Praying Through What You Don’t Understand (Part 2)

If you’ve not already done so—go to the previous post and read how this story is set up.  If you have read the previous post, let’s pick up his story in Job 23.  Job is wrestling through the feelings of being mad with God because of His silence, but also understanding that God is not obligated to explain His actions.  He’s weary from the pain and he has no idea where to find God.

Read Job 23:1-5.  Job is saying, “If I could just find God in all of this.  I would talk to God, God would listen to me, and then God would talk to me.”  He just wants a conversation with God.  Job wants to pray through what he doesn’t understand.

Read 6-9.  When you’re going through things you don’t understand, does that not sound like an accurate description of your life.  “I go forward and God’s not there.  I go backward and God’s not there.  I look to the right and can’t see Him.  I look to the left and can’t see him.”

Read 10.  “But He knows the way I take…”  There is a word of faith that is so profound here.  Job is saying, “I can’t find God regardless of the path I choose, but that’s okay because God knows the path I’m on.”  The faith that it takes to say that in the midst of these circumstances is staggering. 

Read 10b-17.  This is one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible.  Job is frustrated in verses 1-9, faithful in verses 10-12, and frightened in verses 13-17.  Yet with the ups and downs of these emotions, he continues to pursue God and say things like, “I am not silenced by the darkness.” 

After Job has all of these conversations with friends—God and Job finally connect.  From chapter 38 through 42, there is an ongoing exchange between God and Job. 

• 38:1  “Then the Lord answered Job…
• 40:1  “Then the Lord said to Job…
• 40:3  “Then Job answered the Lord…
• 40:6  “Then the Lord answered Job…
• 42:1  “Then Job answered the Lord…

Back and forth—they talk and question each other.  Throughout the story, Job has worshipped God through things he didn’t understand.  Job has defended God through things he didn’t understand.  Job has wrestled with God through things he didn’t understand.  Job has grieved with God through things he didn’t understand.  But now—we see Job praying through things he didn’t understand.

And it is in this final part of Job’s prayers, after talking with God, and hearing from God, that Job gives several nuggets of truth for those who are struggling to pray through things they don’t understand.

Job 42:2.  “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

• Remember that God is still Sovereign.

The word ‘sovereign’ is not found in this verse, but presence is apparent.  Sovereign speaks of one who has supreme authority, power, and self-governing.  Job says that God can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted.  God is so powerful, so supremely authoritative, so outside the realm of need that He can do anything He desires and none of His purposes fail.

When you are praying through things you don’t understand—remember that God is still sovereign.  The circumstances have not taken Him by surprise.  He’s not caught off guard.  He is not scrambling in the courts of heaven to find an answer.  He is still completely in control and He knows what He’s doing.

Job 42:3.  “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?  Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand.”

The ESV translates that last verse to say, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”  This is Job’s confession.  He is telling everyone that he was dealing with issues he didn’t understand.  How can that help us?

• Some things are not for you to know.

God is not obligated to tell us everything.  There are mysteries of God that we may never know.  I have a hard time understanding why God allows children to suffer, or young mother’s die in childbirth, or people groups to be annihilated by genocide.  I don’t understand famine or disease or war. 

There will be some things that God tells us in time; there will be some things God tells us in eternity.  There may be some things God never tells us.  The question we have to answer is, “Do we trust Him?”  If we answer that question with “Yes,” then God gives us the grace to go forward without all the answers.  If we answer “No,” then will the answers really matter in the end?

Some things are not for you to know.

You might be wondering, “How does this help us pray through what we don’t understand?”  That’s a valid question.  It helps on two levels. 

• First, people have a natural tendency to stop praying when they don’t understand God or they don’t get the answers they want.  We’ve been so conditioned to think that prayer operates like a vending machine where we put the time in and God drops the answers out.  When the answers are not dropping, we stop putting the time in.  As you broaden your understanding of prayer, you need to incorporate the mindset that some things are not for you to know.  It is a part of the mystery of God, and we have to be okay with that.
• Second, when you accept that some things are not for you to know, it helps you focus on Who you do know.  We do not always understand God’s actions.  We do not always understand God’s timing.  We do not always see things from an eternal perspective.  But let’s stop looking at what we don’t know, and start looking at Who we do know.

We know God through our relationship with Christ.  We know that God is merciful, and compassionate, and just, and holy, and loving, and righteous, and gracious, and good.  You might not be able to know everything about every situation, but you can know the One who controls it all.

Job 42:4. "Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.”

• God will speak, but will we listen?

There are times that we don’t understand because God is not giving the answers, and there are times that we don’t understand because we won’t stop talking.  Prayer is conversation with God.  It’s dialogue; not monologue.  It’s not you talking to God; it’s you talking with God.  If you don’t stop long enough to listen—how will you understand?

Job began to understand what God was doing because he listened when God spoke.  How can you pray through what you don’t understand?  Answer…stop long enough to listen.

Job 42:5.  “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”  The ESV translates this verse in a more simple fashion.  “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

How do you pray through what you don’t understand?  It helps to know that…

• The process will lead to greater intimacy.

Verse 5 is not just about information going from Job’s ears to eyes; it’s about God going from impersonal to personal.  The verse says, “My ears had heard of you…” (that’s acquaintance, it’s hearsay, it’s knowledge gained by another).  But now my eyes have seen you… (that’s personal, it’s intimate, it’s more real than before).

That’s the beauty of praying through what we don’t understand.  When you don’t have your answers to run to, or your cliché’s to cling to, or your safety net to fall in—it’s just you and God.  And there, in that moment—you have something greater than an answer!  You have Him!

Desperation leads to prayer.  Prayer leads to time with God.  Time with God leads to life change.  You may never get the answers you were searching for, or the understanding you hoped you’d get, but you will be changed simply by being in His presence. 

Keep praying through what you don’t understand.  The process leads to greater intimacy with God.  Finally…

Job 42:6. “Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” 

• The experience reveals personal sin.

After sitting with God, and listening to God, and reflecting over what God said—Job was convicted of personal sin.  Job never did anything that we would call overly rebellious against God.  He never cursed God.  He never verbally insulted God.  He never raised his fist towards the heavens.  But in small ways, he could still see rebellion, and he repented of it.  In a portion of what we read in chapter 23, Job said, “Even today my complaint is rebellion.”  The entire experience caused Job to take a deep look on the inside.

There have been a number of times when I went through a period of praying through what I didn’t understand.  In every situation, God revealed sins in my life.   On one occasion alone, God listed 29 flaws in my character within a 5 minute time frame.  Maybe it’s the fact that when God doesn’t answer, we immediately ask, “Did I do something wrong?”  I don’t know!  But when the path is unclear, and God seems silent, and you don’t understand what’s going on—pay close attention to the parts of your character that rise to the surface.  You’ll be amazed at the hidden sins that rise when the flames get hot.

Let’s put it all back together.  What can you reflect upon when your praying through things you don’t understand?

• Remember that God is still Sovereign.
• Some things are not for you to know.
• God will speak, but will we listen?
• The process will lead to greater intimacy.
• The experience reveals personal sin.

Homework:  Everyone has at least one area of prayer in their lives where they don’t understand why God is doing what’s He’s doing.  Your homework is to take Job’s lessons into you’re prayer time.  Ask God to help you see His sovereign control.  Submit your list of unanswered questions before God and ask God to either give the answers or release you from the need to know.  Stop during your prayers and spend 10 to 15 minutes just listening.  Ask God to use this process to build greater intimacy, and finally, ask God to reveal the hidden sins that have become exposed by the process.