Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 19– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“O, if I only knew where to find [God]!”

—Job 23:3

In Job’s extreme anguish, he cried out for the Lord. The longing desire of an afflicted child of God is to see his Father’s face once more. His first prayer is not “O that I might be healed of this disease which now festers in my body!”  Nor is it, “O that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, or that my property might be restored to me!” Instead, the first and loudest cry is, “O if I only knew where to find him—the One who is my God!”

When it starts to storm, God’s children run home. It is their heaven-born instinct to take shelter beneath the wings of Jehovah. “One who has made God his refuge”— That might serve as the title of a true believer. A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the infliction, and, like a slave, runs from the Master who scourged him. Not so for the true heir of heaven! He kisses the hand that strikes him and seeks shelter in the chest of the very God who frowned upon him.

Job’s desire to commune with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of consolation. He turned away from his sorry friends and looked up to the heavenly throne, just as a hiker turns from his empty canteen and runs quickly to the bubbling spring. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes and cries, “O, if I only knew where I might find my God!”

How good it is to learn the preciousness of the Creator and the emptiness of everything else. We turn away with disdain from earth’s beehives— where we find no honey but many sharp stings— and we rejoice in him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. In every trouble we should first seek to know God’s presence with us. If we can enjoy his smile, we will bear our cross daily with a glad and willing heart. [M&E]