CHRISTIAN WALK
When God Doesn't Answer
By Frank A. DeCenso Jr.
Guest Writer
CBN.com
In the aftermath of Katrina, a Scripture that has come to my mind
is Matthew 5:45, which tells us the rain falls on the just and
the unjust. God may never explain some of the greatest difficulties
that Christians encounter. Catastrophes, injuries, financial woes—
some things seem to exist in an 'answerless abyss' where, even
after repeated inquiring, it may appear that God isn't concerned
enough to answer us. After hours spent in Scripture or days on
our knees in prayer, we still may not have received the understanding
we seek regarding the “hows” or “whys”
of various life scenarios and predicaments.
Whether we like to admit it or not, this is a commonly shared
quandary among God's people. Is there a plausible explanation
to this lack of divine intervention and communication in those
times that seem to require them the most? In this article, I will
examine a passage from Isaiah that may help us.
Isaiah 50:10
"Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice
of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let
him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God.
The person speaking in this prophetic utterance from Isaiah is
the Messiah, "[God the Father's] Servant"—the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I will not be explicating the full scriptural context of this
passage. Rather, I will be using a hypothetical individual as
a representative of all believers. By doing this, I will apply
this passage's principles to those predicaments I mentioned earlier:
occasions in life in which we do not receive understanding as
to why something happened or is happening, or when we are without
the voice/leading of God to direct us in our decision-making processes.
CURRENT STATE OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN DARKNESS
Fears the Lord
The first thing to notice about the individual in this answerless
abyss is that he or she fears the Lord. This person is not a runaway
from the Father's house. This is a person who fears God and is
therefore in all probability practicing godly wisdom:
Proverbs 1:7a
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the
knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Since this person fears the Lord, this individual has likely applied
his or her knowledge of God's ways as He has revealed to him or
her in the past. Yet even after putting to use the wisdom acquired
from God, either the question the individual has posed of God
remains unanswered, or the solution is still absent. This person
is still walking in an answerless darkness.
Hears and Obeys God's Voice
The second thing we notice about this individual is that he or
she obeys the Lord's voice, which implies that he or she hears
His voice. However, for some reason at this place and time, there
is no voice to answer his or her deep questions, no guidance,
no word, no Scripture illuminated in this individual’s heart
to lead them out of the darkness.
Even though it appears that this individual is in the proper
spiritual condition to find the answer he or she seeks (whether
by tapping into a personal storehouse of godly wisdom, or by following
God's voice/leading), he or she has not found the answer or guidance
needed. Is there anything more that this person can do? Some possibilities
that well meaning believers will likely counsel this individual
to try may include:
- Reevaluate his or her application of godly wisdom
to ensure that this person did everything that should have been
done in this particular case.
- Reexamine his or her listening abilities to guarantee
he or she is spending quality time to hear what God may want
to reveal. Or perhaps this person has not heard what God already
'whispered' to his or her heart, since he or she was expecting
a loud and clear answer and thus missed what He said with His
still, small voice. On the other hand, maybe this individual
did not believe that what was heard was God's voice/leading
because he or she was expecting or hoping for Him to say something
different.
Despite any of the possible causes of prolonged darkness in the
area of life or need one may have, and in spite of the well-intentioned
counsel given by fellow believers, the Lord's answer in Isaiah
50:10 to the dilemma is different than what anyone may have thought
it was.
THE LORD’S RESPONSE TO THE INDIVIDUAL IN DARKNESS
Trust in the Name of the Lord
First, an individual is to trust in the name of the Lord. In the
Old Testament, the names of God carry special significance, sometimes
combining man's needs with God's attributes. In the case of someone
walking in darkness with no clear answer or direction, one or
more of the many names of God in Scripture may be relevant. For
example: Jehovah Jireh, if provision is needed; Jehovah Rapha,
if healing is needed; the Lord our Rock, if protection is needed;
Jehovah Shalom, if peace is needed—the
list is endless. The more one knows about God, the more one can
trust in His name and, thus, in His ability to do whatever is
best.
So, the first step given in Isaiah 50:10 is for the person in
this answerless abyss to simply trust in what God has already
revealed of Himself by name, whether in Scripture or in their
personal life.1
Rely Upon God
Secondly, the person without the Lord’s light revealing
the answer or the sought-after guidance is to rely upon his or
her God. The admonition is not to rely on what godly wisdom has
proven helpful in the past, nor on what God has revealed about
this sort of thing before. Rather, it is what I term a "relational
response" to the answerless abyss—a
simple, childlike reliance on God because He is our Father! When
one does not have the needed answers to life's dilemmas, nor is
given the pathway to follow out of darkness, one can figuratively
lay his or her head on the Lord's breast and rest in Him with
a peaceful confidence that He is in control and will carry him
or her along life's dark trails.
Therefore, the second step in Isaiah 50:10 is for an individual
to simply rely on God without any conditions attached. One should
trust God because He is trustworthy, even when one does not understand
how.
In conclusion, God loves us enough to bring us through the dark
periods in life where the light of His ways are not clearly seen.
Our trust and reliance on Him in those times will cause us to
develop an Abba-like bond with our loving Father. We will soon
come to realize that as our Father, He does not have to explicitly
guide us when we think He should, nor does He have to speak to
us whenever we think He does. He is always with us and He may
just want us to trust Him as our Father, despite the unanswered
questions and the dark circumstances we sometimes live in.
1Sometimes we forget that Bible characters had real
lives like us, and walked with God as we can. God wants to reveal
Himself to us in ways that perhaps we have never read about; but
those ways will never invalidate or contradict the Scriptural
revelations of God's person.
Frank has been teaching the Bible in churches
and other venues for more than 20 years. He is currently the Ministry
Resources Director at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Virginia
Beach, Va. He is an employee at Regent University in the Information
Technology Department. Frank is married and lives in Virginia
Beach.
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