A Breakthrough Is Closer Than You Think

Job 35:4-7 -  "I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you.  Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you.  If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?  If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand?

 

Elihu continues his response to Job and his friends with a string of questions.  He wanted Job to look up in the sky and see just how far away from Earth God resided in Heaven.  He saw the clouds and space as a great barrier to the majesty of God.  He tried to tell Job that God wasn’t listening to his cries of help…because he thought Job was hiding sin in his life.

 

Elihu couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Had he not read the words of the great prophet …who recorded these words in Jeremiah 33:3… “ Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” How could he have come to this conclusion if he had read the passionate words of David in Psalms 55:16-17… “ As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice.”

 

Job was closer to a breakthrough than he knew…and was right to call upon God in his pain.  He knew in his heart that there had to be some reason God would remain silent for so long.  He knew in his heart that God heard every word he had uttered to him.  He was ready to die thinking that God was going to save him…rather than give up hope in God’s love.

 

I couldn’t help but think of that silly elephant Horton… in Dr. Seuss's book … “Horton.” That crazy bird convinced him to sit on her eggs while she went off on vacation…and all kinds of things happened to try and keep him from fulfilling his promise. Horton always replied to them ….” An elephant’s faithful…one hundred percent.”  He would not give in to any disaster that tried to take his attention off that nest.  Just like Job…who was simply going to hold on to God…no matter how long it took for him to answer him.

 

God hears every cry we utter to him…it says so in 1 John 5:14-15 … “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” We need to stop thinking like Elihu…who saw the skies between Earth and Heaven as a great barrier to the father….and begin to think like Job...who held on to the hope that God was listening to every word of confusion that came from his mouth.  Job believed his breakthrough was coming…and was willing to wait as long as God deemed necessary for his answers.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that you are listening to my prayers of help for myself and for others.  Thank you for allowing my weak words  of prayer to span the great distance between Heaven and Earth.  Show me how to hold on tight…when you choose to let me wait.  Show me how to know that you are standing nearby…ready to give all who pray to you the breakthrough we need to move forward and understand your will in each situation. Amen.