The Silent Response ~ Job 19

““I cry out, “help!” but no one answers me.”” Job 19:7a NLT

              From the time we inhale our first gulp of this planet’s oxygen-rich air, we are skilled at crying out.  As babes we are innately and instinctively prepared to cry out for what we need.  As we collect a few more years under our belt, now toddlers, we are still quick to cry out for help when a scraped knee materializes.  In our teens we cry out in different ways, yet still the pattern is set, when a great need surfaces, we cry out.  And yes, very well into our adult years, the crying out continues.  As our now matured emotional, physical, and spiritual traumas manifest, we cry out to anyone and everyone that will listen.  Yes, there is one absolute in the DNA of mankind, nothing is more natural and usual than for men in misery and need to cry out for help.  But as you do cry out in your moment of great need, that skinned knee in adulthood driving you to your knees, what happens if your response is silence?  What happens when, in your moment of crying out, the only perceived response is dreaded silence?

              And it is here, in this perceived dreaded silence, we find Job in chapter 19 of the book that bears his name.  By now Job has lost 10 children, the relationship with his wife, all his material wealth, and sits in a dump physically emaciated and wasting away physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  And to only make matters worse, he is enduring a beating from the words of his three closest friends.  And it seems that so far, the deepest anguish to Job is just this, the sharp words of his friends that cut as quick as a mirror-polished steel blade, piercing ever so deep into the soul of Job.  Friends, this is a powerful point…be ever so cautious with the words you issue to someone that is crying out in their great need, for their vulnerability is as delicate as the wing of a monarch.  As Job models this example for us, enduring the sharp words of his friends upon an overly tender, exposed heart, he utters our timeless study verse above.  Job is crying out to God for help but all that he encounters as a response is seeming still silence carried upon the winds of his worldly grief.  Oh, the dread of silence in the difficult days of this life.

              Yet to dive deeper into the complex waters of Job’s statement, we must carefully apply one word…perceived.  You see, just because we encounter silence in our cries for help from God, is He really silent?  For here the peril of our preconceived notions (read that as our unmet expectations) creep in and alter the reality of what we believe is, or should be, true.  And folks, our concocted self-created truth is not the truth.  Our expectations are not God’s reality.  And our notion of what and how God should respond is no more what should occur than assuming oil and water will eventually collude with time.  And in an invaluable life-lesson from a man that was well versed in crying out in great need, we find Job answering his own question of silent response just verses later in the same chapter.  And his undying, ever-enduring faith in Almighty God is what lets slip the unexpected answer to his perceived silence.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” Job 19:25-26 ESV

              What a beautiful revelatory response from a man that just moments before was crying out in anguish and claiming no response from God.  Yet here, in these 2 powerful sentences, he finds His answer.  God is God, God always will be God, and God will never forsake or leave His children that call upon and believe in His name (John 1:12.)  Friends, today, if you are crying out in physical, emotional, or relational agony and feel you are only receiving the sound of silence as your response, God is still speaking.  In fact, in the still small whispers of silence is when God truly speaks the loudest.  For you see, most times when we are seeking a Godly answer, we are really only seeking the answer we most desire.  And also, many times, the answer we desire does not align with the perfect path that God desires us to walk.  But regardless of the response we desire to hear or the ensuing silence that may prevail, God always has a ready response for those redeemed in Christ…

You have a Savior in Jesus Christ that is awaiting you with open arms in Heaven…and one day you will see Him.

              No matter the health of your earthly body.  No matter the quantity of your suffering.  No matter the magnitude of your problems.  No matter the intensity of your loss.  No matter the perceived silence you may be encountering in your cries for holy help.  There is a truth that will never be altered, revised, or modified for those that call Christ Savior.  And that truth is the hope that when this earthly body ceases to breath its last…you shall see your Savior in heaven and praise Him for eternity.

Today, keep your mind on the things above…keep your eyes focused on eternity with Christ.

Blessings ~ Dan

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5

"mountain ministry", Magdalena Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico