A Desperate, 360-Degree Search
Commentators explain that Job is describing a desperate, all-encompassing search. Having looked East ('forward') and West ('backward') in the previous verse, he now looks North ('left hand') and South ('right hand'). He searches every point of the compass, every place he might expect to find God, but feels only divine absence. This illustrates the profound sense of abandonment believers can feel in times of suffering.