Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What do you do when you dial a number and you hear it ring and ring, and no one answers? Hang up. That's what's natural for us to do when we "dial" God's "office" in prayer, and no one seems to answer.
The Bible is replete with stories of people who have "dialed" His "office" and said no one answered. And in every case they were tempted to hang up. Job immediately comes to mind. He said: "Why won't God give me what I ask? Why won't He answer my prayer?" (6:8, GNB). "If He lets me speak, I can't believe He would listen to me" (9:16). "There was a time when God answered my prayers. ...Why do You avoid me? Why do You treat me like an enemy? ... I want God to see my tears and hear my prayer" (12:4, 13:24, 16:20). Not only did it seem that God "avoided" him; but the more he prayed the more it seemed that God was getting angry with him; his troubles were getting worse. His dear wife of many years even advised him to forget about God; stop praying, and give up and die (2:9).
Then we remember Jeremiah. At one time he even resigned his job as prophet: "Lord, You have deceived me, and I was deceived. ... 'I will forget the Lord, and no longer speak in His name'" (20:7, 9). David was "the Lord's anointed" but often it seemed that God had forgotten him. Then we come to the best Man who ever walked this earth, the One who was sinless, and we hear Him cry in His dense darkness of soul while on the cross: "My God, why did You abandon Me?"
Yes, every one who "follows the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4) has to go through that same experience sometime of feeling forsaken, but nevertheless choosing to believe and trust in the darkness. Faith ultimately must rest, not on sight, but on confidence in God's character. Only then will it be possible to "enter into the joy of your Lord," and feel comfortable sitting with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21).
Don't hang up. Believe Him in the dark.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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