Job 30:16-23
I Cry Out to God, But He Does Not Answer
16 “And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me;
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
Job says that God hides from him...Job called to God, but He would not answer...And Job needed him very much...Sometimes when we think that we need God the most, He is absent and away from us...Job says, "I cry out to you, God, but You do not answer; I stand up, but You merely look at me...You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of Your hand You attack me."...
Much of life God seems away from us...Much of the Book of Job and the story of Job God seems to be away from Job and his friends...And it is not until much later that God comes out of a storm and sees Job...That is one of the lessons of Job and how we see God away and absent, when we need Him the most...
God did not mind Job continue talking to Him and crying out for Him...As we read through the Book of Job, we get the sense that Job knows God is near and listening, but He just does not want to show Himself...So Job continues to cry out throughout the Book of Job to God again and again and again...So this is another lesson we learn from Job...God must want us to cry out again and again like Job did, because in the end, God rewards Job, but reprimands Job's friends...