Good Morning All,
Psalm 35:22; “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!”
I had run 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 really 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. Two years later, he
still hasn’t 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 doesn’t 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 for 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 wasn’t 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 very 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
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