Engaging the Silence (Bowie)

We hear about times when God comes through, don't we? But when he doesn't come through sometimes, how do we engage the silence? Johnson Bowie, at http://www.fusionatl.org/p/12081/Default.aspx, continues his "God on Mute" series with some tough questions. When we get the pink slip, the diagnosis or the bad news, we should be the people whose faith doesn't crumble. Let's tackle the question of "Where is God during the hard times?" In Matthew, Jesus says, "Be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages." Even though God was silent in the life of Joseph, He wasn't absent. Sometimes, when God seems absent, it could be because of three scenarios. 1) We don't ask. In the book of James it says, "You do not have because you do not ask." F.B. Myers said, "The greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unauthored prayer." Sometimes, though, if we ask God, we still give up. In Luke, Jesus gives a parable of a woman who makes a request to a judge incessantly and finally he answers the pleas. There is another reference in Luke 11, where Jesus assures us that our prayers are heard. We've heard that God gives 3 answers; Yes, No or Later. But what happens when God says yes, and Satan says no? In Daniel, an angel tells him that since the first day of 21 days of prayer by Daniel, God heard the prayers and sent the angel, but the angel was delayed. It wasn't because of Daniel's sin that God wasn't responding. It was because the of Satan! Satan is not more powerful than God. That's ridiculous. Satan is defeated. Maybe what it's going to take is God's people using the authority that is already in them to defeat Satan. 2) We might not be looking for God's hand. Miracles are everywhere, but sometimes we just don't see them. There's an old rabbinical tale of a couple of guys, Reuben & Shimon, who were part of the Exodus from Egypt. When Moses splits the sea, they don't even realize that the water is split. They step through the muck of the ocean complaining the whole way, but miss the fact that they just crossed through a miracle! We also have to remember "Footprints in the Sand" where God carried us through our trials. The Jews have this amazing ritual of opening up their eyes and seeing the miracles around them. For instance, there is a prayer that they say when they look to the stars. Johnson has seen people pray for money, then someone goes to them to give them some money, but they are too proud to take the money! 3) We may not be listening. Sometimes God is silent, but then again, sometimes we just don't hear Him when He is talking. There is a continuation of the story of Reuben and Shimon where God is speaking through a volcano and lightning, but they scream to God to "Stop Talking". In Psalm 81, God says to Moses, "I answered you in the secret place of thunder." In Matt 6:6, Jesus says to pray in the secret place. Johnson believes that we can pray to God virtually anywhere, BUT we can't hear Him everywhere. In I Kings 19, there is this experience by Elijah, where he'd just called down fire. But then he runs, like a weenie guy, up onto a mountain because he was being threatened by some people. Isn't that what we do sometimes? We have amazing faith one moment and the next moment, we are afraid. God told Elijah to stand on the mountain. Wind and fire pass before him, but God is not in them. It is only when it is absolutely silent that God whispers to him. God is in the silence. Johnson then asks Avery to come up and demonstrate how some of us pray to God. It is hilarious to hear Johnson praying and, each time God (Avery) tries to vocally answer, Johnson interrupts and keeps talking. Do we listen? Are WE actually putting God on mute (not vice versa)? Can we tune out the world? In September of 2007, Summer, Johnson's wife, miscarried. There was hurt, confusion and no real answer. Johnson did what many of us do with certain kinds of hurt. Last week, in a prayer shawl, Johnson brought the miscarriage issue up. God doesn't always answer, but in that moment of quiet prayer, he heard something he did not expect. He heard "He is with me and his name is Joseph." It was an answer that Johnson could accept. Johnson's first child, his son, has this really cool TV show he watches. If his parents are making too much noise, he tells them (in his 3 year old way) to be quiet. "Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God." Where are we getting the words from God? Jesus says that it is in the secret place. We have to ask, we have to look and we have to listen.

Created almost 5 years ago