Purpose: to be the Holy Spirit’s second witness calling God’s people in my care to trust in God even in times of adversity when He seems silent.
Response: individuals prompted by the Holy Spirit will accept the invitation to come forward to the altar rail and pray.
Introduction:
In the fall of 1991, Gerald Sittser and his family were returning from a weekend trip when a drunk driver, struck their minivan head-on. As a result, he lost his mother; his wife of 2O years, and a four-year-old daughter. He and his three other children escaped relatively unharmed. The following excerpts from his book A Grace Disguised (Zondervan) record some of his feelings.
My wife, Lynda, and I had a conversation once about an accident reported in our local newspaper. A station wagon with six children and their mother had skidded off the freeway and sunk in six feet of water, killing three of the six children. We both commented nervously that the problem was not simply that something bad had happened to innocent people, but that something bad had happened so randomly. We shivered with fear before the disorderliness of tragedy. If there were going to be suffering, we at least wanted reason for it, predictability to it, and preparation to endure it.
One of the worst aspects of my experience of loss has been this sense of sheer randomness. The event was completely outside my control — an “accident,” as we say. I began to look with cynicism on the absurdity of life. Maybe, I thought, there really is no God and no meaning to life. I was tormented by an inability to discover any explanation that made sense of the tragedy. An answer to the “Why?” question eluded me.
I have asked the question “Why me?” often, as many people do after suffering loss. Most of us want control of our lives. And we succeed a great deal of the time, which is due in part to the enviable powers Western civilization has put at our disposal. The possibility of so much control makes us vulnerable to deep disappointment when we lose control.
Loss deprives us of control: Cancer ravages, violence erupts, divorce devastates, unemployment frustrates, and death strikes—often with little warning. Suddenly we are forced to face our limitations squarely. We resent the intrusion, the inconvenience, the derailment. We never plan on loss.
Loss also has little to do with fairness: There is often no reason for the misery of some and the happiness of others. Our universe is hardly a safe place; it is often mean, unpredictable, and unjust, resulting in our asking the question over and over, “Why me?”
Key Question: Does God answer our questions? When we’re suffering and asking “Why me?” is God silent?
Let me start by pointing out that it is OK to ask God questions. THE BOOK OF PSALMS IS FILLED WITH QUESTIONS LIKE “WHY?” AND “HOW LONG?” Listen to just a few examples.
1. Psalm 6:3 -- My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?
2. Psalm 10:1 -- Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
3. Psalm 13:1-2 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
4. Psalm 44:23-24 -- Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
5. Psalm 88:13-14 -- But I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?
In each and every Psalm, God never answers their questions. He surely seemed silent to these songwriters.
JOB MAY HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE FIRST MEN TO WRITE DOWN HIS QUESTIONS.
Do you remember what he went through? Job had a flawless relationship with God (Job 1:1). He had a great family (Job 1:2). He was a very rich man (Job 1:3). He cared about his children and their spiritual lives (Job 1:4-5). He lost it all in one day, but at least he still had his health (Job 1:6-19). Job worshipped God (Job 1:20-22). Then he lost his health and his wife told him to curse God and die but Job still trusted God. (Job 2:1-10). Then, three “friends” came to comfort Job and accused him of committing a terrible sin. They all reasoned that God would only punish an evil person with events like Job was going through, so obviously Job was evil.
JOB ASKED WHY QUESTIONS UNTIL HE GAVE UP IN DESPAIR.
1. Job 3:11 -- "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?”
2. Job 7:20 - 21 – “If I have sinned, what have I done to you, [God]? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more."
3. Job said, “Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice” (Job 19:7).
GOD FINALLY SPEAKS TO JOB IN CHAPTERS 38-41 WITH QUESTION AFTER QUESTION ABOUT THE UNIVERSE.
1. Job 38:4-7 -- "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone -- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
2. Job 38:12-13 -- "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?”
3. Job 38:22-27 -- "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?”
4. Job 38:32-33 -- Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?”
5. Job 39:19 -- "Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?”
6. Job 39:26-27 -- "Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?”
In the four chapters recording his response to Job God doesn’t answer his questions. God was silent when he had the most obvious opportunity to answer Job’s “Why me?” question.
IN THE BIBLE RECORD, JESUS IS THE LAST PERSON TO ASK “WHY?”
Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 -- Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
And God did not reply. The only sound that could be heard was the echo of Jesus’ cry and the laughter of his foes.
“We can never fully understand the mystery of what took place on the cross, but it does offer the consolation that God is unwilling to put (us) through any test that he himself has not endured” (P. Yancey, Disappointment with God).
THE REST OF THE New Testament BRINGS A RADICAL SHIFT IN ATTITUDE TOWARD SUFFERING.
1. The authors point back to the Cross and the Empty Tomb. They never try to explain the reasons for our pain but they believed God never abandons us – even when he is silent.
2. These two events in Jesus’ life teach us two lessons.
a. First, when God seems absent He may be closest. That’s the message of the Cross.
b. When God seems dead He may be preparing a miracle. The Empty Tomb proves that suffering will not triumph.
3. In fact, the New Testament authors added a new word to the idea of suffering: TEMPORARY. Listen to how paul described the suffering of his life.
“I am hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. I do not lose heart. Though outwardly I am wasting away, yet inwardly I am being renewed day by day. For my light and momentary troubles [which include imprisonment, beatings, whippings, murder attempts, shipwrecks, starvation, hard labor and desertion by my friends – these light and momentary troubles] are achieving for me an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So I fix my eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (from 2 Corinthians 4)
Conclusion:
From cover to cover, the Bible reveals two kinds of faith.
1. One that beats suffering with miracles. Great examples of this kind of faith are found in the first part of Hebrews 11.
2. The other overcomes by perseverance. This kind of faith decides to trust God when there are no answers and no miracles. The last verses of Hebrews 11 point to this kind of faith.
We are called to have both kinds of faith but they grow in different situations. Miracle producing faith requires God’s intervention immediately if not sooner. Persevering faith needs silence.
Key Question: So, when we’re suffering and asking “Why me?” is God silent?
Thesis: Yes, in response to questions like “Why?” and “How long?” God is silent.
Application: So what can you do when God seems silent?
Next Steps:
1. Pray honestly. Tell God exactly how you feel and let his Holy Spirit comfort you.
2. Read your Bible to discover God. Discover his character traits and nature. Ask the Holy Spirit to make himself real to you through His Word.
3. Focus on the Cross and the Empty Tomb.
Responding to God:
Please stand if you are able.
Bow your heads and close your eyes so you can focus your attention on God’s Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you to keep on trusting God no matter what you’re going through today. If God seems silent keep reaching out to him. Keep on seeking him. Remember Jesus on the Cross and know that God understands what you are feeling. Think about the power of the Empty Tomb and realize that God will not allow your pain to be the final word.
Please feel free to come to the altar rail to pray. There is no better place to tell God how much you miss him.
