Don’t miss your answer trying to fit it into your pre-answered answer.
When Job, the well known character from the oldest book in the Bible, faced the disastrous circumstances into which his life was suddenly thrown, he set out to find answers.
He had the very same question we tend to have whenever we face the unknown, the dire, the messy, the complicated, or the unexpected: Why?
Why?
Why?
Job began asking questions from whoever was around, from God, from the friends, from himself. Yes, he questioned himself and he questioned God, and everyone in between. Can we blame him? Can we point a finger at him for his quest for answers? Can we, from the safety of of our own stable -or at least not so dire- situation, blame Job for his reaction?
The answer, just like Job found, might be hiding in plain sight, exposed before our eyes.
What do we do when we face circumstances in life that we do not know how to cope with, or when we cannot find the way out of what hurts us? In fact we are all, -and we now can safely say the whole world- facing such uncertain times in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. Compound that with our own personal struggles, those we all face in our lives, and it can look like an unsurmountable mountain. In our minds, as individuals and corporately as church, cities, nations, and the world, the search for answers is reaching hectic levels.
And we turn to God.
And we ask Him about it all.
And ask for an answer that will show the way out.
Yet, how many of you are experiencing a time of obvious silence? How many of you feel you cannot make sense of what is afflicting you at a personal level -let alone the world troubles caused by a tiny virus? How much thought have you given to trying to figure out what is the best way, what steps to take?
And you pray.
But the solution to your situation does not come. No answer to your prayer?
And you pray. And you re-formulate the questions the best you can, in case you did not explain things properly to God.
I could go on and on with my above reasoning around the questions we all seem to have. But what if the answer is already there?
Back to Job
By the end of the book, Job makes a life changing statement: “I have heard about you, God, but now my eyes see you”
He had gone through what must have felt like an eternity, and could not find the answer he desperately needed. Yet, in the very end he has an encounter with God, and right after that encounter, he was restored, he saw increase, he experienced fulfillment.
He did not have any more questions.
He had found the answer.
Seeking God is the answer.
J. Conrad Lampan
