Job 29:5

When the Almighty [was] yet with me, [when] my children [were] about me;

Ver. 5. When the Almighty was yet with me] To prosper me, and give me all that heart could wish or need require. But if that be not done, God's people are apt to think him absent. "Is the Lord among us?" say they in the wilderness; as if that could not be, and they athirst, Exodus 17:7. So Gideon in the invasion of the Midianites; "The Lord," saith the angel, "is with thee, thou valiant man. But Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" Judges 6:12,13. "If it be so, why am I thus?" as she said, Genesis 25:22. Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If Lazarus be Christ's friend, why is he sick? (Aug.). But these two may very well stand together; and God is never nearer to his children than when they, for crying, cannot see him. Moses speaks of the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, the burning bush, Exodus 3:2 Deuteronomy 33:2,3, but not consumed. God is with his in the fiery trial, Isaiah 43:2, as he was with the three children, and with the martyrs.

When my children were about me] Round about my table, Psalms 128:3, morigerous and obsequious unto me; when my children and servants (for the word signifieth both) were about me; as circles about a point or centre, all looking at and observing me, to do as I directed them.