When God is silent he is not still...

This past week our pastor spoke about prayer and the times when God seems unresponsive to our pleas and cries for help...

If you are foggy on the issue of Gods seeming unresponsiveness to your prayers i encourage you to read on! It sure shed some light on the issue for me!





When Prayer Doesn't Seem to Work

Let's explore a little deeper the apparent silence or unresponsiveness of God to our prayers. First, I concede the wonderful reality that many of our prayers do get answered just as they were presented to God. When I said in Sunday's message that we really don't have much to show for our prayers I realize that is not altogether true. From one perspective we have much to show from our praying. If we chose to focus our attention on the many times God did answer our cries to him we would not be short on things to celebrate. He has done many wonderful things for those of us who call him Father. That clearly is the major note in scripture and perhaps even in our own life story as well. But there is this other perspective, maybe best described as the minor note, whereby it appears to us at times that our prayers carry very little weight. That's when it seems we have little to show for our efforts in prayer. Often enough we are left to think there must be a glitch in our attempts to communicate with God. We pray and nothing happens, things remain the same. God appears silent and unresponsive. After a while we begin to find the words of the Psalmist in our own pleas. Words like "why", "how long", "when" become our dominant vocabulary. In fact, for people that really do spend a good amount of time in prayer, these words are common. Its not all "hallelujahs" for anyone experienced in language of prayer. At times God appears unmoved by even our desperate pleas. In these exasperating times we will find ourselves wondering if God has "hidden" from us (Psalm 10:1), "forgotten" us (Psalm 13:1), "forsaken" us (Psalm 22:1-2), or "rejected" us. With the Psalmist we may even boldly cry out "Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself"! It appears God has fallen asleep and is completely unaware of our need. What are we to make of these times? They are very real! How do they affect our understanding of prayer? Without taking away from all the times prayer seems to work in our relationship with God, I want to address those times when it doesn't. 

Let's do some trouble shooting to figure out if there is a cause to our ineffective prayers. Is it a technical glitch? Do we simply need a new lexicon for our prayer vocabulary? Are we just using the wrong words? Is it because our arguments are weak and unpersuasive? Is there not enough Scripture being used in our talking with God? Do we need to amp up the level of intensity and display a little more desperation? Does God only cave in to our requests when we are "tapping out". Is he really that kind of reluctant being that has to be coaxed into action with the perfect formula or technique? I think not! That sums up the nature of a pagan deity in the ancient world but not the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He knows what we need even before we ask (Matt. 6:7-8).

Is God simply wanting to string me along in order to prove my genuineness and seriousness? Is that the message behind the story Jesus told of the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8)? I don't think so. Persistence does have value at many levels but it doesn't push all of our prayers over the line into the "answered" column. Many of our repeated prayers continue to go unanswered. Our determination has been clearly demonstrated but God hasn't budged. God isn't withholding his action until he sees we won't take no for an answer.

That being said, I am not suggesting we don't keep at it when God hasn't given our requests. Some prayers do eventually get answered with the passing of time. We shouldn't be quick to lose heart and give up. We know that God is in complete and absolute control of everything. He is the script writer for all things big and small. And he has devised wonderful ways and perfect timing for how this plan of his comes into being. It may very well be the case that there simply isn't alignment yet between our petition and the workings of our sovereign God. When this is at play his apparent "no" is really a "not yet". So hang in there. Our prayers do play a vital role. Like John the Baptist they "prepare the way of the Lord". 

In Sunday's message I tried to offer you a couple of solutions to God's apparent silence and unresponsiveness to your prayers. For starters, he is not in a hurry. He knows the end from the beginning and is in complete control of everything in the universe. Not even the thoughts and actions of "free" creatures such as ourselves pose any threat to his all wise and all powerful governance. He is never vulnerable and his purposes are never at risk. He has nothing to lose. Such a person as this enjoys total security and has no need to ever be in a hurry. Its only the fearful that get in a hurry. That would be us. We are in a rush to make things happen so we don't miss out. We live in a hurry in order to get beyond our fears. From our limited perspective there is a "chance" that we could miss out and its that chance that pressures us to be in a hurry. God isn't controlled by this kind of chance or possibility. He isn't moved by what could happen because he knows everything that will happen! God's silence and present unresponsiveness to your prayers could be owing to the fact that he sees everything that you can't see and because of that he is not anxious to answer your under informed request. You may be in a hurry but he isn't. He knows better!

I suggested a second reason why God may not give us what we ask for in prayer. He loves us way too much to give us what we think we need. When he appears silent and unresponsive he is not. God is always answering his children when they address him in prayer. If he isn't telling us "not yet" as mentioned before then he is telling us "no". He is doing this in order that he might say "yes" to what he knows to be the very best for us. Often he leaves us in the most difficult situations in order to make us the kind of people we long to be. From our vantage point suffering robs us of life. When we experience suffering of any kind we want out. God sees it differently. Difficulty, hardship, and suffering have a way of producing in us a genuine strength. One who experienced more than his fair share of trying circumstances found such times to be incredibly beneficial. The apostle Paul wrote, "we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope" (Rom 5:3-4). The times when God doesn't immediately rescue us in response to our desperate cries, he is making us spiritually fit. He is developing within us "perseverance, character, and hope". He is making us people with staying power, people that maintain godly commitments when its not easy. He is working in us godly courage for the present and unshakable confidence for the future. Knowing this, we can not only accept the tough times, we can have joy in the midst of them. 

As I look over my own life, I am so thankful God didn't submit to my many cries for immediate rescue and deliverance. He loved me way too much. Instead, he left me in the trial. With the passing of time it proved to be his mercy in disguise. Any drip of courage I have today was absorbed during those times when God was seemingly absent. Any ounce of integrity I possess to stay the course for the long haul was produced in me during those very same trials. Ironically, the thing I thought would take me out if I wasn't soon rescued became for me the very thing that enables me to stand. When God is silent he is not still. He is making you into the image of Jesus. 

I Love you 

David

David Posey is one of the pastors at River Oaks Community Church in St Augustine, FL http://www.riveroakscc.org/calendar/google