When God Seems Silent

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Sep 28, 2014 - Read the Story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in John 11. Vs. 17, “On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazar
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When God Seems Silent When  God  Seems   Silent    

Dr. Brandon Park | September 28, 2014

       We’ve  all  had  seasons  in  our  life  when  we’ve  asked  God  for  something,  but  He  just  wouldn’t  do  it.    IIt   t   seems  when  God  is  silent  that  He  is  contradicting  His  word  that  says  He  promises  to  hear  us. s.   een…          When  it  comes  to  prayer,  there  have  been  times  when  we’ve  felt  that  God  has  been… Inattentive   • Inattentive Uncooperative   • Uncooperative Late   • Late     ______________.”   We  sometimes  are  tempted  to  falsely  think:  “If  God  is  ____________ ____________,  He  m ust  be  ______________.” ____________,            Today  we’re  going  to  examine  the  stories  of  three  individuals  in  the  New  Testament  who  all  felt  like   God  was  silent  and  we’re  going  to  write  down  some  lessons  we  can  learn  from  their  experiences.      

I.  When  God  Seems  Silent,  We  Feel  That  He  is  _________________ ________________  

         Herod  Antipas  married  Herodius  –  a  woman  who  wanted  John  the  Baptist  to  be  executed  because   he  was  preaching  about  her  sin.                Read  Mark  6:17-­‐20.     John  knew  that  Jesus  was  healing  people,  and  doing  all  kinds  of  s igns  and  wonders  for  strangers  but   He  wasn’t  doing  anything  for  his  own  cousin.    John  was  having  s econd  thoughts  about  Jesus.     Matthew  11:2-­‐3,  “When  John  heard  in  prison  heard  what  the  Messiah  was  doing,  he  sent  his  disciples   to  ask  him  ‘Are  you  the  one  who  was  to  come,  or  should  we  expect  someone  else?”              Isn’t  it  interesting  that  when  our  circumstances  take  a  sudden  change,  how  that  impacts  our   confidence  in  God.    It’s  important  to  understand  that  there’s  something  very  self-­‐centered  about   losing  our  faith  in  God  when  our  c ircumstances  go  bad.                When  YOU  go  through  a  hard  time,  I  ____________.    When  I  go  though  a  hard  time,  I   _______________.    I  lose  faith  when  God  is  inattentive  to  MY  happiness,  not  yours.            Why  does  that  happen?    Because  in  a  season  of  pain,  or  turmoil,  or  when  life  is  really  difficult  –  we   tend  to  shrink  down  to  the  size  of  us.    John  the  Baptist’s  world  was  now  no  bigger  than  his  prison  c ell   and  he  begins  to  doubt.     Matthew  11:4,  “Jesus  r eplied,  “Go  b ack  and  r eport  to  John  what  you  __________  and  ___________.”          Jesus  tells  them,  “You  need  to  go  back  and  report  the  activity  of  God  that  is  happening  outside  of   his  prison  cell.”     Matthew  11:5,  “The  blind  receive  sight,  the  lame  walk,  those  who  have  leprosy  are  cleansed,  the  deaf   hear,  the  dead  are  r aised,  and  the  good  news  is  proclaimed  to  the  p oor.”     Matthew  11:6,  “Blessed  is  a nyone  who  does  not  stumble  on  account  of  me.”  (vs.  6)            WORD  STUDY:  “Stumble”  =  fall  away,  fall  out,  lose  their  faith  –  because  of  Christ’s  activity  or   inactivity  in  their  life.            John  the  Baptist  was  going  to  be  in  prison  regardless  of  how  much  faith  he  had.    He  was  going  to  be   in  prison  regardless  of  how  obedient  he  had  been.     Your  personal  circumstances  do  not  necessarily  coincide  with  how  God  ____________  about  you.            Don’t  make  the  mistake  of  letting  your  faith  hinge  upon  what  God  has  done  for  you  lately.     What  do  we  do  when  G od  is  inattentive?     1. You  look  back  and  _______________________   2. You  look  outside  your  circumstances  and  ___________________    

II.  When  God  Seems  Silent,  We  Feel  that  He  is  ________________  

         God’s  lack  of  cooperation  is  not  an  argument  for  or  against  His  existence.    (If  a  lack  of  cooperation   proved  that  someone  didn’t  exist  –  there  would  be  seasons  of  my  life  where  I  would  believe  my   children  didn’t  exist!)  

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       Paul  had  been  serving  Christ  faithfully  for  20  years.    However,  soon  after  Paul  became  a  Christ-­‐      follower,   he  became  afflicted  with  some  sort  of  physical  health  issue.    He  felt  like  his  health  issue  was  

an  obstacle  to  the  very  thing  that  God  had  called  him  to  do.    So  he  began  to  ask  God  to  remove  it,  but   God  repeatedly  told  him,  “No.”                You  might  be  here  today  and  you’re  tempted  to  think,  “God  doesn’t  hear  my  prayers…  God’s   forgotten  about  me.    He  doesn’t  even  know  I  exist.”  There  is  no  other  human  man  that  God  used  more   than  the  Apostle  Paul  –  and  yet  God  said  to  him  “No.”  But  God  promised  him  something  else  in  return.                  2  Corinthians  12:7b-­‐9  “Therefore,  in  o rder  to  keep  me  from  becoming  conceited,  I  was  given  a  thorn   in  my  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan,  to  torment  me.    Three  times  I  pleaded  with  the  Lord  to  take  it  away   from  me.    But  He  said  to  me,  ‘My  grace  is  sufficient  for  you…”            Grace  in  this  c ontext  is  simply  the  ability  to  be  able  to  put  one  foot  in  front  of  the  other.    It’s  the   ability  to  get  up  and  to  get  through  another  day.    Grace  is  a  God-­‐given  ability  to  give  you  the  energy   and  the  strength  to  keep  moving  in  the  direction  that  God’s  told  you  to  move.            Vs.  9b,  “for  my  power  is  made  perfect  in  your  weakness.”    We  want  God  to  leverage  His  glory  out  of   our  strengths  and  talents,  not  our  weaknesses.         God  is  going  to  showcase  His  _________________  in  your  weakness  if  you  will  learn  to  take   “______”  for  an  answer.    His  strength  in  your  weakness  is  evidence  of  His  presence  in  y our  life.            Vs.  9,  “Therefore,  I  will  b oast  a ll  the  more  gladly  about  my  weaknesses,  so  that  Christ’s  power  may   rest  on  me.”    (WORD  STUDY:  “Rest”  =  dwell,  take  up  residence  upon  me.            Vs.  10,  “That  is  why,  for  Christ’s  sake,  I  delight  in  weaknesses,  insults,  in  hardships,  in  persecutions,   in  difficulties.  For  when  I  am  weak,  then  I  am  strong.”     THINGS  TO  KEEP  IN  MIND:     1. We  have  permission  to  ask  God  to  remove  our  __________________.   2. God  has  ________________________  to  say  “No.”   3. God  may  choose  to  ________________________  His  power  on  the  stage  of  our   weaknesses.   4. You  can’t  experience  G od’s  sustaining  grace  while  ______________________  His  will.   5. Sustaining  grace  begins  with:  “Not  my  will,  but  ________  _________  _____  _________.”    

III.  When  God  Seems  Silent  We  Feel  That  He  is  ______________.  

         At  some  point  in  time,  we’ve  all  asked  this  question:  “Why  doesn’t  God  do  something  about  THAT?”     Read  the  Story  of  Mary,  Martha,  and  Lazarus  in  John  11              Vs.  17,  “On  h is  arrival,  Jesus  found  that  Lazarus  had  already  been  in  the  tomb  for  four  d ays.”   Four  days  was  important  because  in  the  ancient  world,  they  believed  that  after  a  person’s  death,  their   spirit  would  hover  over  the  dead  body  for  three  days.  And  when  the  face  began  to  change  (rigor  mortis   was  setting  in),  they  believed  that  after  3  days  the  spirit  would  leave  because  there  would  be  no  hope   of  it  ever  re-­‐inhabiting  that  body.    So  Jesus  arrives  4  days  after  Lazarus’  death  (to  prove  that  even  in   their  superstitious  ways  of  thinking  –  there  was  no  hope).     Vs.  33,  “When  Jesus  saw  her  weeping,  and  the  Jews  who  had  come  along  with  her  also  weeping,  he   was  d eeply  moved  in  spirit  a nd  troubled.    Where  have  you  laid  him?”  he  asked.  “Come  and  see,  Lord,”   they  replied.”            Jesus  paused  (knowing  exactly  what  was  about  to  happen  and  exactly  how  the  story  would  end)  and   John  says  that  “Jesus  wept.”  (John  11:35)    It  was  as  if  He  was  saying,  “I’m  not  too  big  to  understand  the   pain  that  you  are  experiencing.”            Vs.  38-­‐40,  “Jesus,  o nce  more  d eeply  moved,  came  to  the  tomb.    It  was  a  cave  with  a  stone  laid  across   the  entrance.    “Take  away  the  stone,”  he  said.  “But  Lord,”  said  Martha,  the  sister  of  the  dead  man,  “by   this  time  there  is  a  bad  odor,  for  he  h as  been  there  four  days.”  Then  Jesus  said,  “Did  I  not  tell  you  that  if   you  believe,  you  will  see  the  glory  o f  God?”            Vs.  43-­‐44,  “When  h e  had  said  this,  Jesus  called  in  a  loud  voice,  “Lazarus,  come  out!”  The  dead  man   came  out,  his  h ands  a nd  feet  wrapped  with  strips  of  linen,  and  a  cloth  around  h is  face.    Jesus  said  to   them,  “Take  off  the  grave  clothes  a nd  let  him  g o.”            If  you  continue  to  believe  and  trust  in  God  during  the  silent  times,  you  will  eventually  see  the  glory   of  God.      

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When God Seems Silent When  God  Seems   Silent    

Dr. Brandon Park | September 28, 2014

       We’ve  all  had  seasons  in  our  life  when  we’ve  asked  God  for  something,  but  He  just  wouldn’t  do  it.    IIt   t   seems  when  God  is  silent  that  He  is  contradicting  His  word  that  says  He  promises  to  hear  us. s.   een…          When  it  comes  to  prayer,  there  have  been  times  when  we’ve  felt  that  God  has  been… Inattentive   • Inattentive Uncooperative   • Uncooperative Late   • Late     silent absent ______________.”   We  sometimes  are  tempted  to  falsely  think:  “If  God  is  ____________ ____________,   ____________,   He  m ust  be  ______________.”          Today  we’re  going  to  examine  the  stories  of  three  individuals  in  the  New  Testament  who  all  felt  like   God  was  silent  and  we’re  going  to  write  down  some  lessons  we  can  learn  from  their  experiences.      

I.  When  God  Seems  Silent,  We  Feel  That  He  is  _________________ ________________   Inattentive

         Herod  Antipas  married  Herodius  –  a  woman  who  wanted  John  the  Baptist  to  be  executed  because   he  was  preaching  about  her  sin.                Read  Mark  6:17-­‐20.     John  knew  that  Jesus  was  healing  people,  and  doing  all  kinds  of  s igns  and  wonders  for  strangers  but   He  wasn’t  doing  anything  for  his  own  cousin.    John  was  having  s econd  thoughts  about  Jesus.     Matthew  11:2-­‐3,  “When  John  heard  in  prison  heard  what  the  Messiah  was  doing,  he  sent  his  disciples   to  ask  him  ‘Are  you  the  one  who  was  to  come,  or  should  we  expect  someone  else?”              Isn’t  it  interesting  that  when  our  circumstances  take  a  sudden  change,  how  that  impacts  our   confidence  in  God.    It’s  important  to  understand  that  there’s  something  very  self-­‐centered  about   losing  our  faith  in  God  when  our  c ircumstances  go  bad.     pray            When  YOU  go  through  a  hard  time,  I  ____________.    When  I  go  though  a  hard  time,  I   doubt _______________.    I  lose  faith  when  God  is  inattentive  to  MY  happiness,  not  yours.            Why  does  that  happen?    Because  in  a  season  of  pain,  or  turmoil,  or  when  life  is  really  difficult  –  we   tend  to  shrink  down  to  the  size  of  us.    John  the  Baptist’s  world  was  now  no  bigger  than  his  prison  c ell   and  he  begins  to  doubt.     Matthew  11:4,  “Jesus  r eplied,  “Go  b ack  and  r eport  to  John  what  you  __________   hear and  ___________.”   see        Jesus  tells  them,  “You  need  to  go  back  and  report  the  activity  of  God  that  is  happening  outside  of   his  prison  cell.”     Matthew  11:5,  “The  blind  receive  sight,  the  lame  walk,  those  who  have  leprosy  are  cleansed,  the  deaf   hear,  the  dead  are  r aised,  and  the  good  news  is  proclaimed  to  the  p oor.”     Matthew  11:6,  “Blessed  is  a nyone  who  does  not  stumble  on  account  of  me.”  (vs.  6)            WORD  STUDY:  “Stumble”  =  fall  away,  fall  out,  lose  their  faith  –  because  of  Christ’s  activity  or   inactivity  in  their  life.            John  the  Baptist  was  going  to  be  in  prison  regardless  of  how  much  faith  he  had.    He  was  going  to  be   in  prison  regardless  of  how  obedient  he  had  been.     feel Your  personal  circumstances  do  not  necessarily  coincide  with  how  God  ____________   about  you.            Don’t  make  the  mistake  of  letting  your  faith  hinge  upon  what  God  has  done  for  you  lately.     What  do  we  do  when  G od  is  inattentive?     remember 1. You  look  back  and  _______________________   reflect 2. You  look  outside  your  circumstances  and  ___________________    

II.  When  God  Seems  Silent,  We  Feel  that  He  is  ________________   Uncooperative

         God’s  lack  of  cooperation  is  not  an  argument  for  or  against  His  existence.    (If  a  lack  of  cooperation   proved  that  someone  didn’t  exist  –  there  would  be  seasons  of  my  life  where  I  would  believe  my   children  didn’t  exist!)  

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       Paul  had  been  serving  Christ  faithfully  for  20  years.    However,  soon  after  Paul  became  a  Christ-­‐      follower,   he  became  afflicted  with  some  sort  of  physical  health  issue.    He  felt  like  his  health  issue  was  

an  obstacle  to  the  very  thing  that  God  had  called  him  to  do.    So  he  began  to  ask  God  to  remove  it,  but   God  repeatedly  told  him,  “No.”                You  might  be  here  today  and  you’re  tempted  to  think,  “God  doesn’t  hear  my  prayers…  God’s   forgotten  about  me.    He  doesn’t  even  know  I  exist.”  There  is  no  other  human  man  that  God  used  more   than  the  Apostle  Paul  –  and  yet  God  said  to  him  “No.”  But  God  promised  him  something  else  in  return.                  2  Corinthians  12:7b-­‐9  “Therefore,  in  o rder  to  keep  me  from  becoming  conceited,  I  was  given  a  thorn   in  my  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan,  to  torment  me.    Three  times  I  pleaded  with  the  Lord  to  take  it  away   from  me.    But  He  said  to  me,  ‘My  grace  is  sufficient  for  you…”            Grace  in  this  c ontext  is  simply  the  ability  to  be  able  to  put  one  foot  in  front  of  the  other.    It’s  the   ability  to  get  up  and  to  get  through  another  day.    Grace  is  a  God-­‐given  ability  to  give  you  the  energy   and  the  strength  to  keep  moving  in  the  direction  that  God’s  told  you  to  move.            Vs.  9b,  “for  my  power  is  made  perfect  in  your  weakness.”    We  want  God  to  leverage  His  glory  out  of   our  strengths  and  talents,  not  our  weaknesses.         God  is  going  to  showcase  His  _________________   in  your  weakness  if  you  will  learn  to  take   strength “______”   no for  an  answer.    His  strength  in  your  weakness  is  evidence  of  His  presence  in  your  life.            Vs.  9,  “Therefore,  I  will  b oast  a ll  the  more  gladly  about  my  weaknesses,  so  that  Christ’s  power  may   rest  on  me.”    (WORD  STUDY:  “Rest”  =  dwell,  take  up  residence  upon  me.            Vs.  10,  “That  is  why,  for  Christ’s  sake,  I  delight  in  weaknesses,  insults,  in  hardships,  in  persecutions,   in  difficulties.  For  when  I  am  weak,  then  I  am  strong.”     THINGS  TO  KEEP  IN  MIND:     thorns 1. We  have  permission  to  ask  God  to  remove  our  __________________.   2. God  has  ________________________   to  say  “No.”   permission 3. God  may  choose  to  ________________________   His  power  on  the  stage  of  our   showcase weaknesses.   4. You  can’t  experience  G od’s  sustaining  grace  while  ______________________   His  will.   resisting 5. Sustaining  grace  begins  with:  “Not  my  will,  but  ________   ____  _________.”   your _________   will _be done  

III.  When  God  Seems  Silent  We  Feel  That  He  is  ______________.   Late

         At  some  point  in  time,  we’ve  all  asked  this  question:  “Why  doesn’t  God  do  something  about  THAT?”     Read  the  Story  of  Mary,  Martha,  and  Lazarus  in  John  11              Vs.  17,  “On  h is  arrival,  Jesus  found  that  Lazarus  had  already  been  in  the  tomb  for  four  d ays.”   Four  days  was  important  because  in  the  ancient  world,  they  believed  that  after  a  person’s  death,  their   spirit  would  hover  over  the  dead  body  for  three  days.  And  when  the  face  began  to  change  (rigor  mortis   was  setting  in),  they  believed  that  after  3  days  the  spirit  would  leave  because  there  would  be  no  hope   of  it  ever  re-­‐inhabiting  that  body.    So  Jesus  arrives  4  days  after  Lazarus’  death  (to  prove  that  even  in   their  superstitious  ways  of  thinking  –  there  was  no  hope).     Vs.  33,  “When  Jesus  saw  her  weeping,  and  the  Jews  who  had  come  along  with  her  also  weeping,  he   was  d eeply  moved  in  spirit  a nd  troubled.    Where  have  you  laid  him?”  he  asked.  “Come  and  see,  Lord,”   they  replied.”            Jesus  paused  (knowing  exactly  what  was  about  to  happen  and  exactly  how  the  story  would  end)  and   John  says  that  “Jesus  wept.”  (John  11:35)    It  was  as  if  He  was  saying,  “I’m  not  too  big  to  understand  the   pain  that  you  are  experiencing.”            Vs.  38-­‐40,  “Jesus,  o nce  more  d eeply  moved,  came  to  the  tomb.    It  was  a  cave  with  a  stone  laid  across   the  entrance.    “Take  away  the  stone,”  he  said.  “But  Lord,”  said  Martha,  the  sister  of  the  dead  man,  “by   this  time  there  is  a  bad  odor,  for  he  h as  been  there  four  days.”  Then  Jesus  said,  “Did  I  not  tell  you  that  if   you  believe,  you  will  see  the  glory  o f  God?”            Vs.  43-­‐44,  “When  h e  had  said  this,  Jesus  called  in  a  loud  voice,  “Lazarus,  come  out!”  The  dead  man   came  out,  his  h ands  a nd  feet  wrapped  with  strips  of  linen,  and  a  cloth  around  h is  face.    Jesus  said  to   them,  “Take  off  the  grave  clothes  a nd  let  him  g o.”            If  you  continue  to  believe  and  trust  in  God  during  the  silent  times,  you  will  eventually  see  the  glory   of  God.