Job 35:11

He shows that it is not a question of man's profiting God, but of God's profiting man. We owe Him our will, our love, and the glory. And beyond that, no man can walk in His ways without receiving the richest reward of blessing. In every possible sense it is God who gives the increase.

The reason is this. They are taken up with their own misery. They seek relief only for their own sake. So they have no thought of God's will or of His glory. They do not ask, Where is God my Maker? What can I learn of Him in these things? And is this not almost universal? Where do we find men turning to God in their affliction? The hungry want bread, but they do not want God. Give them bread, and they are quite content to go on in complete ignorance of Him.

This very God-consciousness is what sets man apart from every other animal of earth or air. The difference is not the mind, as the pagan thinkers and others supposed, but spirit — the highest part of the inner man. The spirit is able to enjoy God, and that is what makes the lost man so wretched. It is there, by his own will, that he is God's enemy. So they hold back from telling their sorrows to the one source of real help.

Does God not teach us more than the beasts? Does He not give greater wisdom to man than to birds? Yet God's preserving mercy cares for beasts and birds. Why does man not consider this and realise that he too is dependent on his Creator? In other words, God has given men greater understanding than beasts and birds. So why do men not show it by relying on God?

And yet are we not immeasurably above the beasts? God teaches us more than they can know. Yes, He gives songs in the night of trial. Indifference to all this is the heartbreaking fact: "although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him." Is it any wonder, then, that God must let poor man feel the weight of his sufferings? He does it in the hope that man will seek the only One who can both give relief and prove a satisfying portion.

Pride, vanity, self-will are what turn the heavens into brass. The Lord is near to those of a broken heart. This is the burden of the "Lord's prayer" — God's glory comes first. If men ignore that, they need not be surprised when God seems to ignore their prayer for daily bread.