ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED?

¹ O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
² How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?

Psalm 13, verses 1 and 2; from the New Living Translation

Have you ever been disappointed? With others? Sure! With yourself? Absolutely!!! But let’s dig a bit deeper this morning and answer me this: Have you ever been disappointed with God? Now, don’t be afraid to answer my question honestly. No one is listening to your thoughts. Have you ever been disappointed with God? Don’t deceive yourself, or be afraid that if God hears your honest answer He will be disappointed with you. And if it helps you to be honest, David was called a man after God’s own heart; by none other than God, Himself. And he was disappointed with God.

No one knows for sure what prompted David to write this song. It may have been after King Saul tried to kill him. Maybe it was after his son Absalom led that coup` that resulted in David fleeing for his life. But the circumstance really doesn’t matter. Point is, David felt disappointed with God. And your circumstances really don’t matter. Sometimes life happens in a way that results in us feeling like God has abandoned us; even though we’ve been faithful to Him. Your spouse left you. The cancer didn’t go away. The prodigal didn’t come home. The job wasn’t given to you. And pastors, the church announced you weren’t needed anymore. And if your a United Methodist, our leaders continue to lead with apostasy and heresy.

Causes don’t really make a difference when we are disappointed with God. But I want you to spend this day thinking about the disciples of Jesus–at a particular moment. And that moment is Friday evening. You know–that Friday evening after the death of Jesus on that cross. And it’s easy to see why they must have been disappointed. For 3 years they had followed Him, listened to Him (though not completely), watched Him. Surely He must have been The Messiah. But Friday happened. John’s description to the others about how Jesus looked on that Cross must have been appalling to them. From all appearances, life had crashed in a thunderous BOOM! Not the way they thought it would work out. Disappointed would have mildly described how they felt. Maybe you, too.

But life goes on. Ever really noticed that? Life goes on? Then next day was. . . Saturday! But Jesus was still dead. All day long on that Saturday, Jesus was in that tomb! And life went on. It’s a good thing that life went on for them. Because the day after Saturday was, you guessed it, SUNDAY! And Jesus was alive–The Conqueror of Death. And though they didn’t quite grasp it all that Sunday–they came to understand. That Sunday turned their disappointment into great joy and hope–and better yet, it gave them their message.

And can He do the same thing when you are disappointed, even with God? You bet He can! Yes, He can! Better still, He does!

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OH, LORD! IT’S MONDAY! THE ISSUE OF NOISE

How well do you handle noise, loud noise? Most of the time we don’t like loud noises, especially when we aren’t expecting them. But what about “silence”; How Well Do You Handle Silence? What happens when we come face to face with silence? Truth be told, most of us are better at handling the noise than the silence. Yet, without frequent moments of silence, Mondays become a day of dread and distress.

This morning I woke up to a light snow on the ground. Here in west-central Alabama, it’s an unusual thing–about like some college team other than the SEC winning the College Football National Championship. I know, that was ugly of me! And as I went outside for my morning worship–it was the silence that overtook me. No early morning work traffic. No strong winds blowing, no thunder, no lightning–just silence. It reminded me of Elijah at Mt. Horeb in 1 Kings chapter 19.

It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 

1 Kings 19:11-12 (NLT)

It was then I could hear just a gentle breeze. It was so powerful, that I didn’t need any of my morning music to experience God’s loving presence. I invited The Holy Spirit to sit with me on the bench–and the two of us hardly said a word. We took in the silence, and I found myself renewed and energized for the day. So back to my second question: How well do you handle silence?

Fighting against that Monday morning attitude is an everyday battle. And it’s a battle we will lose–unless we have frequent moments of silence with God. Just invite Him to sit with you for a while. It doesn’t take an hour or two or three. It only takes a few moments–if you are seeking His Presence. Once you know in the silence the Holy Presence–keep sitting there for a few minutes longer. Don’t get up too quickly. The soft breezes might be carrying a message custom made just for you.

When we seek the strength that comes in being with God in the silence–and simply enjoy who God is–then we can say: Good! Lord, It’s Monday! What Shall We Do Together?”

Silence!

Yesterday the Alabama Department Of Health challenged all Alabamians at noon to have a moment of silence for the over 12,000 (12,420 to be exact as of this morning’s Dashboard) who have died from COVID-19, their families, and healthcare workers. I wonder how many did this? I did, and I confess that as I started my moment of silence–even before it began–my mind was screaming: “Silence? Silence? You want Silence at a time we should be crying and wailing! We need to cry out–make some noise!”

And I know I heard the Holy Spirit say unto me: “Really? You think Silence is a waste of time? You’re just full of yourself, aren’t you!” Can I be honest with you? There are some occasions when I absolutely “dislike” it when the Holy Spirit speaks to me–and He’s right! Yesterday was definitely one of those occasions; He was right! But then, is the Holy Spirit ever wrong? Apparently some think so; but I know better!

There is such a boisterous cacophony of all kinds of ideas and words (yay, even the disquietude of personal opinions) around COVID-19 and vaccines. Now that I have been silent and had a moment to set aside all thoughts, Silence has been a good thing–a VERY GOOD THING! Silence is more than getting away to a quite place without the noises of people and things. And Silence is unquestionably more than keeping our big yaps closed. We must muzzle and shush the mind–otherwise there is no SILENCE!

Think about Elijah at Mount Horeb/Sinai. It was all that clatter and hullabaloo that got him there–both from Jezebel and from himself. Elijah was suicidal. That speaks a mountain of things about listening to others, and even ourselves. God directed him to go the Mount Horeb (a.k.a. Sinai). Elijah went and God told him he was about to pass right in front of him.

There was wind–such a strong wind that rocks were blown from their secure locations. If you’ve ever been in a hurricane or near a tornado you know that there is a lot of noise in strong winds. But, nope! God ain’t there! Then an earthquake–again lots of noise. Again, God ain’t there! Then there was fire–again, lots of noise. But God ain’t there! Then–I said THEN—SILENCE! The noise of the wind, earthquake and fire was gone. There was SILENCE! How do I know that? Because God whispered! Whispers cannot be heard without some silence.

Maybe you’ve heard this saying: “Silence is golden.” It’s another one of those sayings that sounds good–but isn’t completely true. The exactitude of Silence is more than it is golden–It Is Sacred! That is, if we can keep our hearts and minds clear of the fuss and fracas of the world–and our own caterwauling!

Sounds Of Silence–Wednesday’s Wonderings 19 February 2020

(image from gravitycenter.com)

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.
(1 Kings 19:11-12

Silence!  Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.  Sometimes silence is extremely awkward.  Sometimes silence is welcomed, especially after the grandkids leave after a 2 day visit.  Sometimes silence is painful, as when someone goes home, alone, after a funeral or divorce proceeding.  But the most painful silence of all is when it seems, at least to us, that God and heaven are silent to our prayers and our needs. 

It is not only painful, but as we see in the story of Job, it is often frustrating when God not only seems to be silent, but actually is silent.  We don’t like it when God is silent and demand that God speak and speak right now.  But God doesn’t always speak out.  He chooses a time of silence.  So, how do we deal with and respond to those times when God and heaven are silent?

Elijah had remained faithful to God even though many of his fellow Israelites have turned to worshiping empty, dead gods.  Then comes the great victory at Mt. Carmel where Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a contest.  Prepare a sacrifice, one for Baal and one for the Lord God of All.  The God who answered by fire would be the God of everyone.  And we know that God answered Elijah’s prayer.

But then comes the threat from Jezebel:  “I will make you like one of my priests of Baal, dead as a door nail!”  Elijah, the man of courage and conviction at Mt. Carmel, becomes Elijah, a man filled with fear.  He runs away and wishes to die.  Yet God lets Elijah know that He, God, is not finished with him.  He goes to Mt. Horeb, anticipating a meeting and a word from God.  But when he arrives, something is wrong, or so it seems to the normal eye. 

The Lord was not in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire.  In other words, God was silent.  In all of the normally expected ways that God spoke in that day, He chose to remain silent; not a word of confirmation of His awesome presence in any shape, fashion or form.  If I had been Elijah I would have demanded:  “OK, God, you called this meeting.  You wanted to talk and I needed to hear and talk.  What’s all this silence about?”

Truth is, that God uses those times for silence for something far bigger and much better for us, even when we cannot see how His silence helps us.  I believe there are certain specific things that God teaches us individually in these times of silence.  God will reveal principles and truths that relate directly and specifically to us and where we are in life at that particular moment.  It depends on the situation what God is trying to teach us.  However, there is at least one principle that applies to us all; a single overriding truth that fits us all.  The fact is that the time of silence is the best way to discover the power and strength that wells up inside us during the times of silence.

Here is the principle:  God is trustworthy!  God does not have to move, or speak or do anything to prove that He and He alone can be trusted.  When we are silent, usually, but not always, it means we are not doing anything.  This is not true with God.  Because God can be trusted, His silence does not mean is not that He is not working on our behalf.  Truth is, God is hard at work for us, even when we can’t see or hear him; ESPECIALLY when we can’t see or hear God.

And even though God and heaven is silent, it never means that God has forgotten us.  And, it NEVER, EVER, EVER means that God has turned His back to us.  Remember the principle:  God can be trusted!  How can we be this confident that God hasn’t turned His back on us, even in the times of silence?  The answer is clearly simple:  because of the Cross!