Questions Which Ought to be Asked

C.H. Spurgeon.

Job 35:10-11

But none said, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night;…

Elihu perceived the great ones of the earth oppressing the needy, and he traced their domineering tyranny to their forgetfulness of God. "None said, Where is God my Maker?" Surely, had they thought of God, they could not have acted so unjustly. Worse still, if I understand Elihu aright, he complained that even among the oppressed there was the same departure in heart from the Lord: they cried out by reason of the arm of the mighty, but unhappily they did not cry unto God their Maker, though He waits to be gracious unto all such, and executeth righteousness and judgment for all the oppressed.

I. THINK OVER THESE NEGLECTED QUESTIONS.

1. Where is God? Pope said, "The proper study of mankind is man"; but it is far more true that the proper study of mankind is God. Let man study man in the second place, but God first. Some men have a place for everything else, but no place in their heart for God. They are most exact in the discharge of other relative duties, and yet they forget their God.

2. Where is God thy Maker? Oh! unthinking man, God made you. Do you never think of your Maker? Have you no thought for Him without whom you could not think at all?

3. Where is God our Comforter? "Who giveth songs in the night?" Though you have had very severe trials, you have always been sustained in them when God has been near you. It will be very sad if we poor sufferers forget our God, our Comforter, our Song-giver.

4. Where is God our Instructor? Who "teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven?" God has given us intellect. It is not by accident, but by His gift, that we are distinguished from the beasts and the fowls. If animals do not turn to God, we do not wonder, but shall man forget? Why, O man, with thy superior endowments, art thou the sole rebel, the only creature of earthly mould that forgets the creating and instructing Lord?

II. THERE ARE QUESTIONS WHICH GOD WILL ASK OF YOU. Adam heard the voice cry, "Where art thou?" There will come such a voice to you if you have neglected God. Though you hide in the top of Carmel, or dive with the crooked serpent into the depths of the sea, you will hear that voice, and be constrained to answer it. You will hear a second question by and by, "Why didst thou live and die without Me?" Such questions as these will come thick upon you — "What did I do that thou shouldst slight Me? Did I not give you innumerable mercies? Why did you never think of Me?" You will have no answer to these questions. Then will come another question — "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

III. GIVE THE ANSWERS TO THE GRAVE INQUIRIES OF THE TEXT. Where is God? He is everywhere. Where is God your Maker? He is within eyesight of you. You cannot see Him, but He sees you. Where is your Comforter? He is ready with "songs in the night." Where is your Instructor? He waits to make you wise unto salvation. "Where then may I meet Him?" says one. You cannot meet Him — you must not attempt it — except through the Mediator. If you come to Jesus, you have come to God. Believe in Jesus Christ, and your God is with you.

(C.H. Spurgeon.)