Then Job spoke again: “My complaint today is still a bitter one, and I try hard
not to groan aloud. If only I knew where to find God, I would go to His throne
and talk with Him there. I would lay out my case and present my arguments.
Then I would listen to His reply and understand what He says to me. Would He
merely argue with me in His greatness? No, He would give me a fair hearing. Fair
and honest people can reason with Him, so I would be acquitted by my Judge.
I go east, but He is not there. I go west, but I cannot find Him. I do not see Him
in the north, for He is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find Him.
Far from the comforting words of Psalm 23 the pleas of Job 23 shows a protagonist in search of a hiding God.The holy game of hide and seek. Job sings the anthem of a seeker. Lord, if You’ll show up, i’ll debate You, but i can’t find You right now. I counted to twenty, so God ready or not, here I come!
I seek You because life doesn’t make sense and the formulaic cause/effect mantra is played in vain. i don’t know how to pray. My prayers seem vain, pointless, and ineffective. I am calling out and my voice echoes to the far reaches of desert plains and majestic hillsides. And then only divine silence. What is this, Lord? Job asks.
God watches from afar. God knows that this moment in history is not a test of God’s realities. That is sure as gravity and granite. It is a test of Job’s dogged determination to believe even when God hides from him.
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This work by Matt Tullos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International