7-13-2020

Good Morning All, 

            Psalm 35:22; “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent!  O Lord, be not far from me!”

     I ran into an old friend that I hadn’t seen in years.  We were only able to chat for a minute or two.  It was fun to see him again after all these years.  We had the quick, “where are you?” “How is your family?”  “Have you seen…?” and then we were done.  It was that quick.  I told him to call next time he was in town and maybe we could get together again.  I felt good after the encounter.  I remembered some of the fun we used to have back when we were younger.  I looked forward to his call.  Three years later, he still has not called.

    After a while, I began to wonder.  Why hasn’t he called?  Did he lose my number?  It is in the phone book.  Has he not been back again?  He said he was back about every 6-8 months or so.  Did something happen to him?  I probably would have heard something.  Then that deep insecurity sinks in and I wonder, maybe he just does not want to talk to me.  Perhaps he was just being polite and trying to get out of a conversation that he didn’t want to have.  Maybe he was just letting me down easy thinking that “go away” was a little too harsh.  I don’t know, one way or another.  He has been silent, and I just wait for him to call me.

    This is one of those times when silence is a disappointment.  I survive; I hadn’t seen him over 25 years.  There are times when silence can be painful.  When we wait for the lab results to a medical test, silence can be painful as we wonder what was going on.  Waiting for the doctor to come out and tell you how the surgery for your loved one went as we wait in silence in a painful loneliness.  Probably the toughest silence is when we think God is silent.

    I remember listening to a young couple who were struggling with trying to start a family.  It was not working the natural way.  It was sad because they would have been great parents.  There had just been a story about an abandoned child that had died from neglect and the pain in their face was obvious.  Why was God silent?

    Sadly, we can never answer “why?” for God.  We can never explain God and his ways.  All we truly have is the blood-soaked empty cross and the open tomb.  Those speak volumes to us.  They speak of God’s immeasurable love for us and our eternal life with him.  They speak of his love for us.  They speak of his compassion and mercy for us.  Some things we do not hear because we are not listening to what God is saying, we are listening for what we want to hear but sometimes that is not what God has to say.  So, we need to look past our wants and look to God’s promise and hear his mercy for us.  It can be exceedingly difficult but here we see that in our weakness God’s strength, his wonderful words of forgiveness and reconciliation, carry us through.

Father of wonder, often we feel you are silent when we are not listening to your words of grace.  Give us the strength to listen closely to your word.  Be with those who feel you are silent today.  Let them hear your words of mercy and your words of grace.  Be with them and strengthen them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret