INTRODUCTION
I am not sure about all of you, but I know that there have been some times in my life where I have cried out to God … asking Him for some kind of answer … and NOTHING!
NO response! NO answer! Just absolutely NOTHING!
SILENCE!!!
I have, at times, felt so let down … so hurt that I have prayed similar prayers to what David prayed in the verses we read!
I have cried, “God, where are you?”
I remember one night about 2 months after I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart … I got a call at about midnight from a high school friend of mine … she was in tears on the other end of the phone … she said these dreaded words, “There was an accident … they are all dead except Bill and he may not make it through the night.” I was in shock … you see, 2 weeks early I tried to witness to my good friend Bill Daly … he did not take me seriously … he honestly thought I was ‘tripping on something’ (his exact words) … That night I cried out to God … “Please, God, spare Bill … don’t let him die until he gives his life to you.”
Do you know what I heard? Nothing … except at about 6 am I received a phone call … “Bill just died.”
I was crushed … my faith was shaken … that was the 1st time I felt the SILENCE OF GOD!!!
I heard the deafening sound of THE SILENCE OF GOD for the second time … about 7 months after the 1st time … I just finished my first semester at Central Bible College … I was coming home for Christmas … about a week had passed and I received a call from the same friend of mine … I was really believing that she became the ‘angel of death’ … but she had told me that Brian Riniolo had committed suicide … he was a star quarterback in WNY … had a baseball scholarship to Canesius College … you see, about 5 months before this happened … Brian, Matt, and I used to jam together at Brian’s house in the bedroom where Brian took his own life … the last time we played together … Matt and I began to talk to Brian about the Lord … he said, “That’s awesome … I am going to really think about it.” When I heard the voice on the other end of the phone tell me that Brian killed himself I WAS CRUSHED FOR THE SECOND TIME!
I asked God, “WHY?” And do you know what I heard … “SILENCE.”
In December of 2001 … I walked into a packed Catholic Funeral for Brian Riniolo … that was one of the saddest days of my life … I the Bible College Student who should have had the answers … only heard the SILENCE OF GOD … I could not offer hope, because I NEEDED HOPE AND HEALING!!!
I thank God that I have had prayers that where answered over my 11 years of serving God … many of them I have been HUGE answers!
One of which … I was able to pray with an inmate who had AIDS … the power of the Lord came down on this guy … he was slain in the spirit got up rejoicing … Chaplain Maceo Freeman took him to the prison hospital … AIDS NO MORE … he was healed immediately!!!
However, alongside those immediate answered prayers are many other prayers which "didn’t get past the ceiling."
DID ALL THE PRAYERS OF THE GODLY MEN IN THE BIBLE GET ANSWERED?
Moses begged God to let him lead his people into the Promised Land. Moses died on Nebo’s peak, his request refused.
Paul prayed three times for the removal of that "thorn in the flesh." Instead, he was compelled to make the best of it for the rest of his life … God did not answer!
Even Jesus himself in the garden cried out for release from the cross. Instead he had to suffer the pain of it.
Young person, there are going to be times in your devotional/prayer life where you hear God’s voice, but there will also be times when you feel the SILENCE OF GOD!!!
And that is why I believe many of us really do not pray or even worship … because all too often we sense the SILENCE OF GOD!!!
Someone once said, “Non-Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will answer them. Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will not answer them.”
I want to share with you some simple thoughts on the SILENCE OF GOD!
1. WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM … KNOW
THAT HE IS ALWAYS LISTENING TO YOU
John 9:31 says that “he is ready to listen to those worship him and do his will.”
Psalm 34:15 reads, “The Lord watches over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help.”
Psalm 66:19 declares, “But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer!”
Have you ever wondered if God listens to your prayers?
Have you sometimes felt like it’s a waste of time, that the heavens are closed to your petitions?
When Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States he often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who came down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.”
It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I’m sure she had it coming."
Despite how you feel or what you might think, please be assured that God is listening.
He may be SILENT, but He is always listening!!!
2. WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM … DON’T ALWAYS
BLAME YOURSELF FOR HIS SEEMING SILENCE
Friend, I have seen a lot of teens beat themselves up … feeling like God has rejected them because they do not hear the VOICE of God!
Look into the life of David … the man “after God’s very heart” … he was always begging God to answer.
Psalm 4:1 … “Answer me, O God …”
Psalm 69:17 reads, “Don’t hide from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble.”
Psalm 13:1-3 says, “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart everyday? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!”
David was a man after the heart of God, but he even felt the SILENCE OF GOD!
But it did not mean that David had abandoned the Lord … it did not mean that David failed God!
Young person, when you feel the SILENCE OF GOD … do not beat yourself up … do not let the enemy lie to you and say that you are a wicked person … “You are God’s chosen person … He loves you!”
3. WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM … NEVER FORGET THAT HIS
ANSWER IS USUALLY FOUND IN HIS WRITTEN WORD
The Bible contains the answer to every area of your life … it is the fix all to life’s problems!
There are so many times in the life that we crave the HYPER SUPERNATURAL RESPONSES to our prayers … yes, they will come … but most often God responds to us through His Word!
John 1 teaches us that “The Word became human, and lived here on earth among us” (1:14).
That means … that IN Jesus are the answers! And where is Jesus revealed? IN The Word!
When is seems as though you are faced with THE SILENCE OF GOD … read the Word and you may just discover THE ANSWER!
Hebrews 1:1-2 reads, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son …”
God’s Son is The Word (John 1:1) … and if this is true, then God speaks to us through The Word!
4. WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM … HOLD ON
TO WHAT HE HAS ALREADY SAID
When I was a Junior in Bible College … I was faced with my 3rd encounter with THE SILENCE OF GOD … I remember coming back from our Spring Impact Missions trip to Chicago … sitting in chapel on that dreaded Monday morning … President Lednicky stepped to the pulpit and announced, “One of our students had ended their lives over Spring Break.” Matt was a friend of mine from Syracuse, NY. He was in his Sophomore year … straight A student … likeable … his sister was a freshman. Again I cried out to God … and once again I heard HIS SILENCE!
But this time … something was different … I WAS DIFFERENT!!!
Because God had spoken to me through HIS WORD … and this was the WORD God had given to me … “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
You see, I could not understand in my own mind what was going on, but I HEARD GOD SHOUT TO ME IN HIS WORD!!!
I held on to that … I was going to TRUST IN God no matter what …
Young person, when God speaks to you, HOLD ON to it … never forget the Word of God … because there will be other times when you do not hear Him … and in HIS SILENCE … you must have something to HOLD ON TO!!!
5. WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM … HANG IN THERE
BECAUSE GOD HAS THE RIGHT PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE
Jeremiah 29:11 teaches us that God has plans for our lives!
Psalm 102:17 reads, “The Lord listens to the prayers of the destitute. He will not reject their pleas.”
Many times we are asking God for things that we were never meant to have … things that are not a part of His perfect plan for our lives!
In those times, young person, IN HIS SILENCE … wait … because God has a great plan!!!
Then there are times, when you are faced with a HUGE problem … like I was in May of 1995 … when my mother was diagnosed with cancer and had to have immediate surgery … the day she told me I FELT THE SILENCE OF GOD … my mom went through the 6 hour surgery … 2 hours in recovery … 3 weeks in the hospital because of an infection … and was scheduled for radiation and chemotherapy!
I was crushed again! Feeling like God had abandoned my mom … who was never perfect … but who was always faithful and there!
The Church was praying … my family and friends were praying!
The SILENCE OF GOD was interrupted by the WORD OF GOD!
Matthew 8:8 … “Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.”
To the amazement of the doctors … NO CHEMO … NO RADIATION!
MY MOTHER WAS HEALED!!!
What was God’s plan for my mom’s cancer? That many doctors and nurses would hear about Jesus Christ and know that there is a GOD THAT ANSWERS!!!
When you feel like God is SILENT … wait … He does have the right plan!!!
CONCLUSION
There are going to be times when you are faced with the SILENCE OF GOD!
Young person, hang in there … hold on … because God is there!!!
JUST BECAUSE GOD IS SILENT DOES NOT MEAN THAT HE DOES NOT LISTEN!!!
"Prayer is the means by which men communicate with God. Revelation is the means by which God communicates with men."
Marion G. Romney
"I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."
Thomas Edison (19th/20th-century American inventor), responding to a reporter who asked how it felt to fail 2000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb
