As I was reading Scripture recently and praying over what I read, I realized how my experiences and circumstances have led me to doubt his faithfulness and to doubt that he will answer my prayers. In Job 33, the youngest of Job’s friends rebukes Job for his complaining and refutes his complaint.
“But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than any mortal.
Why do you complain to him that he responds to no one’s word?” (Job 33:12-13).
Those words pierced my heart, and I realized that though I don’t voice my complaint out loud, in my heart I have judged God due to the volume of my unanswered prayers. Without question, this has led to prayerlessness in my life. I still believe in God. I believe he loves me and gave Jesus as a sacrifice for my sins. I still believe in heaven. Even so, like Mary and Martha, the weight of my personal pain falls heavy on me.
I don’t understand God’s delay or his response, which I interpret as his absence. I find myself accusing Jesus of not caring, of not showing up when I need him the most. I may not verbalize it, but it weighs heavy on my heart. And if I’m not careful, it leads me to go through the motions of asking with little hope or belief that he will intervene; either that, or it leads me to quit asking altogether. And herein lies the invitation to courage.
Perhaps
Perhaps. Perhaps he will intervene again. Perhaps as in the case of so many others, he will step into the midst of horrible circumstances and unbelievable odds, and act. Perhaps he will grant my request and your request. I take hope and courage in that he has invited his people to ask throughout history. I take hope and courage in that he has intervened in the past. I think part of our struggle as Americans is that we interpret our lives through a lens of entitlement. We expect good, we expect blessing, and we expect favor, and we misinterpret the circumstances of our lives that seem to contradict those. When I study the accounts of courageous heroes of the Bible, they seemed to live with abandonment. This was reflected in their expectations of the circumstances they faced. Esther fasted and prayed for three days, asking God for favor before risking her life appealing to the king. Yet she was willing to risk it, unsure of what might follow. As her uncle Mordecai exclaimed, “Perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14 CSB). And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, all Hebrew men of prayer, risked their lives by refusing to bow to the Babylonian idol, and with abandon stated, “He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if He does not rescue us, . . . we will not . . . worship the gold statue you set up” (Daniel 3:17-18 HCSB).
What courageous abandonment to God! I encourage you, that though you don’t understand your circumstances nor can fully interpret the events of your life, to present your requests to God, to pour out your complaints to him, and to ask for his goodness, his compassion, and his intervention. He encourages us to do that. He has intervened throughout history. Perhaps he will intervene again. You will only know if you have the courage to ask and then abandon yourself to him.
This except is taken from my book “What Matters Most.” You can get a copy here or wherever books are sold.