Before we leave chapter 28 and what I hope is the last time we examine the question regarding God being hidden, we are led to another Biblical man of God, who makes the very same point as Job but in a very different way.
The prophet Daniel was just as puzzled over an everyday problem of unanswered prayer. For 21 days Daniel gave himself to praying. Along with 21 days of prayer he also gave up food. No meat and no wine and he used no lotions on his body. With every cry there came no reply, no answer. Then one day a spiritual being, with eyes like flaming torches and a face like lightening, shows up right beside him. What was Daniels response? "I had no strength left. My face turned deathly pale and I was helpless." And when he tried talking to the being, he could hardly breath.
The supernatural being explained. "He had been sent to answer Daniel's first prayer, but was detained by strong resistance from the prince of the Persian kingdom." Now, after three weeks, reinforcements had arrived and Michael, one of the chief angels, helped him break through the opposition.
I can not imagine this scene nor what I would have been thinking if it had been me. But from a distance at first glance, this is what I, rightly or wrongly, perceive. Daniel was on the short end of the stick because of a battle that didn't directly involve him. Was there a shortage of angels that God could not have sent another one? Aren't the angels trained well enough to win the battles? Just playing! To Daniel, with his limited perspective, prayer seemed futile. But, after the supernatural being brings some details, a broader perspective, a higher view, we are forced to accept the fact the we live life, with the whole universe as a backdrop, which includes much activity that we never see. Faith that God has not and would not abandon us is required no matter how distant and silent God seems to us.
God is like a person who clears his throat while hiding and so gives himself away. Meister Eckhardt
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