When God is silent.

I know that I have gone through many times in my life where God was silent. No response. I yell and scream and wondered where he was. I know that he is there, it's not like he took a vacation but sometimes he doesn't respond to me. (Yes, this may be completely mind boggling for many of you. I have regular conversations with God where he responds. No, I'm not clinically insane. And yes, there is always confirmation from what is being said. I have a personal relationship with God and this is the way he talks to me. To others it may be through reading his word, or dreaming dreams, or through sermons from others. Each method of communication is different)

As you can see in the previous bunny trail, when God is silent with me it's out of the ordinary. It's not what I'm used to. 🍍I don't like it. It's like I have gone to the biggest job interview and I'm waiting to hear back. Or I'm waiting for that phone call saying I got the job. Or I've been accepted to college. It's stress, nerve-racking anxiety, confusion, and a whole lot of crazy.

Some of you are thinking, yeah this doesn't pertain to me because God doesn't talk to me like that.  Okay, let me help you a little. Even though God might not speak to you in this matter, there is a way that you feel his presence. Maybe it be in worship, or through the sermon you hear, or you have these amazing ideas of things to do to help in the church, or want to create an outlet for children whose parents can't afford expensive day cares. That progression, the forward moving feeling, the excitement. That's what it's like when God talks to me. For the most part. (Sometimes I get reprimanded but that's another conversation completely.)

I was reading through 1 Peter this morning and found this little nugget of goodness.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

1 Peter 1:8-9

We don't see God, but we do love him. I'll use the example my mom always uses me. We don't see air but we use it. We see it bend the trees, but we don't see it blowing. We use the oxygen to breath. Air is something we don't see but something we need. I can't honestly say that I'm filled with inexpressible joy all the time. Depression is real and sadness can take its turn from time to time. But if I sit and think about the fact that I get to go to heaven it makes me a little happy. 

So often God will tell me Psalm 46:10 - Be sill. No words cause me more anger than those. I hate being still. I hate waiting.  I hate the quiet. I strongly dislike it. However I'm starting to see an underlying theme within the times of silence and the hard times. 

KEEP GOING

In the times of silence or quiet, we don't get to just sit and not do anything. Gods word tells us in Proverbs 6:27 about being idle. Idle hands are the devil's workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece. Just because God has asked us to be still doesn't mean to stop doing what you are doing. That doesn't mean take a vacation on ministry. We have to continue to labor. Yeah, it sucks when you are in a season where nothing is happening and you feel like you have to keep trucking. IT SUCKS! But we cannot lose faith and give up. We must keep telling people about Jesus. We must keep teaching. We must keep on loving people! 

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. Meaning continuously. Don't stop. Keep praying. Even if you feel like it's falling on deaf ears, it isn't. Praying is an open line of communication with God. Even if you are telling him how frustrated you are. Open dialogue is key. Ron Luce used to talk about prayer like a pipeline to Jesus. He used to tell us that if we stopped using the pipeline that it would get clogged. Or if we replaced that time with other things, it would get clogged. Maybe God isn't being silent, we've just forgotten how to keep the pipeline open. 

REJOICE AND GIVE THANKS

Yeah, this is hard. Especially when you are needing an answer quickly. James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. No thanks, right? It's tough to give thanks and praise God when things are not going the way you think they should. But here is why we do that! When we praise God and thank him, God becomes our focus. We put him back on the throne of our heart and make him our focus. It's like when Peter walked on water. He was focused on Jesus until he looked at the water around him. Then he fell under. If we are focusing on the bad things, or whatever it is that's keeping your focus off Christ, then we get sucked into them. He won't leave you in the mess you are in if you focus on him. He will help you out. 

It's not easy to do these things when God is silent. Usually I wanna stop and take a nap and not spend time in prayer. Forget rejoicing. God won't talk to me so why should I thank him!? Because he deserves it. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says this. 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

That should be all we need! This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Even though it isn't easy. This is what we SHOULD be doing. Through Silence, through suffering, through trails, through anything. These are the steps we should be taking. Have a great day!