Theme: PRAYING AND WAITING ON THE LORD ALWAYS
The need to pray and wait so as to know the will of God in any situation cannot be over-stressed. This is moreso in this age – the end of the world – when the nations of men are in distress and perplexity, in fulfillment of Bible prophecies. But it is unfortunate that the godless and some careless worshippers of God do not know the importance of prayer. In its definition of the word “pray”, the Hamlyn Encyclopedic Dictionary, among other things says it is ”To enter into spiritual communion with God.” Thus, the act of being in communication with God is, in the context of this theme called, “prayer”. Prayer could be in form of a request, thanksgiving or intercession on behalf of someone else. And to wait implies patience, without which one would lose the benefit of praying.
Text: “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?” – Job 21: 14,15.
Comment: Many people who are ungodly do not see the need to pray to God. This is because they feel they have gotten all that the heart could desire in terms of material possessions and children. Job in the passage for today questions what seems to be the inequities, that is, the lack of fairness or justice in the world. He states: “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth …” (Job 21:7-14) But the point is that ultimately the righteous and the wicked get their just rewards from the Almighty. As regards the ignominious end of such godless people, the Bible states: “Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung. . .” – Job 20:4-9