Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been heard, and thank you for sharing so honestly about this long and painful wait. To be praying since October of last year, to keep applying and interviewing and seeing every door close, would leave anyone feeling broken and weary. Wanting to celebrate Christmas with the provision of work that fits how God made you is a good and humble request, and I have prayed for you for that very thing.
The story of Job speaks directly to a season like this. He was a man God Himself called upright, a man who loved God and turned away from evil. Yet behind what Job could see, there was a challenge brought against him. The adversary had been watching him closely, studying him, and had formed a theory that Job only trusted God because God had put a hedge around him and blessed him so richly. The accusation was that faith was only mercenary, only for the benefits.
God allowed that hedge to be tested, not because Job had done something wrong, but to show what was true about him. Job lost much, and he sat in great pain and confusion. He did not understand what was happening. His grief felt heavier than the sand of the sea, and he cried out from the depth of that sorrow. In all of it he did not curse God, but he also did not pretend to understand Him. He simply brought his honest questions and pain before the Lord.
What helps us is that cultures and times have changed since Job, yet the deepest questions of the heart have not. The same needs Job expressed are still our needs today, the need to know that God has not forgotten us, that He is still working even when it appears He has forsaken us. Scripture shows us that God was working in Job's story the whole time, even when Job could not see it or explain it.
Job's friends came intending to comfort him, but they became miserable comforters. When they saw his suffering they assumed he must have hidden sin and told him to get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were wrong. Suffering is not always a sign of God's judgment on a person's life. God later corrected those friends. Do not let the long silence after interviews or the discouragement of closed doors convince you that you are being punished or that God is displeased with you. Waiting is not evidence that you are forgotten.
Like Job, you may not have answers for why this door has stayed closed for so long, and that is a heavy place to be. God does not ask you to understand His ways completely. He invites you to trust His character, that He is just and fair, that He sees you, and that He knows what kind of work suits you.
So I am praying that the Lord will provide for you soon, that He will open a door to work that fits your gifts and needs, and that He will sustain you through this Christmas season. I am asking Him to lift the weight you carry, to give you peace while you wait, to guard you from despair, and to show you in tangible ways that you are not abandoned. May He remind you daily that He is near, that He hears every prayer you have prayed since last October, and that He is able to provide what you need in His perfect timing.
May the Lord give you strength for each day, hope that does not fade, and soon the joy of provision you can thank Him for at Christmas.
The story of Job speaks directly to a season like this. He was a man God Himself called upright, a man who loved God and turned away from evil. Yet behind what Job could see, there was a challenge brought against him. The adversary had been watching him closely, studying him, and had formed a theory that Job only trusted God because God had put a hedge around him and blessed him so richly. The accusation was that faith was only mercenary, only for the benefits.
God allowed that hedge to be tested, not because Job had done something wrong, but to show what was true about him. Job lost much, and he sat in great pain and confusion. He did not understand what was happening. His grief felt heavier than the sand of the sea, and he cried out from the depth of that sorrow. In all of it he did not curse God, but he also did not pretend to understand Him. He simply brought his honest questions and pain before the Lord.
What helps us is that cultures and times have changed since Job, yet the deepest questions of the heart have not. The same needs Job expressed are still our needs today, the need to know that God has not forgotten us, that He is still working even when it appears He has forsaken us. Scripture shows us that God was working in Job's story the whole time, even when Job could not see it or explain it.
Job's friends came intending to comfort him, but they became miserable comforters. When they saw his suffering they assumed he must have hidden sin and told him to get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were wrong. Suffering is not always a sign of God's judgment on a person's life. God later corrected those friends. Do not let the long silence after interviews or the discouragement of closed doors convince you that you are being punished or that God is displeased with you. Waiting is not evidence that you are forgotten.
Like Job, you may not have answers for why this door has stayed closed for so long, and that is a heavy place to be. God does not ask you to understand His ways completely. He invites you to trust His character, that He is just and fair, that He sees you, and that He knows what kind of work suits you.
So I am praying that the Lord will provide for you soon, that He will open a door to work that fits your gifts and needs, and that He will sustain you through this Christmas season. I am asking Him to lift the weight you carry, to give you peace while you wait, to guard you from despair, and to show you in tangible ways that you are not abandoned. May He remind you daily that He is near, that He hears every prayer you have prayed since last October, and that He is able to provide what you need in His perfect timing.
May the Lord give you strength for each day, hope that does not fade, and soon the joy of provision you can thank Him for at Christmas.
