Job's search left two possibilities: God was not there, or Job could not perceive Him. Commentators point to the second. What Job has lost is not God, but the enjoyment of God.
William KellyHe could not enjoy God; for he had not yet received the key to his distress from His hand. He desired Him. It made him miserable to be, in actual experience, at a distance from Him, with all these troubles coming in between to cloud His goodness from his soul.
Sought by the One he cannot find
Read on its own, the verse is a dead end. But Job is not the only one searching.
Samuel RidoutIt is all most tragic; and if it were only Job seeking God, he might well sink in despair. But, without his knowing it, God is seeking Job, and will find him too, before long.
So the meeting Job wants will come. It will not come by the route he is trying:
Leslie M. GrantJob feels he has tried everything to find where he may meet with God. He had gone forward and backward and to his right hand and his left, but it all left him completely frustrated. He could not find God. In fact, 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.
What was blocking the view
One commentator locates the obstruction in Job himself. He was an upright man, and his uprightness was the problem.
Leslie M. GrantThis section shows the reason that Job found himself unable to find God. Job's own righteousness was the hindrance... He was the most righteous man on earth. So he had too much confidence in his righteousness. God had to take from him the pride that his righteousness had caused in him.
Better to bring the complaint than to keep it
Job is not politely asking after God here. He wants to confront Him. One commentator still counts that better than the alternative.
Samuel RidoutHe doubts God's ways and accuses Him. Yet he is sure that if he could only see Him, everything would become clear... It is all a strange contradiction. Even so, it is far better to long to go before God like this than to have the pride that says to Him, "Depart from us! We do not desire 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.
Summary
- Search — The four directions cover the whole compass. Job looks everywhere a man can look, and God stays out of sight.
- Silence — God has not gone. Job cannot enjoy Him, because the trouble clouds God's goodness from his soul.
- Sought — While Job hunts for God and fails, God is seeking Job, and will find him before long.
- Surrender — What Job wants will not come by searching harder. It comes by honest submission to the hand that is on him.
- Sight — His own uprightness blocked his view. God had to take away the pride it had bred.