Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this request and allowing us to pray with you over these job applications. God cares about your daily needs and your work, and He invites you to bring these practical concerns to Him.
The story of Job speaks to seasons like this. That book is counted among the poetry books of Scripture, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, and it is one of the oldest books we have, going back perhaps to the time of Abraham. Cultures and times have changed since then, yet the deepest issues of life remain the same, and the cries of Job still touch our own needs when we face uncertainty and loss.
What is striking in Job is the background that Job himself could not see. There was a discussion in heaven concerning him. God bore witness that Job was a man who loved Him and turned from evil. The adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming his own explanation that Job only served God because God had placed a hedge around him and blessed him. With permission, that hedge was tested and Job lost much. Job did not understand what was happening. He sat in pain and confusion, and even his friends who came to comfort him did not help. They assumed suffering must mean hidden sin and called him a hypocrite, telling him to get right with God and all would be well. Their counsel was misguided and only added to his burden.
There are two comforts for you in this. First, what we read in Job about life after death and about his despair in those moments is not presented as doctrine to build our faith upon. It is Scripture faithfully recording what a grieving man said in his sorrow, moved by grief rather than by the Spirit speaking truth for our instruction. You can be honest with God in your disappointment and waiting without fear that your honest prayers are failing Him. Second, the larger lesson of Job is that God was at work even when it appeared He had forsaken His servant. God is fair and just, as Job himself affirmed, and He does not deal with you on the basis of false accusations. A closed door on an application does not mean you are forgotten or being punished.
The answer to Job's longing for someone to stand between God and man, to lay a hand upon both, is Jesus. Through Him you have access to the Father, and you can come boldly to seek Him, to receive His word and to lay it up in your heart, and to find peace as you acquaint yourself with Him. That peace does not depend on an immediate answer, but on knowing the One who holds your life and your future.
We are praying for you now.
Father, in the name of Jesus we lift up this need for work and provision. You see every application that has been sent and every door that is still closed. You know the skills, the needs, and the anxieties of this heart. We ask that You would open the right opportunity in Your timing and according to Your wisdom. Give favor where You will, and give clear guidance to know which way to go. While there is waiting, grant patience like that for which Job is remembered, and a steady trust that You are working even when You seem silent. Guard this heart from discouragement and from the voice that says suffering means You are distant. Remind this dear one that You have not forsaken Your own, that You are just and merciful, and that Your ways are higher than ours as declared in Isaiah. Provide daily bread, provide encouragement, and let Your peace rest upon this life. We trust You to do what is good and right. Amen.
The story of Job speaks to seasons like this. That book is counted among the poetry books of Scripture, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, and it is one of the oldest books we have, going back perhaps to the time of Abraham. Cultures and times have changed since then, yet the deepest issues of life remain the same, and the cries of Job still touch our own needs when we face uncertainty and loss.
What is striking in Job is the background that Job himself could not see. There was a discussion in heaven concerning him. God bore witness that Job was a man who loved Him and turned from evil. The adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming his own explanation that Job only served God because God had placed a hedge around him and blessed him. With permission, that hedge was tested and Job lost much. Job did not understand what was happening. He sat in pain and confusion, and even his friends who came to comfort him did not help. They assumed suffering must mean hidden sin and called him a hypocrite, telling him to get right with God and all would be well. Their counsel was misguided and only added to his burden.
There are two comforts for you in this. First, what we read in Job about life after death and about his despair in those moments is not presented as doctrine to build our faith upon. It is Scripture faithfully recording what a grieving man said in his sorrow, moved by grief rather than by the Spirit speaking truth for our instruction. You can be honest with God in your disappointment and waiting without fear that your honest prayers are failing Him. Second, the larger lesson of Job is that God was at work even when it appeared He had forsaken His servant. God is fair and just, as Job himself affirmed, and He does not deal with you on the basis of false accusations. A closed door on an application does not mean you are forgotten or being punished.
The answer to Job's longing for someone to stand between God and man, to lay a hand upon both, is Jesus. Through Him you have access to the Father, and you can come boldly to seek Him, to receive His word and to lay it up in your heart, and to find peace as you acquaint yourself with Him. That peace does not depend on an immediate answer, but on knowing the One who holds your life and your future.
We are praying for you now.
Father, in the name of Jesus we lift up this need for work and provision. You see every application that has been sent and every door that is still closed. You know the skills, the needs, and the anxieties of this heart. We ask that You would open the right opportunity in Your timing and according to Your wisdom. Give favor where You will, and give clear guidance to know which way to go. While there is waiting, grant patience like that for which Job is remembered, and a steady trust that You are working even when You seem silent. Guard this heart from discouragement and from the voice that says suffering means You are distant. Remind this dear one that You have not forsaken Your own, that You are just and merciful, and that Your ways are higher than ours as declared in Isaiah. Provide daily bread, provide encouragement, and let Your peace rest upon this life. We trust You to do what is good and right. Amen.
