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When God Is
Silent
By Andy Zoppelt
Song 1:3
His name is like ointment poured forth
Do you remember when you received that revelation
about God and from God? You can point to the highlights of your walk
with God based on those times of revelation. Yet they seem to flee so
quickly. The revelation carried you for days. You thought at that time
that you made the final link between you and God. You said in your
heart "This revelation is the answer I've been seeking for a long
time." You felt a sense of security, a sense of being connected. Your
confidence and faith was at an all time high. Your future was secure
and you were confident that you would never go back to the old ways
again. You basked in His presence. your worship and adoration flowed
like a river. your commitment and obedience was then made easy. God
was so close. You had arrived to adulthood, a spiritual giant: you
were a mature and seasoned saint.
Song 5:6
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself,
Then one morning you woke up and you felt
disjointed, distant, discouraged, disillusioned and disappointed.
Everything seemed different. Where did that life go? Your prayers
seemed to bounce off the ceiling; judgment seemed to follow every act
of disobedience; praise was only an exercise of your will. Silence
gripped your hollow soul like cancer, eating away any sense of God's
presence. You faced closed doors, unforeseen bills, obstacles and
hindrances to your blessings, while others seem to be flowing in
blessing and success. You perceived the word filled with false hope
and judgment. You wrestled with your reasoning until you were flooded
with criticism and doubt. The road back to God only seemed to be an
exercise in religious futility. "Why me!" Your catalogue of sin only
seemed to justify God's right to silence. Self-hatred mixed with a
longing to please the Lord perplexed and frustrated your power to
chose.
Rom 7:15, 24 "For that which
I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would
like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate…..Wretched man that I
am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"
Song 2:15 "Take us the foxes,
the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender
grapes." (KJV)
we often lose the big battles because we were
unwilling to fight the little ones.
Song 3:6
Who is this that comes out of the wilderness
When all truly comes to an end, then you will know
that "time" was meant to develop patience, frustration to develop
simple faith, self- hatred to culminate a love for others and finally
a turn from the naturally-dependent life to a spiritually-dependent
life. This metamorphosis comes from losing your life for the sake of
His and the renewing of your mind with a constant focus on Him.
Where did that life you received in the revelation
come from in the first place? Did it come from the truth of the
revelation? Was it in the expelling of ignorance and deception? Why
was revelation given and then seemed to lose its effectiveness? "Is it
I?" "What have I done?" "I must have caused this emptiness and
silence." "I feel a sense of hopelessly falling away." Your desperate
tear-covered prayers are not able to return you to that place that you
lost.
Song 5:6 "I opened to my
beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul
failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called
him, but he gave me no answer." (KJV)
Silence is devastating and mutilating. It
incapacitates you and squeezes you like a vise. It causes you to
wonder if God really spoke at all. Yet you can't stop praying; you
have nowhere and no one else to turn. You feel that somehow God will
sympathize with your pain and break through the clouds of despair and
deliver you. "If He loved me, wouldn't He deliver me?" Years go by and
it causes you to wonder. Oh, if you could only find the answer, if
only you knew how to please Him and end this longing. In your heart
you know that there is nothing more that you want than to please Him.
Yet your mind and feelings seem to be your worst enemy in your pursuit
of Him. You find yourself a victim to your own destructive reasoning.
The more you reason the more you fall into a sense of hopelessness.
Has God closed the book on your life? You begin to deduce and
therefore reduce your relationship with God. "Surely God is good and
Christ is my substitute." "If life and blessing have been removed from
me, then surely God has left me. He must be finished with me." There
seems to be no end to this pit in which you have fallen. "Who am I
that God should look down at me?" The curtain falls……..there is no
answer, there is no voice, there is no one………..there is no hope.
Time plays its eroding role and erodes every
contrivance (plans and schemes) of your soul. Ministry was going to be
the path to feed your ego; blessing was going to fulfill your lust and
desires for contentment; obedience was going to make you happy and
blessed; prayer was going to make you accepted; preaching was going to
make you popular. shall I go on? Can't you see that you have been
scheming with God and not seeing God. You have been religious
expecting God to minister to your hidden agendas. Repentance and
losing your life have only been words without commitment. You
passively lose the battle in hopes that God's pity will make up for
your lack of obedience. You cry for the things you long for, but still
there is that silence. The fire is out, the revelation that was going
to lift you into the next tier is useless now. How long will you spin
your wheels going nowhere with God?
Today if you are willing to hear His voice……
He wants y o u…..
Song 6:3
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine:
let us go back to that question that we posed in
the beginning: "Where did the life come from in the first place?"
The life was in the words, but was not the words.
The life was in the one who gave the words. He is
greater than true words. He is the word. You must embrace Him and
His word. He did not want you to have an answer, but life. He did
not want us to be secure, but faithful. He gave us the word that we
might learn that man does not live by bread alone (his opinions,
desires, goals, natural visible provision), but that we should cling
and stand on every word that comes from the mouth of God. We should
use his covenant word especially in the mornings of disillusionment.
Jesus stayed connected to the Father through His
words. the Father's word was his sword that He used to slay every
demon and trial.. the Father's word was His purpose for living.. the
Father's word was His basis for encouragement. For us, the Father's
word is the basis for our forgiveness, redemption, communion and
fellowship. the Father's words call us to Christ, to stand in Christ,
to stay in Christ, to walk in Christ and in everything and for
everything, to do it through Christ for the Father.
If you leave your sword in its sheath, you will be
destroyed by every circumstance and every discouraging thing that
comes against your expectations. The word must find its link back to
the Father through Christ Jesus. The word tells you your place, your
purpose and His plan. Move away from it by an act of your reasoning
and you will find life flowing out of you like a leaky bucket.
The word must be protected and guarded in your
heart. We cannot just throw it away because of a situation that we
cannot understand.
David cried out in Ps 119:11,
"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against
you."
What does it take?
Memorizing it won't do it, preaching it won't do
it, knowing it won't do it, telling others won't do. But living by it
will do it. Living by it when you fall, living by it when you are
filled with discouragement, living by it when you see the faults of
others, living by it when others lift you up or tear you down, living
by it when no other answer seems to connect you to God.
There are times when you must remove the enemy's
accusations and plans by the word before you can stand before God.
That's called growing up.
Eph 6:14 "Stand firm then….17. Take ……the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
The Allegory
A knight with promise was given a sword from a king
that had won many great battles with it. it was decked with fine
jewels and sharpened as fine as a razor. It was made from the finest
steel and shined like a mirror in the sun. its weight and balance was
perfect. There was no excuse not to use it in the time of battle for
it was inferior to none.
As an enemy approached our promising knight, he
flung out his fist and called on the name of his great king. But the
blows of the enemy were too great for our promising knight to combat.
He retreated in amazement. He thought to himself, "surely there is
power in the king's name." He did not understand the gift of the
sword.
More enemies, seeing his defeated position,
approached him in battle. He was driven further and further from the
place of rest that he once enjoyed in the presence of the king. At one
point in the battle, he even thought he caught a glimpse of the king
standing on the wall observing the fight. "Surely he would step in and
defend me." He did not understand the gift of the sword.
His every attempt to advance was met with striking
blows and defeat and retreat. Every part of his body was bruised and
wounded, except for his right arm and hand. There seemed to be no
further reason to fight anymore. He had exhausted every resource in
his own power. And even the name of the king didn't bring him any
victory. There was nothing left but his right arm and the sword. He
took his right arm and withdrew the costly sword from its sheath. The
enemy advanced as usual, but this time found a weapon that could not
be defeated. The enemy identified the weapon that brought death and
destruction to his kingdom from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The promising knight wielded his sword and slayed his enemies one
after another. As they advanced they fell to the ground in defeat.
They knew the power of the sword. As the knight advanced, he found
himself drawing closer and closer to the presence of his conquering
King….. he understood the gift of the sword.
You were given a sword, but it was your
responsibility to use it. You enjoyed the gift. It cost you nothing to
receive it. It was beautiful and shiny, greater than any other weapon
that you have ever seen. You wore it with pride, you thought others
would just see it and fall at your feet. You thought your enemies
would be frightened of it and flee from its presence. You were
convinced that you found the ultimate deterrent. You thought, "My
problems are over."….But were they?
Soon your enemy rushes you into battle. You think
he will see the sword and run…he doesn't. He throws his poisonous
darts at you. You fall to your knees; he strikes you in the back; he
hits you in the side; you call on the Lord, you pray, you praise, you
tithe, you read the bible, you attend church faithfully, but you fall.
You look at the sword and wonder. You are surrounded from all sides,
you are limping and your left arm is bandaged. You notice that your
right arm (spirit) has never been touched. Every other part of your
body is in pain.
What are you going to do? The enemy came against
you and you did not use your sword. What is going to happen to you?
Your superior weaponry is not benefiting you….is it? you fought him in
the flesh and he has impeded your progress in the Lord. You have been
stopped in your walk with God and have reached an impasse. You have
found yourself in the enemy's territory doing the enemy's will, at his
will.
2 Cor 10:3 "For though we
walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh."
Rom 8:8 "…and those who are
in the flesh cannot please God."
Rom 8:13 "for if you are
living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you
are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
Judg 2:2-4 "why did he (God)
do this? He told them before, "you shall not make a covenant with
the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.'
Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I
tell you that I will not drive them out (the people of the land)
before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a
snare to you." When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to
all the Israelites, the people wept aloud…" (NIV)
Have we found ourselves agreeing to do those things
that we know are wrong and worldly?
Do we have altars in our hearts that the enemy has
embellished and established?
You do not fight to get the victory, no more than
you fight to get the sword. You fight with the sword to embellish and
establish your relationship with the Lord. The enemy wants you to make
a covenant with him and establish his altars….that's his sword to kill
you and your brother. His words will make you bitter, jealous,
backbiting and critical.
You will advance no further.
Revelation, when it comes, is like the Lord driving
out the enemies of the land, but with the revelation there is the
responsibility of using it.
David hid it. He made sure that the enemy would not
find it and take it.
John 15:7 "If you abide in
Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be
done for you. (NAS)
You must permit the word of the Lord to destroy the
word of the situation. If you don't, the word of the situation will
destroy the word of the Lord in your heart.
Rom 10:17 "So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. "(KJV)
Your victory is based on what you will do with the
word. The word of the situation is the word of the devil and many have
fallen victim to it and that is the reason that many have lost their
peace and joy.
Understand the gift of the sword. Don't let the
enemy push you back any more. You have a weapon - - use it! don't be
satisfied with owning the sword until you learn to use it. Don't be
satisfied with the doctrine of the sword; experience its benefits.
Don't let yourself be intimidated by your foe, but fight the good
fight of faith until you regain the presence and joy of the Lord for
His glory. Don't just show the enemy the sword - - cut him down with
it! God gave it to you!
I Jn 5:4 "for everyone born
of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the
world, even our faith" (which comes from hearing the Word).
Isa 54:17 "No weapon that is
formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in
judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the
LORD, and their vindication is from me," declares the LORD." (NAS)
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