Job 16:21

21 O that one might plead [yakach] for a man [geber] with God ['elowahh], as a man ['adam] pleadeth for his neighbour [ben] [rea`]! KJV-Interlinear

21 'O that a man might plead with God As a man with his neighbor! NASB

Here in this world we have access to the many things of this world. We can see and talk with our family, with friends and neighbors, with our fellow workers, even with strangers.

When we have a problem, we can go to a stores' customer service or return counter and speak directly with an employee there, and have our problem straightened out almost immediately.

For more important matters, we have hospitals, police stations, court systems of due process and so forth.

In this world we have problems, and we have avenues with which to take our matter to someone whom we can see and touch and talk to, and even settle a matter, even if it takes years to accomplish.

But with God, we have only His written word, and we have our faith.

None of us has direct communication dialogue access with God. We cannot see Him. We cannot have a two way conversation with Him. We cannot come face to face with God such that we can see to whom we are speaking, or hear His voice.

One of the most difficult areas to master in life, is faith. And specifically faith in God.

We might have faith that a chair we sit on will not break under our weight. We might have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow. But those kinds of faith are reinforced with tangible, measurable, and sense driven feedback. We can see or experience those results in real time.

But with God, we have no tangible feedback, no mechanism for knowing if our words are even heard. We have no direct response from God such that we can hear a voice, or read a letter, or see an action.

We have to learn to wait, and we have to learn to recognize Gods actions in life, during our life. We have to learn patience, and we have to learn faith in something we cannot see, or hear, or touch, or detect in any way. And often times we have to learn faith in the face of ridicule.

How many of us have wished for a direct audience with God, just as Job here does? If only He would bend down and show us His face, if only He would speak with us directly, if only He would answer our questions, or better yet, give us what we want.

Well, probably everyone has been there. Especially when we have been swamped with difficulties, or at least think we have been overwhelmed.

In reality, we have a better means of communication with God, through His Word. But that mechanism takes time to develop. We have to want to learn, first of all, and second, we have to commit ourselves to learn. Anything short of that will gain you nothing.

Most people want to learn and know, but they don't want to take the time or make the effort to accomplish it.

Shortcuts seem to be the order of the day. Why study a verse or two each and every day, when there must be a better way. Why not just read the entire Bible over the weekend, and then automatically become a spiritual giant, walking and talking with God immediately? Why not take the fast learning track to maturity.

Any school child can tell you that they want to grow up, but they don't want to take the time to do it. They want to know it all and know it now. But we all should know that learning takes time and experience in life, and exposure to the many aspects of life. We have to succeed and we have to fail all too often before we understand many things in life.

But in the spiritual life, we have an advantage, and that is the power of God. Where our inadequacies prevent our learning and growing, Gods abilities take over and place us on a fast spiritual track. Even if we don't understand it all initially.

We do not have to see God, or hear Him, in order to have a relationship with Him.

A child does not have the capacity or frame of reference to understand the things of the adult life, and so too, believers cannot understand the intricacies of faith until they grow up.

With people, you have to play the tug of war game, or compromise, or negotiate, or plead and then you may or may not get what you want.

With God you do not have a voice at the other end of your prayer, but you have something far better, and that is God looking out for your best interest, even and especially when, you can't quite see it yet.

Now is the time to post a prayer.