Why Don't You Answer Me God?
Have you ever asked God for something and you did not have response? That could make you feel like God doesn’t care. It might surprise you that there are people in the Bible, such as a man called Asaph, who also wrestled with this same issue.
“1 I cry out to God;
I call to God, and he will hear me.
2 I look for the Lord on the day of trouble.
All night long I reach out my hands,
but I cannot be comforted.
3 When I remember God, I become upset;
when I think, I become afraid.
4 You keep my eyes from closing.
I am too upset to say anything.
5 I keep thinking about the old days,
the years of long ago.
6 At night I remember my songs.
I think and I ask myself:
7 “Will the Lord reject us forever?
Will he never be kind to us again?
8 Is his love gone forever?
Has he stopped speaking for all time?
9 Has God forgotten mercy?
Is he too angry to pity us?”
10 Then I say, “This is what makes me sad:
For years the power of God Most High was with us.”
11 I remember what the Lord did;
I remember the miracles you did long ago.
12 I think about all the things you did
and consider your deeds.”
Asaph starts his prayers as many of us do, by calling out in need. We can see from the pray that Asaph was desperate. Things are just getting worse for Asaph as if God had forgotten him. In the midst of God’s silence, Asaph felt that his prayer wasn’t bringing him any answers or reassurance.
We often think that prayer is a formula:
Asking God for help = an amazing, problem-solving answer from Him.
Asaph ended up asking: “why don’t you answer me God?” (Psalm 77:7-9). He even get’s to a place of giving up on God!
Suddenly out of nowhere Asaph makes a U-Turn in his prayer. In verse 11 it says: “I remember what the Lord did; I remember the miracles you did long ago”. His fears all of the sudden are removed with a new sense of confidence in God. So what happens?
Asaph has done a very simple, but very powerful thing. He has shifted his focus from himself to God. He no longer talks about his problems, he is now talking about God’s goodness and reminding himself of all the great thing God has already done in his life.
So “Why didn’t God answer?” In one sense the answer is as obvious as it is shocking: God was silent because He chose to be. His silence was intentional.
Why would God deliberately allow anyone to go through such a time of trial, doubt, and despair? Because God wants us to have a deeper relationship. Times of trial and doubting are part of the process that make us grow spiritually stronger and wiser.
Even though it was painful for Asaph, it helped him draw closer to God. If God constantly gave immediate solutions to our problems, would we seek to know Him deeper? Our time with Him would be brief. We would know Him just as some kind of problem-solving ‘vending machine’.
God wants to have a closer and deeper relationship with you. As you are reading this why don’t you shift you focus from your problems to God.
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