Authentic Prayer: Silence

If I go east, he isn’t there. If I go west, I can’t find him. If I go northward, where he is at work, I can’t observe him. If I turn southward, I can’t see him.
Job 23:8-9

Job searches for God and can’t find him.

This stricken man doesn’t understand the heavenly drama behind the scenes of the first chapters of Job. He can’t grasp that Satan struggles to provoke him to deny God, seeing only that he has lost every earthly blessing—his herds and flocks, his children, and his health.

Job accepts that the Lord both gives and takes away, and he refuses to blame his Lord for his losses. He persistently defends his own goodness, claiming he’s done nothing to earn such tragedy. He bitterly complains that he’s gone looking for God and can’t find him. He aches for an opportunity to present his case and hear what the Lord must have against him.

Amid dark nights and blazing tragedies you might go east, west, north, and south and not perceive God. He eludes you even when you run fast in his footsteps. He’s mute when you want nothing more than to hear his voice. Even when heaven seems silent as life strips you to nothing, your God lives (Job 19:25). You will meet him once again.

Inspired by Job 23:1-12

» SHOP FOR A BIBLE NOW «