The Silent Treatment of God pt 2
Then at three o'clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
Psalm 22:1-2 (NLT)
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Everyday I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but find no relief.
Have these words ever crossed your mind? Have you ever cried out and felt like you were not being heard? This brings me to part 2 of "The Silent Treatment of God"
I believe we've all experienced the silent treatment of God at some point in our walk with Him, but the key is figuring out why He's silent and what to do IN THE SILENCE.
I want to share with you some points that I've learned while walking in the silence myself.
First things first, we must understand God is sovereign and it is He Who runs the show, not us. He is our Creator and even though He has given us the gift of free will He is still God. When God is silent after we have sought Him for answers the first thing to do is a self check up. This is to make sure that there are no UNCONFESSED SINS in our lives. He will be silent unless we repent and deal with our sins. No matter how anointed we are, and no matter how many gifts we have God will never overlook His demand for holiness...Selah
The Lord and sin cannot dwell in the same place. When Jesus was on the cross the sins of the world was laid upon Him. God the Father turned His back, for He could not stand the sight of the sin that was laid upon our Savior. This caused the Lord Himself Who is the Son of God to feel that His Father had forsaken Him. It will be the same with us, so we have to be careful that the silent treatment is not because sin is what God see when He looks at us. When we ask with a pure heart, the Holy Spirit will show us the areas that we have fallen short in, so that we can repent and get back in line with the Lord.
There are times when God is silent because we may might not be ready to hear what He has to say. If we are not careful we could miss the mark, and become blinded by our own lust. We can be deceived into thinking that God will bless our mess, so we'll pray and ask God to bless our endeavors. In these times we will not hear anything.
The Lord will not put His stamp of approval on anything that goes against His will for our lives.
If He speaks you won't hear Him say anything other than stop doing what you're doing and repent. God knows when we're ready to come out of bondage, and He is faithful to snatch us out of the hands of the enemy.
Another reason God is silent is, there could be instructions He gave you that You have not yet obeyed. We can't look for Him to give us the next step until we have followed the first step.This is a faith walk, and there will be times when God will tell you to do things that will go against your human reasoning, but we mess up every time when we lean to our own understanding. Walking by faith there will always be unanswered questions, but we have to trust that we serve a God Who knows more than we do.
Now that we know some of the reasons that God will give us the silent treatment let's find out what to do while walking IN THE SILENCE.
In the silence He teaches us to place our trust in Him. The question becomes can you truly trust Him when it's seems that there is no direction? Can you trust Him when you don't see change? Sometimes the value of our relationship is tested. This is the time where He shows us whether or not we're really in this for the sake of truly loving Him for Who He is, or for what He does for us. Our Father wants a relationship with us that is based on intimacy and not condition. We can't treat God like He's a genie that is at our beck and call. He answers as He wills and He has that right.
In His silence He teaches us how to distinguish His voice from other voices. There are many voices that we hear on a daily basis, but it's the voice of God that leads us in the way that we should go. He trains our ear in the silence, the bible says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27)
In His silence there is preparation. There are things that God is about to bring us into that require us to wait on Him and His timing. Rest assure that we will be put in situations where there will be NO OTHER help but God, and the temptation to act without His permission will be great. He knows His children can sometimes become anxious, and start trying to make things happen on their own instead of trusting that He has everything under control. This is where our faith is tested; this is where all that we've personally heard Him say to us has to become the rock that we stand on. This is where we have a choice to follow the promise, or follow our own human reasoning. This is where we learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord. He wants us to know that even in His silence we serve a God that darkness is as light to Him. He can see! His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways. They are higher! Thank you Jesus!
Walking in the silence of God there will be a temptation to go ahead of Him, and there will be a temptation to put words in His mouth. Be careful of this and know that God will never violate His Word, nor will He change His mind concerning your obedience.
In closing, I want to encourage you that WHEN you are experiencing the silence of God keep praying, keep fasting,and keep studying His word. Remember His silence DOES NOT MEAN HE IS NOT ACTIVE!
Respond to the silence by expecting Him to move
Respect the Lord's right to be silent, and get into His word.
Here are some scriptures that you can start with Psalms 62, 37, 34, and 35. These scriptures will help you get through the process.
When you read the Holy Spirit on the inside of you Who knows what you need will give you just enough strength to stay on the path that God has set for you.
Be encouraged
God bless you
Prophetess Shaquita Jones
Comments