Navigating the Wilderness
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Silence from Heaven
Silence from Heaven
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
King David said:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
BUT....
Psalm 42:5–6 (NRSV)
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help
6 and my God.
Sometimes in our lives, it can seem like Heaven is locked against us… like God has given up on us, and stopped listening… The silence from God can be so heavy that it is almost visible…
We cry out to God… we seek Him for answers… but it seems like He is so far away…
In these times… when we experience the silence… our souls become downcast and discouragement sets in…
We begin to ask: “Why, O Lord, Why?”
— Why am I still poor?
— Why am I barren and unfruitful?
— Why am I still suffering from sin… from hurt… from.....?
— What did I do to deserve this?!
— Why do I suffer, while the wicked prosper?
— Why, Why, Why?
Pastor Bruce Hadley, wrote this in his daily journal:
“Good morning Lord! Help me understand why, at times, there seems to be silence from you? Lord, I talk and talk, and I seem not to be hearing from You. I know I have Your Word, and I trust and believe it. But, Lord, sometimes, I need to feel, to experience Your presence in my life.”
Have you ever felt that way?
Have you ever wondered, where is God’s presence in my life?
You felt lost and confused,… discouraged… and asked:
“Where are you Lord?”
I’ve had times like this… I’ve felt out of sync… lost… and confused… I’ve had to ask: “Where are you Lord? I don’t feel your presence in my life.”
I’ve been praying… reading my Bible… doing the Christian thing… trying to move forward… trying to grow spiritually… trying to follow You with all that I am… and do Your will… To lead your people… But…
I seem to be in a “dry place”… in a valley spiritually… I can’t seem to hear You… Are you here?
Have you ever felt that way?
Can I tell you — We are not alone in this!
You are not the only Christian who has ever experienced this!!!
You are not the first person to ask:
Where are you, Lord?!
God has given us one word to describe these times:
Wilderness
(“Ok Lord… but… What is that?”)
You do know that the “Christian walk” is a journey… amen?
As we walk the Christian walk… as we participate in this journey… we will have moments of Joy… moments of Happiness… Moments of Victory… where we are left feeling like we can move mountains because God is with us!!!
We’ve talked about this… these are the “mountaintop moments”…
Then there are the times when we face sorrow… trouble… sadness… burdens… trials and tribulations…
Moments where we feel we have to overcome hurdle after hurdle…
These moments leave us feeling hard pressed to keep walking in Faith.
Wilderness moments will happen!
— Jesus was led into the Wilderness before beginning His ministry…
— Paul, after his Damascus road experience, spent several years in the wilderness before making his way to Jerusalem and beginning his ministry…
But… Here’s the thing about both the pleasant times… the moments of Joy and Victory… and the Wilderness moments… the times of trial and tribulation in our lives — Most of the time… in those moments… we feel engaged!
— We feel our faith activated!
— We are either “basking in the victory” in the presence of the Lord, or… In times of trial and tribulation…
— We are relying on the Lord’s strength… trusting that He will see us through it!
BUT… What about those times when there’s just silence… stillness?
What about when we don’t hear God?!
You see.... In those times there is no lack of trials and tribulations… BUT, there are no victories to revel in either…
There is just a feeling of stillness and quietness from Heaven… You don’t “feel” the presence of God… You don’t “hear” His voice… It’s just quiet…
And… in that stillness… You begin to feel like you’ve been left alone… cut off… and deserted by God.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say… I’m not alone in this… I’m not alone in sometimes feeling the Lord’s silence in my life… and how it gnaws at me.
I’m sure that many of you have experienced the same thing.... Some of us might be experiencing that right now....
These times… these moments are what we call “wilderness experiences”.
The “wilderness experience” is where we presume God’s absence in our lives.
We feel like He is not with us.
— Can I just stop and tell you this… Just because we presume something, doesn’t make it true!
BUT…
We are NOT alone in this!
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
King David KNEW the Lord INTIMATELY… BUT… He felt the absence of God in his life… He felt deserted… He felt the silence!
Habbakkuk…
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
Job…
35 O that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Many people have experienced the same thing....
When we are in a spiritual “wilderness,” God feels far away… distant… absent… and unresponsive… faith feels empty and uncertain… we feel alone… vulnerable… lost… and unprotected.
Why does God allow us to go through these “wilderness experiences”? Why does He let us suffer through times when we do not “feel” His presence?
Because it serves a purpose.
46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In that moment… as Jesus hung on that Cross… as He took the sins of the world — our sins — upon Himself… He experienced the silence of being separated from God… and He cried out “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”
That cry, was the cry of a son… left completely alone to bear the sin of the world… in order for God to bring redemption to the world through His blood…
Why was God silent?
God was silent for a good purpose.
— God’s silence may not be because of sin… But… it may be to achieve a greater purpose in our lives!
We must trust God to know what He is doing within us…
— Even David and many other men of God in the Bible, felt cut off from God… they felt the absence of God’s presence in their lives… they felt God’s silence in their lives… They suffered from the feeling of being deserted by God!
HOWEVER… What we do not see… is their cutting off communication with the Lord!
They never stopped talking to God!
— What we see is them telling God just exactly how they felt!!!
— We find them holding on to their faith in God!
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
Look at Job: (after losing children, wealth, health, friends, even his spouse… and while sitting in a pile of ash, covered from head to toe with filth)
Job 13:15 (NIV)
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
The Prophet Habakkuk:
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
It is in the wilderness that the reality of our relationship with God is proven!
I’ve been married to my beautiful wife for 25 years this year!
— If you’ve ever been in a real relationship… you know that there are times when things appear to have gone silent… dry… and maybe even stale…
— These are the times when you begin questioning your commitment and loyalty to the relationship… An example is what we call the “7 year itch”…
Relationships go through stages…
— the initiation stage… (engaging in meeting)
— the bliss stage… (she agreed to go out!)
— the discovery stage… (getting to know each other)
— the integration stage… (falling in love)
— the bonding stage… (moving towards marriage...living together, as one)
— the stagnation stage… (things get mundane)
— working through problems… (dedication to the relationship is key)
— and the list goes on…
Here’s the point…
Once you’ve gone through these stages… once you’ve dealt with the relationship questions… then you come to understand your companion and relationship…
Then comes a stage of silence… staleness… and seeming distance… a “wilderness experience”.
The “wilderness stage” tests your true commitment and loyalty to the relationship.
It is the “wilderness stage” that often ends marriages…
You see… it raises questions:
— Do I abandon the relationship in search of another? (after all, it seems like we just “fell out of love” with each other)
— Do I lose hope?
— Do I just give up?
— or… Do I seek to reconnect? Do I seek to find out if there is something I can do to mend the silence… the disconnect… the staleness?
Do I seek God in those times?!
What we decide in those times will determine how we emerge from the Wilderness!!! (You do realize that if you are lost in the wilderness… if you walk in any one direction, you will eventually emerge from the wilderness… )
— God allows us to walk through the wilderness, because He wants our faith in Him to grow!
God uses the “Wilderness” to help us grow in our Faith!
In the Wilderness, David and the other men and women of the God engaged in being honest with their feelings with God… They talked with Him about how they felt like He had forgotten them… that He had abandoned them… about their feelings of isolation and the lack of direction…
Whatever your feelings, God can take it!
— He knows them already…
Prayer is never about giving God new information — it is about inviting Him into the discussion.
When God seems silent… seems not to be present… we MUST do what the faithful men and women of the Bible did… We must cry out to the Lord… and let Him know what we feel.
1 To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not refuse to hear me, for if you are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
Let me tell you:
The enemy wants you to think … and believe… that God has abandoned you… He doesn’t want to hear from you… that God isn’t interested in you…
The enemy wants us to rely on the experience of our “feelings” to sense the presence of God…
And, guess what?!
Far too many of us operate just as the enemy wants us to… We rely on the “sensation of our feelings to experience the presence of God.”
— Relying on our “feelings” … our emotions… to gauge God’s presence in our lives is useless.... AND it’s dangerous!
— Following emotions and feelings can be disastrous!
Our FAITH must be in the reliability and faithfulness of God… not what we feel or sense.
Think about this:
When we measure time, weight, temperature, or speed, we don’t trust our feelings or intuition, we rely on the instruments… the tools… that measure those things!
Think about this.... If you were boarding a plane, and you met the pilot, and you asked him if it was going to be a good flight, and he answers: “Why yes… it’s going to be great! I’ve got a “gut feeling” about it! You see… I don’t fly by the instruments, I fly by “feeling”, and I know it’s going to be great!”
What would you do?
Most of us would run the other direction! Why?!
Because, It’s a matter of life and death!
The same is true in our walk with God!
The stakes are far too high for us to rely on our feelings, or circumstances to guess the spiritual reality of our situation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Let me tell you:
Even in the wilderness, God is there!
He has not abandoned you!
God enters the wilderness with us…
God was there with Daniel… Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… Isaiah… Job… Jesus… Paul…
Unlike what many believe… The Wilderness is not a punishment… It is a time of growth!
God uses the wilderness experiences to refine us… to grow us… to prove our faith… The wilderness doesn’t evade God’s presence… it is a place to grow us spiritually, and to strengthen our FAITH in Him.
— It’s not about “feelings” … It’s about FAITH!
Even when it seems like God is not speaking — God is never silent.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;
All of creation proves God’s existence.
God speaks… not only through His Word… but also through His world!
— What we call God’s silence may actually be our inability… or in some cases… our unwillingness to hear Him.
So… What do we do when we feel we can’t hear God?
— We keep showing up… We keep opening His Word… We keep praying…
— We keep looking at what He has already said… and done… for us…
mt 6:33
33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
It’s about keeping our FAITH!
Where do we truly put our trust… our FAITH?
Have you ever considered that?
(object lesson)
“Wilderness experiences”… are guaranteed!
How we respond matters!
We must endure… in Faith!
God never leaves us alone in the wilderness, He is there!
Look back at our examples:
— David lost his son...
— Isaiah begged God to kill him…
— Job lost his wealth, his kids, his profession… he suffered disease… sitting in ashes… his wife cursing him…
— Jesus suffered the torture of separation from the Father…
Yet.... they ALL said, “Not my will, but Your’s, Lord!”
God uses the Wilderness for His good purposes.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
God strengthens our FAITH — through the Wilderness Experiences.
— If our faith is based on our lack of struggles… or presence of Joy… or in our own abilities and knowledge… or in our “feelings”… then it is a faith that is built on a foundation of sand!
Such a faith is only one diagnosis or phone call away from collapsing.
Token Faith will not survive the dark nights.
Detecting God’s presence is more than a sensation or feeling…
It is Trusting with all my heart… it is not leaning on my own understanding… But … Knowing… Knowing that His presence is a FACT… and that He WILL direct my path! (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Faith is KNOWING, that He will never LEAVE me nor FORSAKE me.
Faith is KNOWING that God has already spoken His Word...
— He has already PROVIDED a way…
— He has already PROMISED His Love and Grace… and Provision…
— He will NEVER leave us…
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
1 See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
God is with you in that Fire!