Times And Seasons 3 Series

What to Do in a Season of Silence

PPT 1 Series Title

This is the third and final week of our series on seasons

We have been using Ecclesiastes 3 as our launching point for the series, that passage simply states that there are a lot of different seasons in life, and though you may not believe it, God makes each one beautiful.

PPT 2 Stages of life of the Monarch Butterfly

The Monarch is a thing of beauty as an egg, as a caterpillar, as a cocoon, and as a butterfly.

I want to remind you of something I said in week 1:

Pruning often takes place just before winter. Taking that example and applying it to us we see we are cut and then left to convalesce in a time of little fruit, and we have to deal with the normal trials that a winter season brings.

We get cut then we enter a season of silence.

PPT 3 Message title: What to do in a season of silence

1Sa 3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare...

Ecclesiastes 3 lists many of the different seasons of life, for example here are a few:

PPT 4 Text:

Ec 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Ec 3:7 A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; A time to be silent, and a time to speak.

Those seasons are polar opposites. I think that sometimes that is also the reality of life, and life can have some very extreme swings.

This morning I want to talk about a season that all Christians go through, and it is for most, one of the most difficult trials there is, the season of silence. That is the exact situation the bible is describing when the prophet Samuel comes on the seen. In those days the word of the Lord was rare...

In some senses that should never be true for us because we have the bible and because we have the Holy Spirit (If you are a believer), yet in reality everyone can relate to a season where it seems like God is not speaking to them.

Ecclesiastes says there is a time to be silent, so this morning I want to give some advice and encouragement if that is describing your situation right now.

1. Cooperate with the season

PPT 5 Text

Ac 26:14 "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' (NAS)

Ac 26:14 We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: 'Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?' (MSG)

You can begin to turn the hurt of a season of silence around, when you begin to cooperate with it. Stop trying to swim against the current. Stop trying to be like Paul and go against the grain. What do I mean by that? What I simply mean is that if you feel God is not speaking to you perhaps it is a season not for Him to speak louder, but for you to learn to listen better. You can learn to do that by asking questions?

But you say, "I am not hearing God speak, what good will it do for me to ask questions?"

The good that it will do is several fold. First, by that by doing so you are saying to God, I will cooperate with the season. Secondly it will help you to redouble your efforts to hear better, more on that in a minute.

Here are a couple of good questions to ask in a season of silence:

What are you preparing me for in this season? What are you trying to put in me?

Endurance, faithfulness? Faithfulness is staying true no matter the season you are in.

What are you pruning out of me of in this season? What are you trying to take out of me?

Fickleness? An attitude that is only interested in the sensational? If you only hear when God shouts it is an indication that you are partially deaf.

This should be your resolve in a season of silence:

I may not like this season, but I am going to get something out of it.

PPT 6 Pin drop

Remember the old phone commercials, service was so good you can hear a pin drop? It takes focus to hear a pin drop. Focus may be what God is trying to get out of you. Concentration, learning to ignore all the ambient sounds, and all the other voices clamoring for our attention.