Why Does God Allow Christians to Die In Accidents? Eliphaz goes on, in Verses12-14, to assume rather insulting concepts that he thinks Job held: "Is not God high in the heavens? There is substantial psychoanalytical evidence that prayer helps psycholo. 4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. It is interesting to see that the Scriptures never treat man like a worm. As my husband would say, "God doesn't have to 'intervene' because He's always 'vening.'" There may be some silliness to that sentence, but there is also such truth. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. They defy God; they ask him to get out of their lives; they resist him, and God lets it be. In my wife's early Christian life she began listening to a radio broadcast that taught her the truth from the Scriptures, and the pastor of her church became very angry and upset at her, and brought her before him and tried to straighten her out, using invective instead of the Scriptures. There is a certain sense in which Gods sovereignty should influence our attitude toward prayer, at least with respect to adoration. 18 "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards. Article Images Copyright . The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all men follow after him, and those who go before him are innumerable." If God has stated that he will not intervene why do religious people pray? I visited the sister-in-law of a good friend. This is what Job is learning. You say God always visits wrath upon the wicked. We are faced with this question of the fairness of God. The Shack is a book I have read 3 or 4 times and have found things that have stood out for me that weren't present the other time I have read it. They were referring, of course, to Job. Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it! We are creatures who communicate primarily through speech. And instead of calling out to Him, we fight Him, by becoming paganists and atheists and enemies of His. Why Doesn't God Intervene? | From the Inside Out Why doesn't he judge evil? 7 You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry. There are hundreds of answered prayers all throughout Gods Word that serve as a lamppost of Gods faithfulness. God wanted to use Pauls weakness to humble Paul and to teach him to depend on His grace. Prayer is discourse with the personal God Himself. (Job 26:14 RSV). He is all powerful, all wise, and all knowing but God is a God who uses the prayers and the actions of his people to bring his perfect purposes to pass. Here Eliphaz is suggesting that Job feels that God is unfairly punishing him, but once again, Job never said that. We talked about common friends and Christian ministers that we knew. Though God did restore his fortunes in the end. However, there are times when God chooses not to intervene. 21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. What he means is just when you think you have God all worked out, something happens that you cant handleit doesnt fit your box. . Reply angelowner Hindu Additional comment actions Love your comments. Prayer is not simply a soliloquy, a mere exercise in therapeutic self-analysis, or a religious recitation. They represent to us three styles of Pharisaism, and I think as we read them we can see how often they represent what our attitudes have been. The wicked often escape the day of calamity. But the thunder of his power who can understand?" Many are rightly disheartened about God when claims about prayers don't match up with reality. He is our Shepherd: guiding us, providing for us and protecting us . When we ask if our prayers change Gods mind, we wonder if there is room for God to change based on our actions. Moses prayed for food and water for the Israelites (Exod. No hint here of illness and death, no broken relationships or emotional problems. How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! Why doesn't God Intervene? | Job 20 - 26 | RayStedman.org Help me understand why God doesn't intervene? : Christianity - Reddit Though his pain increases his frustration grows because he cannot find any way to get into contact and argue the point with God and get some answers to his problem. So he describes his search, Verses8-9: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him." Besides, if not God then who else are we gonna talk to? Are not your sins endless? We pray in his name, Amen. If anything, our understanding of Gods sovereignty should provoke us to an intense prayer life of thanksgiving. How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger? I was sixteen years old and heard the Gospel for the first time, knowing immediately I wanted Jesus. In Chapter21 we get Job's very reasoned reply. Like poor Trophimus, so sick that Paul had to leave him behind. You see a flower, and you are touched by it. Time and again the Bible says that prayer is an effective tool. Regardless of whether prayer does any good, if God commands us to pray, we must pray. Here is proof right here that what we say is true.'" (Job 23:6-7 RSV). It fives faith Courage and Hope even for the non- believer I truly believe. Then there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4b NLT). It doesn't have to mean that. 3 days of furnace of answers - the god that answers by fire | day 2 | nsppd || 11th july 2023 | fire 8 Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night. There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood." 9 And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. Prayers were no longer being answered in the way I wanted them to as often as Id like them to. Even if you don't feel like it. The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man dwelt in it. Then he says, "It is my condition, my pain and anguish, that forces me so to search and try to come to answers." 6 You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked. Could the reason we don't pray more be that we have misunderstood the purpose of prayer? Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good. #04-76 Midview City If I thought even for one moment that a single molecule were running loose in the universe outside the control and domain of almighty God, I wouldnt sleep tonight. Jesus teaches us to pray ".your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven" (Mt. It is also true that while God seeks His own glory supremely, man benefits when God is glorified. Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is for Gods glory and for our benefit, in that order. Everything that God does, everything that God allows and ordains, is in the supreme sense for His glory. 17 For all of them, deep darkness is their morning ; they make friends with the terrors of darkness. But they cannot live with that, they will not accept it, so they charge him with these childish concepts. We seek the Lord and ask Him what He is up to, why He doesnt choose to intervene. Our youth group held a time before Wednesday night service when teenagers could come an hour early and pray. The last paragraph is beautiful. 16 In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. If God doesn't intervene what is the point of praying? But instead he gave us the gift of prayer, and encouraged us to use it. 2 "How you have helped the powerless! "Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?" 12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. 34 "So how can you console me with your nonsense? I concur with Leigh. Answer. And in all these ways God is breaking through into our livesthe grand perhaps, and thats enough for fifty hopes and fearsthe great mystery of God. You and I can have full confidence that God hears our prayers. In Verse17 Eliphaz mimics Job when he says of the wicked: "They said to God, 'Depart from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?' Within the next two years, at altars seemingly built just for me in those intimate moments, I found freedom from those strongholds and healing in my broken areas. 9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. 22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him. It is up to us to accept him or not. God is after our hearts, and a heart that is for Him is one that prays often. It is useful; it works. I came to Christ with a lot of hurt and bondageanger issues, sexual sin, and strongholdand I desperately needed freedom. Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. See the highest stars, how lofty they are! The events God had already determined came to pass. Prior to his arrival in Atlanta, Dr. Richard served as the Senior Minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, Mississippi (PCA) for almost 12 years. Why Doesn't God Intervene to End Suffering? - Not Ashamed of the Gospel Why should I not be impatient? Indeed Christ died to remove sin and the effects of sin ( 1 Peter 2:24). (Job 20:29 RSV). "But there's a difference," you might be saying. You may ask me anything in . So it is an entirely false charge. 4 I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. At the end of the book, God plainly says that these men did not treat Job in the right way, that they are wrong. His creed has been demolished by his experiences. I will say at the outset that I'm still working through this issue but some of my ruminations may help you work through it too. God is authoritative in all things. We pray for healing. Elijah prayed for drought, and then rain, and God moved both times. But how does God exercise that control and manifest that authority? He just ignores me." "Not man, but God. Chapter20: Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: "Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. Yes, they can. 15 Will you keep to the old path that evil men have trod? Then in Verses19-22 Zophar describes the wicked as doing things that are clearly apparent; the evil comes out in the open. What about the fact that he seems to treat people very unfairly? Reason no. In fact, we know several passages of scripture that tell us we are to be praying without ceasing. John Calvin, in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, makes some profound observations regarding prayer: But, someone will say, does God not know, even without being reminded, both in what respect we are troubled and what is expedient for us, so that it may seem in a sense superfluous that he should be stirred up by our prayersas if he were drowsily blinking or even sleeping until he is aroused by our voice? Gods desire for wholeness is also very clear from the end of the bible, Revelation 21 and 22, when the new creation has been completed. 10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. I wrestled with God and wondered what was happening. He also tells us that the prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much (James 5:16). Prayer is not optional for the Christian; it is required. Why do we pray for god to heal illness or to keep us safe on a car trip if he doesn't ever intervene? Then he describes the terrible fate of the wicked, Verses23-29: "To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him, and rain it upon him as his food. How does God bring to pass the things He sovereignly decrees? Yes, He knows what is in my mind, but I still have the privilege of articulating to Him what is there. Why doesn't God intervene to relieve suffering? - Good Question 11 The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. The Bible assures us that God will abolish evil when Christ returns. Where is God wanting to stretch your faith regarding prayer? 14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief. Prayer is not a plea to God to intervene or to change His mind, or to give us some kind of privilege, extra protection or even some kind of advantage over our fellow humans, but it's our means of sharing our innermost thoughts with God and of worshipping Him. If God is not sovereign, then there's no need for us to pray because we're praying to a God who is not able to do something about our situation. 3 They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. Listen, just because ya'll don't see God right away doesn't mean you'll never see Him step in. (Job 25:2 RSV). He begins with expressing his own longing for God: "Today also my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning." What Does the Bible Say About End Times and Why Doesn't God Intervene We do know that God is always pleased when we pray for the sick and suffering because, as Jesus showed us, God has great compassion for them. Today there is a kind of Pharisaism that seeks to get you to agree with its limited theology and if you refuse to do so you begin to have invective and charges poured out against you. Today I want to ask the question: "Why pray?" Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not clean in his sight; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!" 22 "Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest? Like poor Trophimus, so sick that Paul had to leave him behind. But ultimately, Jesus was fully committed to the Father's will, and not what He himself desired. 29 When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!' if Job could find the sin that they claim he is guilty of, but as he examines his life he knows there is nothing he has not dealt with, and though he does not claim sinlessness, he does say that he cannot find what the trouble is.