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I. ITS SOURCE. Job is prompted to seek God by his terrible troubles. The false accusations make him the more anxious to find the just Judge, who can clear up the dreadful misunderstandings and vindicate his injured cause. Thus the innocent man in trouble needs God. Still more does the guilty man; for no one can deliver from sin but he against whom one has sinned. Although it is most evident that many who thus need God are not actively seeking for him, yet, even if held back by fear or distracted by worldliness, all men have somewhere in the depths of their hearts the instinct of hunger for God. We need God, and we can have no rest till we find him.

II. ITS HOPE. Job believes that, if only he can find God and come to his seat, justice will be done, and right will be apparent; for Job is only thinking of vindication. No doubt that result will follow. But others also enter into the great human hope for God. If he were only to vindicate the righteous, the great multitude of men could hope for little from him. But the great Judge who does this is the compassionate Father, who has pity on his children's needs apart from their deserts. Thus the hope turns to the mercy of God for deliverance and blessing. Still, it is not wise to separate these two forms of the hope. God can only bless by leading us to righteousness; and it is really for our good that he is just. We need God not only that he may judge the righteous cause, but also that he may make the sinner righteous.

III. ITS DIFFICULTY. Job expresses a deep, heartfelt desire with great anxiety. He has not yet found God. Others have been in the same condition - longing for God, yet finding him not. Where is the difficulty?

1. God is a Spirit. If we try to find God by earthly means we must fail. He is not hidden among the mountains or above the clouds. He is simply invisible by nature. We must look for him in spiritual ways.

2. We are sinful. Nothing so blinds us to God as sin. This first of all banishes us to a great distance from God, and then makes darkness about our way back.

3. Life is often perplexing and sorrowful. Job had lost the vision of God in his sorrow, rather than through sin. So had Christ on the cross when he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Great grief seems to blot out the heavens and leave us in desolation.

IV. ITS REWARD. Job did find God at last (Job 42:5). God has promised that they who seek him earnestly shall find him (Proverbs 8:17), and Christ that if men seek they shall find (Matthew 7:7).

1. God reveals himself to faith. We believe in order that we may see, trust in order that we may know. This is true of all knowledge of persons.

2. God is seen in Christ. Philip expressed the soul's desire for God when he said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us;" and then Christ declared where the revelation of God was to be seen: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:8, 9).

3. The full vision of God is dependent on purity of heart. Some know]edge of God can be had without this; but we cannot see him as he is till we are like him (Matthew 5:8). - W.F.A.

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KJV: Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

WEB: Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!