Are You There?

Matthew 27:45–46 ESV

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

As believers, it is no secret that we’re going to face test, trials, and obstacles. It is an unmistakable part of our Christian journey that inevitably something will come along that will cause us to wonder where is God? Not only that but in our humanity sometimes we have to ask ourselves what do I do when God just isn’t acting like God? How do I handle life when the only thing I need to hear is God’s voice and He’s silent? How do I keep the faith when it seems like God isn’t working on my behalf? How do I keep going when it feels like God is far away? For the few moments I’ve been given I want to talk to you from the topic: “Are you there?” Anybody that knows me, knows that I enjoy preaching on the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s one of the few moments that we get to see the full deity and humanity of Jesus on display at one time. At this particular point you’re looking at one of the last statements that Jesus would say before He would lay down His life. In this moment, Jesus is asking, begging, and pleading God why have you left me here? Why have you turned your back on me? Father, are you there? Are you listening to me? Jesus in His loneliness and in His struggle was asking a question that I’m sure many of us are asking in the age of quarantine and the bringing to light of systemic racism God, are you there? Do you hear me? Do you see what I’m going through? Do you see my struggle?

I have to first let you know that silence does not equal abandonment. Ultimately our immediate reaction is to think that we’ve done something wrong to think that somehow we’ve messed up in this journey and so God is not speaking to us. God is silent because we’ve had some flaw in our character. However, let me take a second and pose a question to you. What if God is being silent because of your posture/position? Let me take you to the story of Job. God doesn’t speak to Job from almost the middle of the book until Chapter 38 which is near the end and when God does speak He offers insight into His silence. Job’s so called friends were keeping Him from experiencing intimate relationship with God and keeping Him from hearing the voice of God in the season of affliction. So, I have to ask you...are the people connected to you keeping you from God? Is what you’re feeding your spirit drowning out the voice of God? Oh, I know it can get hard to hear in the midst of a pandemic when you’re waiting on a government to get their facts straight so you know how to go about your daily routines, it can get hard to hear when you turn on the news every other day and you see that another black life has been taken due to the stain of racism, it can get hard to hear when bills are piling up and you’re having to figure out which one you can go without paying. It’s easy in the midst of all the noise to miss the voice of God and it leaves you wondering where are you God? What about the promises you made me? What about the door you promised to open? What about you saying that I would be the head and not the tail? God do you hear me? I have been saying all of 2020 that this is the year when God is calling us back to real faith. Real relationship with Him that not only causes us to get closer to Him but allows us to get to know Him better. We have become so accustomed to some form of cookie cutter Christianity where it is okay to never pray or it is okay to pray as an afterthought and if you don’t dedicate time to reading your Bible everyday it’s alright because God will understand that you are busy. But, now in the midst of a pandemic and a world divided by the pains of systemic racism we find ourselves crying out WHERE IS GOD? All the while He has been saying come closer but we have allowed the noise of the world, the noise of our friends, the noise of our day to day life to place a muzzle on God and His will and plan for our life.

The second thing I have to let you know is that silence is sometimes necessary. Sometimes it may seem like God is far away and you can’t hear Him because He is calling you to another level or because He is allowing you to feel the pressure so that your purpose can be birthed out. It is hard to serve, it is hard to follow, it is hard to trust Him when you can’t trace Him but did you know that the best wines are produced when the vines are stressed or when they are under pressure. So when you feel like you are being stretched, when you feel like God is far away, and the pressure is being intensified, God is not trying to kill you, He’s not trying to break you, He’s just producing new wine. No you are not in trouble you are just in transition. I am under pressure, yes, but the pressure is birthing me into my next season. But what do I do? How do I handle it when God just continues to seem so far away? Let me take you to the story of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas when they were arrested and placed in prison were actually put in something that was closer to a hole that was dug under the prison rather than a traditional jail cell. I can imagine that as they were being marched into this prison they couldn’t sense God but you know they say distance makes the heart grow fonder and so they just began to think about all the stuff God had done. They began to think about how His mercies are new every morning, they began to think about all the times that He had brought them out and then the more they began to think about it, I am sure that they began to thank Him. So, the distance began to produce a praise inside of them because even though they couldn’t see His hand in that moment, they had evidence that He had done it before and if He did it before He will do it again but that’s not the best part. Lean in just a little bit closer, as they started to go down into this pit, as they got beneath the prison, I can imagine that the further they went down the further away God felt but they didn’t allow distance or silence to get them out of character. They just kept on praising, The further they went down the praise that they had already been giving became amplified and the next thing they knew it was midnight and everybody got free. What are you saying brother preacher? I am saying that even when I can’t see His hand , even when I can’t feel Him, I have His track record and so I know that the silence is getting ready to produce.

The last thing I want to let you know, and I am closing with this, is that sometimes silence is a precursor to victory. If we look at Joshua and the children of Israel at Jericho in Joshua chapter 6, we see that ultimately God had given them everything they needed to be successful in this fight and He did not need to speak to them during the process because the fight had already been fixed. I gotta flip the switch from earlier in my sermon and tell somebody to stop waiting on God to tell you where to go when He has already given you the all the instructions and paved the way. Stop asking God for a sign when He has already given you 20. How much more obvious can He get. Yes, He is there but He has to be silent and you have to follow instructions to get to the victory that has already been secured. Why does He have to be silent? Because He is seeing whether or not you can follow instructions prior to elevation. How can He give you the desires of your heart if you’re not willing to listen to His will for your life?

I’m finished, I gotta get out of here before y’all don’t let me come back but before I go. I just have to let somebody know that yeah God is there. Not only is He there but He sees and He hears. He knows every trial, He knows every struggle, He knows every problem, and He has the solutions. I know that for a minute it seemed like corona would keep us locked in, I know that it seems like we will never see the triumph of black people but I came to tell somebody that just as we have seen Him lead the children of Israel out of captivity, just as we have seen Him deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the fiery furnace, just as we have seen Him heal the woman with the issue of blood, just as we have seen Him send His son to die on a cross, we are getting ready to see Him like never before. I know we may not hear Him but I have seen enough examples and I have had enough experiences to know that even when I can’t trace Him, I can trust Him. Even when I can’t see Him, I can still have faith. Why? Because the fight is fixed. Lift up your head O’ ye gates and be ye opened you ancient doors and the king of glory shall come in who is this king? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Be not dismayed, whatever be tied, be not dismayed in the face of corona, be not dismayed in the face of adversity, be not dismayed in the midst of the noise because God will take care of you. YES, God is there and not only is He there but He is fighting for you.