[FONT="]When God is Silent
Most Christians have periods of intense fellowship with the Lord punctuated by periods of relative (or complete) silence. While the periods of fellowship can be sweet, the silent times can be bitter for many. That is not what God wants, but it is often our reaction to a period of relative silence from God.
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[FONT="]Think about the Disciples of Jesus. They were used to daily interaction with Him for nearly three and a half years. Every day they heard Jesus teach and witnessed His miracles. They experienced two notable periods of silence stemming from the absence of the Lord. The first was for the three days Jesus was in the tomb. Jesus was gone-- dead. He had told them He would be killed yet be resurrected. They failed to grasp what that meant. Following His death they basically went into hiding for fear of the Jews. I can just imagine the taunting they endured from the devil: “He is dead. What are you going to do now? They are going to kill you too. Who did you think that was anyway? That couldn’t be the Messiah. They could never kill the real Messiah. Where is that kingdom He kept talking about?” The Disciples didn’t do real well with this short period of absence and silence. In fact they didn’t even believe the report of the women who found the empty tomb. Christ had told them He would be resurrected on the third day but they did not remember and so were surprised by His reappearance.
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[FONT="]The second absence was following Jesus’ ascension until the Day of Pentecost. They had been told to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). They faithfully did this. They prayerfully gathered together with a company of believers and waited. The Lord poured out His Spirit and the church was born. The Disciples went forth and boldly proclaimed the Word of God and the world was turned upside down.
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[FONT="]God’s periods of silence are times of testing for Christians. He wants to know whether we will be faithful to the last thing He has told us. It is easy to trust God when He is evidently present. We all love to be in The Presence. We all love to experience the power and glory of God. It gets harder when God withdraws. This is when we will be proven. This is when our faith either is built stronger and holds or crumbles and fails.
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[FONT="]Jesus, in Luke 18:8 asks the question “When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” That is what much of Matthew 25 is about. Jesus speaks two parables about being faithful while waiting. The first is about the virgins keeping oil in their lamps. The second is about servants receiving talents, each according to his ability. After a long while the master returned and each servant gave an account of what his talents had produced. The master was not pleased with the servant who had fearfully done nothing with the one talent he had been given. He was pleased with the servants who had produced fruit with what they had been given.
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[FONT="]God is saying to be faithful with the last thing He has given you. Whether it is big or small, do that thing until He comes to you and gives you the next thing. God initially gives us small things to test us. When He is satisfied with our test results He will give us a bigger thing. And so it goes. Our walk is a walk of tests and rewards. Greater tests produce greater rewards. Greater rewards produce greater warfare. The enemy will always try to knock us off course for God. We always have to keep that in mind as well. Active Christians will constantly receive pushback from the enemy. But dormant Christians are vulnerable as well. The enemy will circle them with taunts trying to drive them into self-pity, depression, bitterness, and anger at God.
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[FONT="]So if you haven’t heard from God in a while continue to be faithful to what you know to do: pray, praise, read Scripture. Never get into the pit of self-pity or even anger at God for seemingly deserting you. He hasn’t. He never loses sight of any one of His children. He may be quiet but He is still on the throne. He may seem to be gone but He is coming again. When He returns will He find faith in you? - written by John Ryan[/FONT]
Most Christians have periods of intense fellowship with the Lord punctuated by periods of relative (or complete) silence. While the periods of fellowship can be sweet, the silent times can be bitter for many. That is not what God wants, but it is often our reaction to a period of relative silence from God.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Think about the Disciples of Jesus. They were used to daily interaction with Him for nearly three and a half years. Every day they heard Jesus teach and witnessed His miracles. They experienced two notable periods of silence stemming from the absence of the Lord. The first was for the three days Jesus was in the tomb. Jesus was gone-- dead. He had told them He would be killed yet be resurrected. They failed to grasp what that meant. Following His death they basically went into hiding for fear of the Jews. I can just imagine the taunting they endured from the devil: “He is dead. What are you going to do now? They are going to kill you too. Who did you think that was anyway? That couldn’t be the Messiah. They could never kill the real Messiah. Where is that kingdom He kept talking about?” The Disciples didn’t do real well with this short period of absence and silence. In fact they didn’t even believe the report of the women who found the empty tomb. Christ had told them He would be resurrected on the third day but they did not remember and so were surprised by His reappearance.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The second absence was following Jesus’ ascension until the Day of Pentecost. They had been told to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). They faithfully did this. They prayerfully gathered together with a company of believers and waited. The Lord poured out His Spirit and the church was born. The Disciples went forth and boldly proclaimed the Word of God and the world was turned upside down.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]God’s periods of silence are times of testing for Christians. He wants to know whether we will be faithful to the last thing He has told us. It is easy to trust God when He is evidently present. We all love to be in The Presence. We all love to experience the power and glory of God. It gets harder when God withdraws. This is when we will be proven. This is when our faith either is built stronger and holds or crumbles and fails.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Jesus, in Luke 18:8 asks the question “When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” That is what much of Matthew 25 is about. Jesus speaks two parables about being faithful while waiting. The first is about the virgins keeping oil in their lamps. The second is about servants receiving talents, each according to his ability. After a long while the master returned and each servant gave an account of what his talents had produced. The master was not pleased with the servant who had fearfully done nothing with the one talent he had been given. He was pleased with the servants who had produced fruit with what they had been given.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]God is saying to be faithful with the last thing He has given you. Whether it is big or small, do that thing until He comes to you and gives you the next thing. God initially gives us small things to test us. When He is satisfied with our test results He will give us a bigger thing. And so it goes. Our walk is a walk of tests and rewards. Greater tests produce greater rewards. Greater rewards produce greater warfare. The enemy will always try to knock us off course for God. We always have to keep that in mind as well. Active Christians will constantly receive pushback from the enemy. But dormant Christians are vulnerable as well. The enemy will circle them with taunts trying to drive them into self-pity, depression, bitterness, and anger at God.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]So if you haven’t heard from God in a while continue to be faithful to what you know to do: pray, praise, read Scripture. Never get into the pit of self-pity or even anger at God for seemingly deserting you. He hasn’t. He never loses sight of any one of His children. He may be quiet but He is still on the throne. He may seem to be gone but He is coming again. When He returns will He find faith in you? - written by John Ryan[/FONT]