The Status Quo is not OK

Yesterday I tried to summarize four chapters of Job.  It was hard, I don't think I was too successful, and I don't think that is really a good strategy.  Nor do I think it is really what God wants me to do.  On the other hand, what I think He is asking me to do today is even harder.  Not that it requires a lot of work, but that it requires humility, discernment, and obedience. 

According to Gen.4:26, it was not until after the fall of man, after the murder of Abel, after the banishment of Cain, after the birth of the third generation, that people began to call on the Lord.  Calling on the Lord is an acknowledgement that the status quo is not ok, that we need help, and that God is the source of that help.  Clearly Job was a man of prayer.  He was known as a person who called on God and God answered his prayers.  (See Job 10:4).  The fact that he was experiencing a great trial caused his friends to draw some conclusions:  You have unconfessed sin.  You have not prayed.  Your faith isn't strong enough.  Job had become a laughingstock.  Surely he had prayed.  Had God now turned his back on Job?  On this one to whom others had come for prayer because his prayers seemed so powerful, because he seemed to have God's ear? 

So, I tell you, as a Bible study leader, a women's ministry leader, a worship leader, a member of the prayer chain, that I have had one particular prayer in my life go unanswered for nearly twelve years. Most of my close friends know the situation, and I hesitate to say what it is because of the potential for the discussion to get waaaay off track.  Maybe another time.  But, even with an army of prayer warriors praying with me, the situation remains.  If anything, it has gotten worse.  This is not a simple matter of inconvenience; it is a matter of spiritual (and potentially physical) life and death concerning a loved one.  The status quo is not ok, and there is only One Who can help.  And, for the most part, He is silent. 

No, that is not true.  God has been faithful to speak to me through His Word.  And He has given me peace in the situation, which should not be interpreted as acceptance.  The status quo is still not ok.  I haven't received the answer that my heart desires, that my loved one would be rescued from the stranglehold of sin.  I believe God is good.  I believe He is powerful.  I believe I am praying in accordance with His will, according to His Word.  Because I have the benefit of Job's account, I believe there may be something bigger going on that I don't understand, and I believe that God will work according to His time table and not mine. 

I join with Job in appealing to God (from chapter 10):

Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? Your hands shaped  [my loved one] and made [him]. Will you now turn and destroy [him]? Remember that you molded [him] like clay. Will you now turn [him] to dust again?

P.S. I do think it's interesting that Job appeals to the fact that God made him.  Just a brief nod to the first three chapters of Genesis:  When we reject creation, we reject this basis for appeal!