Questions Which Ought to be Asked
by
(1834-1892)
“But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who
giveth songs in the night; who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth,
and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?”-Job 35:10. 11.
Elihu perceived the great ones of
the earth oppressing the needy, and he traced their domineering tyranny to
their forgetfulness of God: “None saith, 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 that are oppressed. Both with great and small, with oppressors and
oppressed, there is one common fault in our nature, which is described by the
apostle in the Romans, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God.” Until divine grace comes in and changes our nature there is
none that saith, “Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?” This
is a very grave fault, about which we shall speak for a few minutes, and may
the Holy Ghost bless the word.
I. And first, Let Us Think Over These Neglected Questions, beginning
with “Where is God my Maker?” There are four questions in the text, each of
which reminds us of the folly of forgetting it. First, Where is God? Above all
things in the world we ought to think of him. 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. It is a sad thing
that God is all in all, that we owe everything to him, and are under allegiance
to him, and yet we neglect him. Some men think of every person but God. They
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. They would count themselves mean indeed if they did not pay every man his
own, and yet they rob God. They rob him of his honor, to which they never give
a thought they rob him of obedience, for his law has no hold on them; they rob
him of his praise, for they are receiving daily at his hands, and yet they
yield no gratitude to their great Benefactor. “None saith, Where is God?” My
dear hearer, do you stand convicted of this? Have you been walking up and down
in this great house, and never asked to see the King whose palace it is? Have
you been rejoicing at this great feast, and have you never asked to see your
Host? Have you gone abroad through the various fields of nature, and have you
never wished to know him whose breath perfumes the flowers, whose pencil paints
the clouds, whose smile makes sunlight, and whose frown is storm. Oh, it is a
strange, sad fact-God so near us, and so necessary to us, and yet not sought
for!
The next point is, “None saith,
Where is God my Maker?” Oh! unthinking man, God made you. He fashioned your
curious framework, and put every bone into its place. He, as with needlework,
embroidered each nerve, and vein, and sinew. He made this curious harp of twice
ten thousand strings: wonderful it is that it has kept in tune so long: but
only he could have maintained its harmony. He is your Maker. You are a mass of
dust, and you would crumble back to dust at this moment if he withdrew his
preserving power: he but speaks, and you dissolve into the earth on which you
tread. Do you never think of your Maker? Have you no thought for him without
whom you could not think at all? Oh, strange perversity and insanity that a man
should find himself thus curiously made, and bearing within his own body that
which will make him either a madman or a worshipper; and yet for all that he
lives as if he had nothing to do with his Creator- “None saith, Where is God my
Maker?”
There is great force in the next
sentence: “ Who giveth songs in the night.” That is to say, God is our
Comforter. Beloved friends, you that know God, I am sure you will bear witness
that, though you have had very severe trials, you have always been sustained in
them when God has been near you. Some of us have been sick-nigh unto death, but
we have almost loved our suffering chamber, and scarce wished to come out of
it, so bright has the room become with the presence of God. Some of us here
have known what it is to bury our dearest friends, and others have been short
of bread, and forced to look up each morning for your daily manna; but when
your heavenly Father has been with you-speak, ye children of God-have you not
had joy and rejoicing, and light in your dwellings? When the night has been
very dark, yet the fiery pillar has set the desert on a glow. No groans have
made night hideous, but you have sung like nightingales amid the blackest
shades when God has been with you. I can hardly tell you what joy, what
confidence, what inward peace the presence of God gives to a man. It will make
him bear and dare, rest and wrestle, yield and yet conquer, die and yet live.
It will be very sad, therefore, if we poor sufferers forget our God, our
Comforter, our song-giver.
Two little boys were once speaking
together about Elijah riding to heaven in the chariot of fire. One of them
said, “I think he had plenty of courage. I should have been afraid to ride in
such a carriage as that.” “Ah!” Ah!” said the other, “but I would not mind if
God drove it.” So do Christians say. They mind not if they are called to mount
a chariot of fire if God drives it, We speak as honest men what we do know and
feel, and we tell all our fellow-men that as long as God is present with us we
have no choice of what happens to us, whether we sorrow or whether we rejoice. We
have learned to glory in tribulations also when God’s own presence cheers our
souls, Why do not they also seek to know the Giver of songs?
And then there is a fourth point.
“None saith, Where is God my Maker, who teacheth us more than the beasts of the
earth, and make/h us wiser than the fowls of heaven?” Here we are reminded that
God is our Instructor. God has given us intellect; it is not by accident, but
by his gift, that we are distinguished from the beasts and the fowls. Now, if
animals do not turn to God we do not wonder, but shall man forget? Strange to
say, there has been no rebellion against God among the beasts or the birds. The
beasts obey their God, and bow their necks to man. There are no sin-loving
cattle or apostate fowls, but there are fallen men. Think, O man, it may have
been better for thee if thou hadst been made a frog or a toad than to have
lived a man if thou shouldst live and die without making peace with thy Maker.
Thou gloriest that thou art not a beast: take heed that the beast do not
condemn thee. Thou thinkest thyself vastly better than the sparrow which lights
upon thy dwelling: take heed that thou do better and rise to nobler things.
Methinks if there were a choice in birds, and souls dwelt in them, their
minstrelsy would be as pure as now it is: they would scorn to sing loose and
frivolous songs, as men do, but they would carol everlastingly sweet psalms of
praise to God. Methinks if there were souls in any of the creatures, they would
devote themselves to God. as surely as angels do. Why then, O man, why is it
that thou with thy superior endowments must needs be the sole rebel, the only
creature of earthly mould that forgets the creating and instructing Lord?
Four points are then before us. Man
does not ask after his God, his Maker, his Comforter, his Instructor: is he not
filled with a fourfold madness? How can he excuse himself?
II. Supposing you do not ask these questions, let me remind you that
There Are Questions Which God Will Ask Of You.
When Adam had broken God’s command
he did not say, “Where is God my Maker?” but the Lord did not therefore leave
him alone. No, the Lord came out, and a voice, silvery with grace, but yet
terrible with justice, rang through the trees, “Adam, where art thou?” There
will come such a voice to you who have neglected God. Your Judge will enquire,
“Where art thou?” 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 you
will be constrained to answer it. Your dust long scattered to the wind will
come together, and your soul will enter into your body, and you will be obliged
to answer, “Here am I, for thou didst call me.”
Then you will hear the second
question, “Why didst thou live and die without me?” And 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? Did I not put
salvation before you? Did I not plead with you? Did I not entreat you to turn
unto me? Why did you refuse me? “You will have no answer to those questions:
and then there will come another question-ah! how I wish it would come to you
while there is time to answer it- “ How shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation?” To-night I put it to you that you may propose a way of escape, if
your imagination is equal to the task. You will be baffled even in trying to
invent an escape now, and how much more when your time of judgment really
comes! If you neglect the salvation of God in Christ you cannot be saved. In
the next world, how will you answer that question- “ How shall we escape?” You
will ask the rocks to hide you, but they will refuse you that dread indulgence.
You will beseech them to crush you, that you may no longer see the terrible
face of the King upon the throne, but even that shall be denied you. Oh, be
wise, and ere you dare the wrath of the King eternal and dash upon the bosses
of his buckler, turn and repent, for why will ye die?
III. Now, if any seek an answer to the grave enquiries of the text, and
do sincerely ask, “Where is God my Maker?” let us Give The Answers. Where is
God? He is everywhere. He is all around you now. If you want him, here he is.
He waits to be gracious to you. Where is God your Maker? He is within eye-sight
of you. You cannot see him, but he sees you. He reads each thought and every
motion of your spirit, and records it too. He is within ear-shot of you. Speak,
and he will hear you. Ay, whisper-nay, you need not even form the words with
the lips, but let the thought be in the soul, and he is so near you-for in him
you live and move and have your being-that he will know your heart before you
know it yourself. Where is your Comforter? He is ready with his “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.
“There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
If you come to Jesus you have come to God. “God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself; not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation,” which word we preach. Believe in Jesus
Christ, and your God is with you. Trust your soul with Jesus Christ, and you
have found your Creator, and you shall never again have to say, “Where is God
my Maker?” for you shall live in him, and he shall live in you. You have found
your Comforter and you shall joy in him, while he shall joy in you. You have
also in Christ Jesus found your Instructor, who shall guide you through life,
and bring you to perfection in yon bright world above.
May the Holy Ghost use this little
sermon as a short sword to slay your indifference; for Christ’s sake.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986