Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Listening to the Lord - Part 2 - The sound of silence


If you have spent any amount of time on this walk, you will come up against situations where it appears that the Lord is not giving you any answers. It may even seem like there is dead silence when you are trying to hear from the Lord.

David lamented that fact in Psalms 77
"I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah." Psalms 77:1-9
David knows that the Lord hears him, but he is sure the Lord must be mad at him because He is not answering. But David understands why in verse 10, "This is MY infirmity."

David recognized why his soul refused to be comforted, he was communing with his own heart and became troubled. In Psalms 77:10-20 David remembers all the wonderful things God had done.

In the case of Saul of the Old Testament, who the Lord wouldn't answer, Saul NEVER admitted he was wrong. He NEVER got right again with the Lord. He was filled with fear and unbelief. He had a spirit of murder and tried to kill David more than once. He even accused his own son Jonathan of being a homosexual towards David. (1 Sam 20:30)

The Book of James explains a lot concerning an answer from the Lord: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8

Being double-minded means, having one eye on the Lord and one on the world. You cannot serve two masters. Your mind has to be totally on the Lord, for the answers. And sometimes the answer is:

Wait.

If you are born again of God, and you have the Holy Spirit in you then you have the promises of God. The Lord promises to always hear your prayers and to never leave you or forsake you. So if you are not hearing from the Lord, then the answer is to wait on the Lord until you do hear an answer. The Old-time revivalists used a term, "praying through." It was a good term. It meant praying until you get an answer. The Lord is not a microwave. Wait 30 second and DING you have your answer. The Lord may require you to wait for MONTHS. Look how long Abraham had to wait. Do a word study on wait and waiting in the Word. It's part of our training as sons of God. To be ready, to watch and to wait.

Dear Merciful Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for always being with us and never forsaking us. Thank you for always hearing our prayers. Thank you for your word and for your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Linda,
This really touched me and I thank you for the post. THIS is biblical, the idea of waiting on our Father. I was listening to a radio show earlier this week and was very discouraged to hear the host and guests saying that "the Lord does not speak to everyone so if you aren't hearing anything it maybe be that you need to just head the warnings of the 'leaders' that He has spoken to".
Yes they said that. I understand that the Lord sends prophets and watchmen to warn His sheep but it should also be that the Lord gives confirmation to those who seek Him. Those who are trying to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. The Word does say His sheep will hear His voice.
They were discouraging waiting on the Lord to speak to you individually wih regards to the coming calamaties on our nation. My response to that is: not everyone has the financial or physical capability to up and move out of the cities (which is what they were referring to). Moreover, it may not be the Lord's will for certain people to move out of the cities, or maybe not at the moment. So how is one to be sure that they are to make a move such as that under the Lords command? I think the answer is confirmation from God. And that requires waiting on Him. Again thank you for this post. We need to be careful that what the Lord is telling one person or group of peoples may not be the same word for others. Yahshua bless.

wendyworn said...

Ernie,

Thank you so much for commenting. Please come read tomorrow's post because you will like it. You are absolutely right. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. Don't let ANYONE tell you that you can't hear the voice of the Lord. I will be writing on that tomorrow.

love in Yeshua!
Linda

cliff hilbert said...

Hi Linda, that was an excellent message. Many people ask me what they should do to prepare for what is coming upon this nation shortly. My response is to read the bible, fast and pray like they never have before. And when the Lord is ready for them to do something to prepare, then He will tell them. When He is ready for them to leave their city, He will tell them, and He will tell them where to go. If He told them now where the places of refuge were, many of them would jump the gun and go there immediately. The next few years will be a walk of faith, pure faith, like you are learning now.

Everyone wants instant answers, and no one likes to wait for weeks, months or ever years for the Lord to answer them. But sometimes that is what it takes for the Lord to answer us - weeks, months and even years. We must learn to patiently wait upon the Lord.

wendyworn said...

Thank you Cliff. Your feedback means alot to me. This is a recent lesson I have learned because I was very impatient before. That is why it's called loooooooongsuffering!