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Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg When God Seems Silent
When God Seems Silent: “Are you listening? Is there sin?”
What should I do when God appears not to be speaking? The truth is that God always desires to speak to us, if we “have ears to hear.”
There were times in history when God was literally silent, we believe on this side of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ he is never actually silent today.
He longs to speak to us, and he does that through many different ways.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”-The Hebrew word ‘seek’ means to seek with a purpose, to seek with the expressed intention of finding. This is not aimless wandering.
-What happens when we seek Him like that (verse 13)?
-First, we seek Him. The very act of seeking Him compounds: it leads to more seeking. Active listening produces listening and more listening.
-Second, we will find Him. Seeking Him leads to finding Him. Active listening produces hearing.
To seek Him with desperation means obstacles must be overcome. Sometimes we cannot hear His voice because something is blocking the connection: sin.
Psalms 66:16-20
Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
This incredible truth causes us to be humbled and hopeful.
-What is humbling? You could be seeking the Lord, but because of sin in your heart, you could also be totally missing what God is trying to say to you, in spite of His efforts to speak.
-What is hopeful? When we confess our sin and turn to the Lord, He forgives us. Our connection to God is restored.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Bottom Line:
If we are serious about seeking the Lord, we will be serious about confessing our sin.
Verses for further study & reflection:
Luke 18:1-8
Psalm 19:1
Romans 1:20
1 Kings 19:12
Isaiah 59:1-2
Psalm 28:1
The three Key Actions in Pursuit of God
Listening
John 10:27-2827
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Revelation 3:20
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Seeking
Matthew 7:7-87
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
James 4:8a
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Waiting
Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heartand wait for the Lord.