Job 23:8-9

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Job 23:8-9


8 Behold, I go [halak] forward [qedem], but he is not there; and backward ['achowr], but I cannot perceive [biyn] him:
9 On the left hand [samo'wl], where he doth work [`asah], but I cannot behold [chazah] him: he hideth [`ataph] himself on the right hand [yamiyn], that I cannot see [ra'ah] him: KJV-Interlinear


8 'Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9 When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. NASB


In these first nine verses, Job has described the futility of trying to find God on ones own. You cannot. The transition from the carnal life to the spiritual, will come in verse ten.

But such is the life of one who does not or has not pursued God, Christ, doctrine, or their spiritual life. They will never be able to find God, nor have any kind of meaningful relationship with Him.

The words for 'forward,' 'backward,' 'left hand,' and 'right hand,' designate points of the compass. In the ancient world, the sun rose in the east and that became the natural first direction one would look in the morning. People even moved eastward in hopes of finding the sun.

East is forward. Back is behind you when you are looking east, and therefore backward is to the west. When looking east, then the left hand is north, and the right hand is south.

Likewise the home of God was considered to be in the north, or the workshop of God. And death was located in the dark places to the south.

From the perspective of the wicked, or anyone who is not functioning within their spiritual life, God is not available. You can look all over the planet. You can look throughout the heavens beyond the sky, and God is nowhere to be found.

When the tabernacle is designed about a thousand years after Job, during Moses' time, the public will face to the west in order to enter into the Tabernacle. That entrance being located on the east side of the Tabernacle. We look to the work of salvation first, before we look to the east and the coming glory of Christ, which comes after the work of salvation. Looking to the west, the power of God is to our right, or to the north. Authority and power sits on the right hand, thus we recognize God, His authority and His plan. We, being on His left, subordinate ourselves to Him.

Unlike other religions throughout history, those folks look to the east, wanting God first, excluding the work of salvation, with death residing as their superior on their right hand to their south. God residing on their left hand and subordinate to man. They reject the work of Christ with their back to it. And in the case of Islam, when they bow to the east, their posture is their bottoms of their feet and their butt toward salvation. The work of their feet or their own efforts, and their attitude is the ultimate rejection of Christ.

So how, when we are hurting, how do we find God, let alone talk with Him? And even if we could locate God (which we cannot), then what words could we say that would persuade God to do as we ask?

Not in philosophies, not in political views, not in religions of every kind (Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God the Father, through Christ), not in beliefs invented by cults which gain their following through emphasis in polygamy, drugs, emotional oneness with nature, and so forth, not in anything which comes from this world can you seek out and find God.

He isn't in any of these. You will never find Him.

Even by adhering to popular and even truthful proverbs as suggested by Jobs three friends, you will never discover God, because the spiritual life is not how you live it, it is not a lifestyle which is convenient to your way of thinking, it is not a compromise of beliefs which you feel secure within.

There is only one God, there is only one salvation, there is only one doctrine, there is only one fellowship with God, there is only one spiritual life. There is only one way to figure it all out.