He Doesn’t Always Answer When We Want
The Problem With Following God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This morning we are in week three of our series The Problem With Following God.
Has anyone been enjoying this series so far? It’s been both challenging, convicting, and encouraging.
So far we’ve talked about two problems with following God. The first was: He doesn’t tell us everything.
We looked at the call of Abram and saw that God didn’t give Abram the whole picture, just the next step.
And that’s what God often does with us. He gives us steps to take rather than the whole plan, because He wants us to trust in Him instead of the plan.
The second problem was: Sometimes it gets worse first.
Last week we looked at the life of Joseph and saw how his life got worse before it got better.
But we also saw that if you remain faithful, you will see the goodness and the faithfulness of God.
Problem #3 With Following God: He Doesn’t Always Answer When We Want
To see that, there are several places we could go in Scripture, but this morning I want to take us to the book of Job.
Now, some of us are familiar with the life of Job, and some of us aren’t, so let me give you some context before we jump into chapter 23.
Job was described as a man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and turned away from evil. He had it all—family, wealth, and a reputation of integrity.
But behind the scenes, Satan challenged Job’s faith, saying the only reason Job worshiped God was because his life was blessed.
God allowed Job to be tested, and in a short span of time he lost everything—his possessions, his children, even his health.
Now, if you’ve read the beginning of Job, you know there’s a scene in heaven where Satan comes before God and Job is put to the test.
That can raise some hard questions—why would God allow that?
We don’t have time to unpack all the theology this morning, but here’s what we need to see: Satan could only go as far as God allowed. God set the limits.
And while Satan’s goal was to destroy Job’s faith, God’s purpose was to refine it.
What the enemy meant for harm, God was going to use for good.
To make things worse, Job’s friends showed up.
At first, they sat with him in silence, but then they started accusing him.
They said his suffering must mean he had sinned against God.
Instead of comforting him, they piled shame on top of grief.
And through all of this, Job’s prayers seemed to go unanswered.
God was silent. Job cried out, but heaven seemed shut.
And that’s where we find him in Job 23.
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
Pray
You know, normally my sermon illustrations aren’t things that happen to me during the week. But this week… can I tell you how my week started?
We cleaned out our church storage unit and moved everything out since we no longer needed it.
Thank you to those who came and helped—seriously, you earned a bunch of crowns to lay at Jesus’ feet in heaven!
So after a long day, I got home, sat down to relax, when suddenly my phone rang. It was my sister, and I could hear panic in her voice: “Have you heard from Nana today?”
I said, “No, why?” She explained she’d been calling for two hours and hadn’t heard back.
So I tried. Nothing. Two or three calls, no answer. Since I live closest, I said, “I’ll drive over and check.”
So I get in my truck and start driving, still trying to call her the whole way. Nothing. And y’all—my mind starts racing.
Every scenario is running through my head: “I know she went to Dollar Tree… did she get kidnapped?
Did something happen at home?
Am I about to have to channel my inner Liam Neeson and rescue her?”
And the whole time I’m praying: “God, give me strength. I don’t know what I’m about to walk into.”
I get to her house, see the lights are on—okay, that’s a good sign. I ring the doorbell. After a few seconds she comes to the door and says, “Kyle, what in the world are you doing here this late?”
She opens the door and says, “Kyle, what are you doing here this late?”
And I said in my best Jesus imitation from the Gospels…
“WOMAN…WE HAVE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR TWO HOURS!”
She looks at her phone, sees all the missed calls from me, my mom, my sister, and just starts laughing. “Oh, looks like I forgot to turn my phone off silent from church last week…”
Here I am preparing for the worst, and she just had her ringer off.
She got a scolding for sure.
She had the nerve to say “Well my phone was ringing so I just assumed everyone was busy and didn’t want to talk to me.”
NO! You went silent. The problem wasn’t us the problem was you!
And isn’t that exactly how it feels sometimes with God? We’re calling, we’re crying, we’re praying..but all we hear is silence.
And it feels like the problem is Him, not us. Because we have been praying and asking for help. We have been crying out. But God? Silence.
By the time we reach Job 23, that is exactly how Job feels. But it is not just God’s silence he is dealing with.
He is also facing the accusations of his friends.
In his final speech in chapter 22, Eliphaz gets blunt and cruel. He flat-out accuses Job of wickedness.
He says Job withheld food and water from the needy, exploited the poor and widows, and used his power to crush the helpless.
Here is how harsh he gets: “You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry… You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed” (Job 22:7, 9).
But those charges were false. We already know from the very first verse of the book that Job was “blameless and upright.”
Eliphaz had no evidence. He just piled shame on top of suffering, treating Job’s pain as proof of hidden sin.
So not only is Job grieving, not only does God feel silent, but now his friends are scolding him with lies.
And it is in that place that Job cries out in chapter 23, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him!”
Translation: “God, You’re supposed to be here. I need You. Where are You?”
He goes on in verse 4
4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
Job is frustrated. He has been crying out. He thought he knew where God would be. Yet God is not there.
Can you relate?
Have you ever known deep down that God was going to show up when you called on Him, only to be left waiting?
You were sure He would answer, but instead all you got was frustration and confusion.
God you were supposed to fix it by now…..
God? Are you listening?
God!?
I was supposed to be healed by now!
God I was supposed to be pregnant by now!
God I was supposed to have the Job by Now!
God I was supposed to see my family Saved by now!
GOD WHERE ARE YOU?!
Come on has anybody been here before?
Has it ever felt like God used to be good… but now He’s gone?
Most of us would never dare say that out loud. But we think it. And slowly, it eats away at our faith.
On the outside, we lift our hands and sing “Great is Thy faithfulness.” But on the inside?
On the inside it sounds more like this:
“God, You don’t give a damn about me.”
“God, You’ve left me to rot, and You don’t even care.”
“God, You’re a joke. You promise blessing, but all You’ve given me is pain.”
“God, You’re cruel. You sit on Your throne while I suffer like hell.”
“God, maybe this whole thing is bull—maybe I’ve wasted my life praying to nothing.”
That’s ugly. That’s offensive. That’s the stuff we would never dare say in a prayer circle. But it’s the stuff some of us scream in our heads at 2 AM when heaven is silent.
Now I know some of you thought, “How could he use words like that in church?” And you’re right the way I said it was full-on raw, borderline profane.
But here’s what you need to understand: while ancient Hebrew and Greek don’t use our exact words, the Bible itself uses language that was shockingly blunt, vulgar, even offensive to its original hearers.
7 O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
Jeremiah is basically accusing God of tricking or assaulting him and everyone is mocking him for it and it’s all God’s fault.
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
Jeremiah says God is beating him down with a stick. That is violent language.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
“You have put me in the depths of the pit… your wrath lies heavy upon me.” That’s a direct accusation: “God, You did this. You’re drowning me.”
They used the shocking vocabulary of their day, and I just translated it into the shocking vocabulary of ours.
And the point is this: God didn’t edit those raw, offensive words out of Scripture. He can handle your honesty too.
Now listen…I’m not telling you to be vulgar.
I’m not giving you a free pass to turn your prayers into Samuel L. Jackson dialogue.
But I am telling you this: if you’re filtering your prayers, if you’re hiding your true thoughts and emotions on the inside while saying something “acceptable” on the outside, you’re not fooling God.
He already knows. And He would rather have your ugly truth than your fake polish.
Notice Job’s language here:
8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
This is the place God is supposed to be, yet He is not.
Job looks forward and there is nothing.
Backward and there is nothing.
To the left and he cannot find Him. To the right and still nothing.
The silence is deafening.
But here is the truth.
God can handle your honesty.
He is not asking you to pretend.
He is not asking you to clean it up before you bring it to Him.
Do not hide your emotions and feelings from God. Pour them out. Cry them out. Yell them out if you have to.
And then, once you have brought your honesty before Him, remind your emotions of who God is.
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
This verse is my favorite.
“But he knows the way that I take….”
Translation: Despite how I feel, I know God still sees me. Even if I cannot find Him, He has never lost sight of me.
“when he has tried me…”
The word “tried” here is the Hebrew word bachan. It is the word used for testing metal — like a goldsmith who puts ore into the fire to burn away the impurities. God is not punishing Job. He is purifying him.
“I shall come out as gold”
Job says, “This fire I am in right now will not destroy me. It will refine me. It will purify me. I am going to come out better, stronger, cleaner, and more faithful than I was before.”
So what do you do when God is not answering you?
You remember what He has already spoken.
When heaven feels silent, go back to His Word. Go back to His promises. Go back to what you know is true even when your feelings scream the opposite.
He has already spoken: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
He has already spoken: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
He has already spoken: “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
When you cannot hear His voice, trust His character.
When you cannot see His hand, stand on His Word.
Job started with what it felt like, but ended with what he Knows.
In Psalm 22 David does something similar.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
Sounds like Job, doesn’t it?
“God, I’ve been calling. Where are You?”
But by verse 21, there is a shift.
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!
David begins with, “God, why have You forsaken me?” But he ends with, “You have heard me. You have not hidden Your face from me.”
He moves from despair to confidence.
From lament to praise.
From silence to testimony.
David is not only declaring that God will save him, but that he will publicly praise Him in response.
The reality for most Christians is this: we want God to rescue us, but then we want to be silent about what He rescued us out of.
We will pray desperately for Him to bring us through the fire, but when He does, we act like nothing happened.
We want the deliverance, but we don’t want the testimony.
We want the breakthrough, but not the story.
David said, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” In other words, “When God brings me through, everybody’s going to know about it.”
And church, here’s the reality. Never be embarrassed of your testimony.
You may not be proud of where you came from, but you can be proud of the God who brought you out.
You may not want to relive your past, but somebody else needs to hear that story so they can see that God can do it for them too.
Your testimony is proof that silence does not last forever.
It is proof that God still saves, God still heals, God still redeems.
Don’t hide it.
Don’t bury it.
Tell it.
Now doesn’t this line sound familiar: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
That is not just David in Psalm 22.
That is Jesus on the cross.
As He hung there, carrying the full weight of our sin, He reached back to this Psalm and cried out the same words.
Why?
Because in that moment, Jesus stepped fully into Job’s cry.
He stepped fully into David’s cry.
He stepped fully into your cry.
On the cross He experienced the silence of God, the hiddenness of God.
Let that sink in for a moment…
Jesus, the Son of God, the One who had perfect fellowship with the Father for all eternity, felt abandoned.
He felt forsaken.
He cried out into the silence, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Jesus doesn't just pull this Psalm to memory by accident…
This Psalm at this point in time would have been written almost 1000 years prior to Jesus being on the cross. keep that in mind as i read more of it to you:
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Now listen to what actually happened at the cross:
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
Do you see it? They are mocking Jesus with the exact words written in Psalm 22 a thousand years earlier.
What David wrote in lament, Jesus lived in reality.
The very insults David described were used on Christ as He hung on the cross.
but there is more…..
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
On the Cross:
34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
Jesus was had literal water pouring out of him….
but there is more….
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Jesus on the cross…
35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
Jesus is not just quoting Psalm 22. He is fulfilling it.
Every detail, every insult, every wound.
But remember Psalm 22 doesn’t end in defeat…
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
This is no longer about despair.
This is about victory.
The suffering servant of Psalm 22 becomes the Savior of the nations.
The ends of the earth will turn to the Lord.
Now skip down to verse 30.
30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
That last phrase, “he has done it,” in Hebrew carries the same weight as what Jesus declared on the cross: “It is finished.”
Psalm 22 starts with “Why have You forsaken me?” but it ends with “It is finished.”
The cry of abandonment turns into the song of victory.
The silence of the cross turns into the testimony of salvation for the nations and for every generation to come.
Silence is not absence.
Silence is not abandonment.
Silence is not judgment.
Silence is not the end.
And that brings us back to Job. Job could not see God.
He looked forward, backward, left, and right, and all he found was silence.
But in that silence he held on to this truth: “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”
Job believed silence was not the end of his story.
David believed silence was not the end of his song.
And Jesus proved silence was not the end at the cross.
So when God feels silent in your life, remember Job, remember Psalm 22, remember Jesus.
The silence you are in right now is not the end of the story.
God is still writing.
God is still refining.
God is still faithful.
Job believed it. David declared it. Jesus proved it.
God isn’t silent, He’s working.
