Every time I hear the first reading, I think about my prayers. Am I commanding God, or am I asking? I have never "entered into the sources of the sea." I have never even been to a sea or ocean, let alone entered its sources. God could often address me in the same way he addressed Job. Perhaps my prayers are selfish. Maybe they are not oriented toward a greater good. Many times my prayers have not been answered. Sometimes I later realize it was best they were not answered. What I prayed for was probably not in my best interest. God knew this and although I was temporarily disappointed, I was more satisfied in the end.

Even with this in mind, there are still some prayers I cannot help but wonder why God did not answer them. If I pray for God to end the suffering of a sick baby, a suffering grandmother, or a wounded child, why does he not answer?
In "God Grew Tired of Us", a moving documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan, one of the Lost Boys expresses his feelings about God during his struggle, along with 27,000 other boys, to eke out an existence on a walk from the Sudan to Kenya without food or water. Amidst all the suffering, he wondered where was God? When he received no answer he came to the conclusion, "then, God grew tired of us…" How else could God bear to standby and witness all the suffering?
Did God grow tired? If God is everywhere, He must have been there, so he did not leave them. Why did he not answer their prayers then? Was he really sick of them? It may seem blasphemous to say, but I have always believed it would be most difficult to be God. Let me explain. We pray and ask for things that we want, that we need, and when they do not happen we are sad. Sometimes our prayers are selfish, and not answering them is what is best for us.

There are other times, though, that are very different. We pray for our grandparents to get well, for our siblings to do well on their tests, and when they don't get better and when they don't do as well as they hoped, we are sad. Can you imagine being God? When I think of the experiences the Lost Boys of Sudan endured, I am horrified. Can you imagine how God felt? I feel pain when I think of all the suffering people in the world, but God loves each and every one of them more than I can imagine. He knows each of them by name, their favorite songs and favorite stories. He knows the number of hairs on their head. It would be painful to be God because he cares so much for all of us. Our suffering must cause him a great deal of pain. There are times my prayers are not answered and it is a good thing. Other times, when my prayers aren't answered, and I feel like crying. I wonder, is God crying too?