When God is Silent

Introduction:

I read Dr. Charles Stanley’s book “How to Handle Adversity” a while back and found it to be very helpful, not only as a Christian who lives in a world of suffering but also as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have been able to see first hand the results of adversity in the lives of so many people and have struggled with why that happens. It happens to good people and it happens to bad people. It happens to people you might think deserve it but it also happens to people you might think don’t deserve what they have suffered.

Dr. Charles Stanley was a long time pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta and taught many people through his television ministry “In Touch.” Whatever you may think of Dr. Stanley, he has dealt with the issue of adversity and does a beautiful job of exposing readers to what God says about the subject.

When dealing with the topic of adversity we are faced with the big questions: Why did this happen? What was the point? What was accomplished? Why has grief hit a good, God-fearing family? I did all that I thought that I was supposed to do and yet I still suffered.

These are all good questions.

One of the most frustrating things is that God is oftentimes so quiet.

There are sometimes when a word from the Lord would be comforting but—nothing.

It can make it worse when you read your Bible and it seems like God was talking all the time:

Peter in prison - an angel came to release him

Abraham

Paul got taken into the 3rd heaven

It doesn’t seem fair

Dr. Stanley says “my faith would be stronger, too, if every time [he] faced adversity, and angel from God showed up to tell [him] what to do.”

The fact remains, sometimes God seems to be silent.

I believe that God still speaks audibly but sometimes it seems like He is silent.

When we don’t hear what we want to hear from God, we begin to doubt

You may be doing your best to believe that God has a purpose for your adversity and He hasn’t forgotten about you or left you alone.

But the doubts come. Maybe there is no God. Maybe He is not interested in my problem.

Slowly faith erodes.

Questions

All of this raises two basic questions:

What in the world is God up to when we are hurting and need to hear from Him so desperately?

What are we to do in the meantime?

“The answers to these questions are indispensable if we are to deal successfully with adversity. As long as we are in a fog about God’s whereabouts and His response to our situation, there will always be room for doubt. But reassurance of His involvement alone is not enough. We need direction as well.”

Let’s attempt to answer these questions by looking at the life of Joseph. Found in (13 chapters) Genesis 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50

Try to put yourself in the position of Joseph. He was forced to deal with the silence of God in his situation too.

trouble started as teenager

his father’s favorite

Brothers were jealous

his dream made things worse

Jacob sent Joseph to Shechem to check on his brothers

He was told they went to Dothan

His brothers saw him coming and plotted his death

They stripped him and threw him in a pit — then they had some dinner

You might would expect some divine intervention at this point

Joseph sat alone in the pit

The brothers got to feeling guilty or maybe more like didn’t want Joseph’s blood on their hands.

They ended up selling Joseph to Ishmaelite traders

He became a slave as spent many endless nights walking the way to Egypt.

How many nights to he look into the sky and see the stars and pondered the stories of his great-grandfather and how God had spoken to him?

The Bible doesn’t say it, but did he wonder why God wasn’t speaking to him now?

The Bible also doesn’t say that God gave him a word, or sent an angel to comfort him.

You all know the story of how Joseph would be sold to Potiphar

Potiphar had found himself quite a catch. Joseph was worth every bit of money Potiphar spent on him.

Genesis 39:6 “So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man,”

If we left it right there we would think that everything worked out just fine and miss the whole story.

Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph because he was a good looking young man

But Joseph honored God and did not want to sin against him by having a sexual relationship with another man’s wife

He got accused of rape and thrown in prison

This was not Joseph’s fault. The adversity that he was facing was all the result of others.

But even there, in prison, God gave favor to Joseph.

This is the point where we might question what in the world is that all about?

How in the world did Joseph have favor?

He was in prison after all

He was falsely accused

He was rejected by his family

He was thrown into a pit and left for dead

He was mistreated, abused, and accused

He got no visitors, no family, no one seemed to care

If this is favor, no thanks

But God was in no way absent from the situation

What seemed like a let down was just a set up

They ended up putting Joseph in charge in the prison

He overheard a conversation with the baker and cupbearer

They both had dreams and told them what their dreams meant

God was putting Joseph into the places where he could do the most good (even if it didn’t seem like it in the natural)

Joseph told the men what their dreams meant and the baker was going to be killed but the cupbearer would be restored.

He asked the cupbearer to not forget about him when he did get restored

You know what happened, The cupbearer got restored and he forgot all about Joseph. Gee thanks!

Maybe you feel like this sometimes — It looked like God abandoned Joseph and that may be what you are thinking has happened to you.

I love this story that Dr. Stanley retells in his book:

Dr. W.A. Criswell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, tells a story about a family he went to visit years ago when the oil business was booming. This particular family lived in an area where oil companies were buying the oil rights to people’s property left and right. Throughout the area families were becoming wealthy overnight as oil was discovered on their property. When Dr. Criswell drove up to this particular family’s property, he noticed a peculiar thing, however. there were no oil wells. On the land adjoining their property there were several wells pumping away, but not a single one on the property of the family he came to visit.

He was greeted at the door by a very dejected-looking woman whom he assumed correctly to be the lady of the house. Her husband came in, offered Dr. Criswell a seat, and told his “sad” tale. “Pastor,” he said, “God has forgotten us. You see, about a year ago oil was found in this area. Engineers came in and assured everyone in our community that eventually we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams. Well, we saw this as the hand of God. A few weeks later crews came in and began digging around on property all over this area. Wells sprung up everywhere. We knew it was just a matter of time until they would begin digging on our property. But it never happened. Dr. Criswell, God overlooked us. They discovered oil on both sides of our property and even on the property behind us—but not a drop on our land. Our neighbors are selling their homes and moving into the city, and we are left out here alone.”

Back to Joseph…

Joseph must have felt all alone in that dungeon

he might have even felt betrayed

did the cupbearer not tell Pharaoh on purpose?

Two years went by. There is a lot of wondering that can happen in two years

Genesis 41:1–8 NLT

Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up. But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.

What would you have said to Pharaoh?

Let’s make a deal?

Joseph’s response lacked bitterness!

No anger…

He didn’t talk about all the wrongs that had been done to him

He gave what God had given to him — an answer for Pharaoh

Pharaoh was pleased and gave Joseph position—he made him second in command

“What happened, however, was much more fantastic than anything Joseph could have ever hoped for. Joseph did not know that God was setting the stage for a key move in His plan to bring salvation to the world. For God had decided to rear His chosen people, through whom the Messiah would later come, as slaves to a pagan nation. Then my miraculously freeing them from a world-renowned power, He would demonstrate to every nation that He was the only true and living God. Along with that, His people would have a heritage of faith and a picture of what the Messiah would one day do for every nation.”

This all happened because God accomplished His plans through one man—Joseph

He was the key player

“God’s silence is in no way indicative of His activity or involvement in our lives.”

“He may be silent, but He is not still.”

We wrongly assume that if we don’t hear anything then God is not doing anything

We judge by what we see

We are guilty of judging God

He is involved!

God uses adversity to accomplish His will in our lives.

What do I do in the meantime?

Simple but not easy — Trust God

We cannot take the risk of taking things into our own hands, we are not that capable.

Two passages that help us and remind us to keep showing up:

Acts 3:1–6 “Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!””

Joshua 6:3 “You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.”

Joshua 6:10 ““Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!””

God knows what is best - His vision is perfect

You may not understand your situation and I don’t know that Joseph did either

“When God is silent, you have only one reasonable option—trust Him; hang in there; wait on Him. He may be quiet, but He has not quit on you.”

Back at the Ranch

Let’s find out what happened to the family who had no oil on their land.

“A few years later, Dr. Criswell ran into the father of that family. He was smiling from ear to ear. Dr. Criswell assumed they had finally found oil on his property. “Quite the contrary,” the man replied. “They never found any oil, and I am glad of it.” This certainly took the pastor by surprise. “The strangest thing happened,” he continued. “All our neighbors moved to the city and bought expensive houses and new cars. They sent their kids to the finest schools. Most of them joined country clubs. But before too long that lifestyle began to take its toll. One by one their marriages started breaking up. Their kids rebelled. We don’t know of any that are still attending church on a regular basis. Pastor, God did us a big favor by not putting any oil on our land. We are still together and love each other like never before. We thank Him every day for giving us what is important and protecting us from the things that aren’t.”

God did not forget that family but it took some time for them to understand

God hasn’t forgotten about you either

He may be silent but He is not still

Let’s pray and as I do feel free to come and talk with God yourself. The altars are a safe place to meet with Him.