Isaiah 41:28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

Silence is the most difficult of answers to understand. It leaves you with a nagging feeling that something is going on that you are not prepared to handle. That is natural. As much as you would like to think you understand human nature, circumstances for which you have no knowledge plays as much a part in the minds of those opposing you as anything. It is the X factor.

It is hard to place yourself in someone else’s position, to understand what they are thinking and planning, if you have not shared in their life. It was an ancient wise man that would give his son to his enemy to be raised as a son. The only way that enmity could be dissolved between the two worlds was to send a trusted son to live among them. In that way his son could speak to his father about the hearts of a people he did not understand.

I’ve been thinking about men who say that if they were God they would do things differently. I understand that, but would their reign yield better results? These men do not think things out to the end. Most of them do their vanity exercise in the hopes of destroying everyone they hate. Doing that makes more enemies and leads to distrust among those who are not destroyed. He would end up with more enemies and eventually alone.

A king without subjects is a land owner.

So realistically is there a better way to build trust and loyalty among men than what God has done?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1 Samuel 13:12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

The Hebrew word of supplication is challah, which means to make yourself sick or to be tired. Mainly to be sick and tired. Note the last phrase, I forced myself therefore. If you would, ponder on that for a moment.

In the Greek the word translated is deesis, which means need, indigence, with a secondary idea of seeking relief from God or man.

The last thing that many of us want to listen to is a whiner. Negative, negative, negative, it just wears us out. That attitude also keeps us from being honest in being supplicants. Sick and tired are physical conditions, need and indigence are conditional situations, they are based in unrealized expectations.

If I were to try and reconcile the two uses, old and new, I would use “I forced myself” as the example of how to properly be a supplicant. First, I have to get honest about my condition, both physical and emotional. I have to get honest with myself before I can be honest with God.

Do you see yourself as an overcomer, strong, able, enduring, or long suffering? Those attitudes can keep you from going to God for help. Do you see yourself as helpless, weak, dumb, crippled or enslaved? Those attitudes can keep you from going to God because you feel unworthy.

You have to force yourself to come to God earnestly, with honest conditions, honest emotions, and make yourself known. While God knows all, how can you expect to see God answer your requests if God gives you what He knows you need while you are looking for something different?

Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

“watching thereunto”