Job by Ilya Repin via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped)
God, where are you?
I beg, I plead . . . and you do not answer.
I shout, I yell . . . and get nothing.
Break your silence,
O God,
Speak to me!
Teach me!
Rebuke me!
Strike me down!
But do not remain silent.
The God who is mute. Is that who you are?
You have revealed yourself as the speaking God – our communicating Cosmos.
You pointed Abraham to a city whose builder and maker was God.
You revealed your divine name to Moses.
You spoke with clarity
to David,
to Ruth,
to Esther,
to Isaiah,
to Ezekiel,
to Daniel,
to Mary,
to Paul,
and a host of others.
Why are the heavens make of iron for me?
Job, I know, experienced you as the hidden God.
And Elijah held a lonely vigil over earthquake, wind, and fire. Me too.
O God, of wonder and of mystery,
teach me by means of your wondrous, terrible, loving, all embracing silence.
Amen.
Richard Foster, 1942-, Quaker theologian and author
_____________________
How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Remember how fleeting is my life.
For what futility you have created all humanity!
Who can live and not see death,
or who can escape the power of the grave?
Lord, where is your former great love,
which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
prayer & verse 
