| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 (CSB) Our thought for today: “God loves you in the silence.” Last Sunday night at Oak Hill Baptist Church we began our Fall Bible study. It’s called, “Unanswered: Lasting Truth for Trending Questions” by Jeremiah Johnston. In it the author leads us to explore some of the most difficult and troubling questions Christians contend with. The question we considered in our first session was “What do we do when God seems silent?” It’s a good question. There are times in all of our lives when we’re struggling through a difficult issue, praying to God for understanding and clarity, asking for help and peace, but …. crickets. Nothing. No help, no answers, no comfort. Nothing. Where is God at times like that? Why is He not answering and helping? Why is He silent? To help us understand what could be going on in situations like that, Jeremiah Johnston brings us to the stories of Abram and Joseph in the Old Testament book of Genesis. In Abram’s case, he desperately wanted a son to be his heir and to carry on his family name. In despair he pled with God, argued with God, and even challenged God a bit. But, no child. In Joseph’s case he was sold into slavery by his hateful brothers, sent to Egypt, falsely accused of crimes he didn’t commit, and kept in a miserable prison for many years. He didn’t understand why those things were happening to him and he wanted to be delivered from his suffering but … nothing. God was silent. Or, so it seemed. The truth was that in both of their cases God was actively at work behind the scenes of their lives, orchestrating events and bringing each of those men to the point that He was going to answer their prayers, but in bigger and better ways than they could ever have imagined. Abram did get his son. But the son would not just be Abram’s heir and carry on his family name. No, this boy would launch a dynasty that was the family line of Jesus. God needed twenty-five years to set the scene and to transform Abram into the man He needed to become in order to be the father of Isaac. In Joseph’s case, after thirteen years of mistreatment and suffering at the hands of the Egyptians, God elevated him out of the prison to the second most powerful position in the land. Then Joseph was able to use that position to save His father’s entire family from famine, and that family would ultimately go on to become the nation of Israel. Joseph was never out of God’s sight, and never out of God’s loving care. The situations he suffered through had to take place in order to set the stage for the big work that God wanted to do through in and through him. In your case God probably isn’t preparing you to be the father of a great nation, or to become the second most powerful man in the land. But He is up to something. He is not absent and His apparent silence doesn’t mean He has stopped loving you or that He has abandoned you. God is always up to something, and it is always good. I encourage you to faithfully wait on God as he quietly works in your life. Trust Him, and never doubt His goodness and His great love for you. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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