Category Archives: Hope

When God is Silent

33 Replies

Surely there have been times in your life that you have asked the question of the ages:

Why is God silent?

Does He not hear me? My prayers are not being answered, maybe He doesn’t love me. Have I done something wrong?

  • I don’t feel Him.
  • I don’t hear Him.
  • I definitely don’t see Him.

I am surely all alone in this world!

when God is silent

Haven’t we all been there? Maybe we have even lived there for a time? It isn’t easy.

Can we say it can be just plain difficult?

I am not one of those that is fortunate enough to hear the Lord speak in an audible voice to me every morning and say, “Good morning Nannette, time to get up, Sweet Daughter of Mine! Here is what I have planned for you today…”

But He does speak to us, in a variety of ways, mostly through His Word and prayer. And the two of them together? Even better chance you will hear that still, small voice of the Lord.

But sometimes, there is silence; and He is teaching us to trust Him.

Do you remember Thomas? Poor Thomas is still getting picked on as The Doubter. He said he wouldn’t believe that Jesus was alive unless he could see the nail marks in his hands and put his hand in his side. But Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 NIV.

Compare it to a marriage relationship. If your spouse is away on a trip, are you panicked that they don’t love you anymore?

  • You can’t feel them next to you.
  • You can’t see them.
  • You can’t talk to them if they are busy or in meetings.
  • You can’t hear them.

Does that mean that just because there is silence that their love means nothing any longer? Of course not.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Would it not be wonderful to think that the Lord is preparing us in the silence, to teach us to long for Him?

Of course, we want to be sure that there is not something keeping us from hearing from the Lord.

  • If there is sin, repent.
  • If there is anger, get rid of it.
  • If there is someone you need to forgive, go do it.

Clean up the heart. Draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to you. His Word promises that.

Can we trust God even when we don’t hear from Him? When we don’t feel Him every day? He promised to never leave us or forsake us, when there is silence we lean on His promises!

Can we keep on loving Him, serving Him, telling others about Him, just because we love Him, and not because He owes us anything in return?

C.S. Lewis said, “Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”

He never changes, He is always the same. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. And in an ever-changing world that is full to the brim of uncertainty, we can encourage one another by reminding ourselves of His faithfulness and remembering prayers that He has answered in the past.

You can trust Him, even in the silence.

No Room – When the hustle and bustle replace the joy

5 Replies

Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because it was decreed by Caesar, but when they arrived, there was no room for them in the inn, so Mary delivered her firstborn son in a stable filled with animals, basically, the barn.

Or did she?

The picture I have had most of my life is of the two of them standing at an ancient bed and breakfast and a kindly elder gentlemen shaking his head telling them he was sorry he could not accommodate them. Everything was full because of the census. Even though Mary was with child they still could not find a place to stay, but this innkeeper did offer his stable and a clean bed of hay where she could give birth. Yikes!

But a little deeper look at the Greek wording might give us some insight and a better understanding of that holy night.

The Greek term translated inn (kataluma) had more than one meaning. It could be a small inn, or a group of people traveling together, a caravansary. This word is used only one other time in the New Testament… “And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.” Luke 22:11.

This is the place where Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples! What kind of room does Luke say this was? “A large furnished upper room…” 

So the last night of Jesus’ ministry on this earth was spent in an upper room in an inn or kataluma. Sort of a guest room.

Now let us look at His entrance into this world…when they discovered the inn was full, it was no doubt filled with others, possibly even relatives, who had also traveled to the city for the same reasons. Older members of the family would be accommodated first so they could have possibly taken the rooms.

In this culture and time period, the animals were brought inside at night for several reasons. Mangers (animal feeding troughs) were also found inside the house, tools were stored and the animals were safe from harm. Their being inside also added warmth with their body heat, milk supply and dung for fuel.

So when it is said that Joseph and Mary could find no room in the inn and Jesus was born in the manger, in reality they were likely in a house of humble stature. The stable was on the ground floor, where they brought the animals in at night, the sleeping quarters were on the second floor.

True, it was never the best of conditions; it was still a very humble birth! And if all the rooms in the sleeping quarters were full, and they were, then Mary and Joseph did sleep with the animals on the first floor…the sounds, the smells, the shedding! Everyone was busy getting to the city of their birth to pay their taxes and be counted. There was plenty of hustle and bustle and no one had room for the King of Kings.

No fanfare, nothing flashy or royal by the world’s standards. But all of heaven took notice that day and the heavenly hosts sang, “Glory to God in the highest!”

Hustle and Bustle

Sadly, ever since then, our world has never had room for Jesus. Isaiah prophesied it would be so, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:3.

We  have continued to push Him out of our government and our schools. Many now call it Winter Break instead of Christmas Break. It is no longer politically correct to say, Merry Christmas; that has been replaced with Happy Holidays, which they says covers everything and makes everyone happy.

I have even heard of a school on the east coast that gave a performance where the 5th grade sang Silent Night and the teacher had removed all of the references to Jesus in the presentation. What would be the point?!

There was a song back in the 1970’s that we used in a Christmas play titled No Room. The lyrics went like this:

No room,–no room for Him.
No room to let Him in.–
No room for Jesus in the world He made, no room.
No room for the King of Kings;
Room for others, and for other things.
No room for Jesus in the world He made, no room

No room,–no room for Him.
No room to let Him in.–
No room for Jesus in the heart He made just for Him.
No room–for the King of Kings
Room for others, and for other things.
No room for Jesus in the heart He made, no room.

Room for houses, lands and pleasures,
Room for things that pass away;
But for the One who reigns forever,
There’s no room today. 

Have you made room for Him? Are you taking time to remember the Reason for the Season? Is the hustle and bustle distracting you from the meaning and purpose of that first Christmas?

Take time each day this week to pause, pray and thank God for His entrance into this world. His birth made all the difference in our lives and is the Hope that will take us to be with Him forever one day soon.

When we make room for Jesus, our silent nights become holy nights. Let Him in today…make plenty of room!

 

Show Jesus you want to be picked up by Him!

2 Replies

Every once in a while, social media gives you a win. Such was the case a few days ago when I was mindlessly scrolling and feeling sorry for myself.

I was just a week out from having back surgery: Basically a REDO of a failed spinal fusion in 2018 of my L4-L5 and L5-S1. Fusion had not taken place and I literally had loose screws causing pain.

Since then, my vertebrae at L3 decided to jump down and lay on top of L4 causing the utmost pain and suffering the last six months and requiring, in layman terms, a lumbar spinal fusion from L3-S1 with cages, rods, and screws, oh my! The surgery went well and everything looks great except for the horrific nerve pain I am having in my left leg. It has caused endless, sleepless nights and nothing has touched the pain, nor do they know specifically what has caused it.

So, here I had landed, wondering what was passing me by in the world when I came upon this post by a sweet friend about her six year old daughter, Haylee:

“On Sunday, Haylee wanted to be in the main sanctuary with me and said, ‘I wanna praise Jesus with you, Mom!’ Obviously I said, ‘Okay!’

And boy did she!!

I let my hands down because they were losing circulation and she grabbed my hand, shoved it back in the air and said, 

‘Mom, you need to show Jesus you want to be picked up by Him!’”

And in an instant, one sentence, one thought can change your whole perspective. And maybe even change your life.

Haylee’s mommy told me that her precious little one was recently baptized; her love for Jesus has grown with every passing day. Haylee has asked her why she raises her hands in the car, at home, at church or even outside just listening to worship music and Jessica replied that it is her way of sending Jesus hugs and receiving His hugs in return! 

“Haylee, when you want Mommy to pick you up, what do you do?”

Her little eyes dancing in wonder and awe, she slowly replies, “Ahhhh, so Jesus picks us up when we lift our hands?!” 

“Exactly!” 

“And now she can’t get enough of lifting her hands and worshiping our Savior. God continues to answer my tear-filled prayers and it brings tears of joy to my eyes to know how much He loves us!”

Wow. This is sermon material that I will not do justice to but I will keep it simple and it will encourage and bless all the same because one little girl, one innocent heart, just believes what she is told, loves what she believes and acts on it. Haylee goes on to say that when she has been scared she just says His name, “Jesus”, and the fear goes away, and in her words, “Mom, it works!”

Yes, Haylee, it works! I have prayed and prayed for relief from pain these last couple of weeks, actually months, make that years, but it rarely comes the way I want it to. Not that God hasn’t healed me before, you can read of at least one of my miracles here. Besides the burn, He completely healed me of migraines ten years ago, I have not had one since. When He does heal me, HE will receive the glory, the miracle will magnify HIM and others will be blessed, encouraged and maybe find their way to the throne!

Even though I still have pain, every time I would lift my hands, He would pick me up, reassure me He was with me, comfort me with the knowledge He had been in my shoes, with even worse pain and He would give me the strength I needed to overcome. 

His Word is His promise, His promises are true, His truth prevails time and time again! 

And maybe sometimes, just maybe, our joy in our pain, our confidence in our God, our trust that He is with us no matter what, the JOY we find in living for Him, regardless of pain and suffering, is a blessing and strength to someone else. You are always being watched, child of God, others are interested in the One you say takes all your fears away. They know you still have pain, but they also see you still praise God, you become stronger regardless of suffering and every day becomes a testimony of His goodness in so many ways.

We may not always receive the instant miracle we are seeking but when we lift our hands and ask Jesus to pick us up, with child-like faith, child sized trust, He will respond with God-sized strength!

When I first came to know Jesus, I heard our lifted hands were like a funnel, “Fill me up, God, fill me up!” I also heard it was a sign of surrender, giving everything to Him in recognition that He is all powerful and we are nothing without Him. 

All  of these are true; whatever you need for your current situation, He is that! If your predicament is physical pain, then hands in the air and call on Him, “Pick me up, Father! Here I am, Lord, hold me, strengthen me, help me.”

Many are fearful of the virus, many others are stressed about being away from those they love, then there is the intimidation and peer pressure both ways about what we should do or what we shouldn’t do this holiday season. Sometimes it is all just too much! So….hands up! Surrender those fears to Him, let Jesus carry that burden that is too big for you then let Him fill that funnel and give you the peace that passes understanding.

It doesn’t matter what your situation, God has the answer; sometimes it is just Him, sometimes that is all we need. He will show us His wisdom, His strength and impart comfort that only He can give.  He will reassure us He is with us in our pain, He has overcome and that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us! 

Raise those hands today, surrender and let God pick you up, strengthen, establish you and bless you beyond measure.

Jessica and her adorable family!

Enjoy this similar post, Holdju!