Peter Tan-Chi - When God Seems Silent, Wait on the Lord
Have you ever experienced a prayer that went unanswered by God? Do you like waiting? How many of you like to wait? Honestly, I have a hard time waiting. Many times, I struggle with not getting answers to my prayers. Today, we are going to look at a very interesting topic. It has to do with the silence of God. What do you do? When God is silent, it means that sometimes you are disappointed with God. You are praying for something, thinking in a certain way, and God is not paying attention. It is one thing to wait for the prayer to be answered. It is another thing to think that God has abandoned you. This is David's experience.
Let's look at Psalm 13. Today's theme is this. When God is silent, wait for Him to pay attention. When God is silent, wait for Him a lot. You may think God is asleep. You may What should you do if you think God has done nothing? Waiting for Him This is a very important lesson and we all struggle with waiting I have five wonderful kids and when they were young they always asked the same question "How long? How many minutes? Have we reached our destination"?
I look at my life exactly as I did when I was younger and I asked my dad, "Are we there yet? How long will it take"? And today, I have twenty grandchildren who I can share with you and they ask them exactly the same. Parents, they ask me "How long? Are we there yet"? The reality is we don't like waiting. They did a study that if you're behind a car and the car doesn't move within 13 seconds almost everyone will be honking their horn if you When you're in a restaurant and there's no one to serve you, usually within 12 minutes you start complaining that I'm basically impatient and I don't like standing in line at the grocery store. I don't like traffic jams, but it's part of life.
So, what can we learn? Well, how do you wait on God when He is silent? Psalm 13 tells us what to do. There are three important principles. First, tell your heart. How do you wait on God when He is silent? You have to be honest with him, you pour your heart out. Secondly, you learn to go along with him and you want to understand his point of view. Finally, you have to praise him in advance. Let me share with you something from Psalm 13. It has six verses but is very rich in application. Let's get started, O Lord! How long will it take for you to forget me? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me? I plan in my heart, how long will I be miserable all day long? How long will it take for my enemies to rise up and suppress me?
You ask David to go to the Lord and repeat these two verses four times, "How long, O Lord, shall you forget me"? In his heart, God has forgotten him. "How long shall you hide your face from me"? He repeated, "How long"? I thought, should I handle it myself? How long will you be miserable all day long? How long will it take for my enemies to rise up and suppress me? Now, you have to understand that the Psalms were not written in the air but in real life so I love reading the Psalms because it tells us that you can be honest with God so when God is silent the first thing you need to do. Just be honest with him and pour your heart out.
I like to believe that David was complaining about things that were going on in his life. You will notice that David was pouring out his heart to God. If you want to complain that's okay, go straight to the Lord but don't keep a complaining attitude. You will learn, Honesty with God Our tendency is to turn away from God when we become disappointed with Him. Not David He didn't run away from God, what was going on in David's life? We don't quite know the details, but I want you to know a few things about David.
When David was young, you'll notice that he started out as a shepherd boy. That's how it's described. We first met David in When he was a shepherd boy and then the Bible tells us, David must have been so happy that David was chosen to be king, do you know why? Because his own family had forgotten him. When the prophet Samuel went to David's father and asked him "Have God chosen one of your sons to be king"? the father began to bring out the first child, Eliab and then he brought out The second one, and the third one they got one after the other, but guess even the father didn't remember David. God must have told Samuel, There is another child, and you need to ask the father to bring him out because the father said, "I Bring out all my sons to be kings" Samuel said, "None of these have been chosen"
So, David must have been happy that even though your family might forget you or forsake you, God did not. So, it was a great relief that he was chosen king. Our destiny is not controlled by our own family members. God is in control. The Bible tells us that David was chosen queen and was trained in the palace. Some remember a man named David. David was a man, he was good at music so he was invited to live with King Saul and learn even though he was a musician he learned a lot, the Bible tells us, David had a chance to fight Goliath no one would fight Goliath, Everyone was scared except David.
God gave David a chance and gave him the confidence to go out and guess what happened? David was successful and he became famous, he became the commander of the army and everyone knew him. Probably in David's mind "I'm going to be king soon because everyone knows me" guess what happened? Life is like that, ups and downs. Saul got jealous, his own mentor, and the king started to get jealous of him, and not only that, the king started to distrust David. He was thinking, "Maybe this guy is going to kill me and make himself king".
Even though David didn't. Do any of the above. The Bible tells us that Saul wanted to kill David and David's life plummeted. Saul wanted to kill David and David's life plummeted. He became a fugitive. No wonder he became the most wanted man in Israel. If You're David and you say, "How long, Lord"? "How long, Lord, am I going to be on the run like this? Lord, how long are you going to solve my problem"? That's what's behind this honesty. The thought that welled up in his heart he kept repeating four times, "How long, O Lord? How long will you forget me? How long, O Lord, will you hide your face from me? I am hiding, I am planning in my heart, and I am worried all day long. How long will it take"?
David is very troubled. He doesn't understand how his family left him. How did he become a fugitive? "My enemies rise up to suppress me. How long will it take? When"? We don't know much about the situation but I just want you to know the story of David's life. Praise God, David learned to wait. Look at what he wrote in Psalm 27. If I don't believe that I will see the Lord in the land of the living You have already lost heart, wait for the Lord! Be brave and strengthen your heart! I say again, wait for the Lord! Do you know that in the land of the living, God wants us to learn to wait for the Lord? Let your heart be encouraged. Take courage.
So what must you do when God is silent? Wait on the Lord. Wait! Do n't jump to the conclusion that He has forgotten. The problem with you not learning how to wait is that you will be disappointed when you are disappointed. The tendency is to become disillusioned, then you become discouraged. When you become discouraged, you begin to doubt and then you begin to despair. If you are not careful, you will become depressed. This is so important, when God seems far away, when God seems silent, Waiting on the Lord I learned the importance of waiting many years ago and am still learning now. Why is it so important to learn to wait? You begin to realize that waiting is part of growing up in life.
As my children grow up, I teach them that the two important words are "wait" and the other is "no". Why are these important? Because in life I know that one day they need to learn to wait. Because in life I know that one day they need to learn to wait. Let's take dating as an example. When do they start dating? Do they need to learn that there is an appropriate time for them to have sex? Today, we argue with premarital sex, the question. It is that we have not taught people the principle of waiting. It is very important that we must learn to wait. When it comes to business and career, I have learned many times. There is no shortcut. It is always important to learn to wait.
So, when you are about to get married, in your marriage In life, in your career, it's important to learn to wait. When you're waiting on the Lord, what do you do? You keep trusting Him. I remember that for my father. Pray, my father was a very successful businessman. He was a self-made immigrant from China. He achieved success through hard work, not through politics, and I believe that is also true. One of the reasons for his pride is that he is very successful and does not engage in politics. Therefore, the need for God is far away from him.
So, I have been praying for him day and night for twenty years. I have been praying and praising God for my father. One day God did something. When my father started having business problems, he became sensitive to God. He wanted to meet with a friend, Dr. Bill Bly, the founder of Campus Crusade. Visiting the Philippines. He was a friend and he agreed to meet my father. I praise God that it was through Dr. Bill Bligh that my father came to know Jesus for twenty years.
So my friends, when you pray for someone. When you have a prayer request that goes unanswered, wait on Him Waiting on Him means you continue to pray, you continue to trust Him One of my favorite stories is about George Müller. George Müller prayed for five of his friends to come to know Jesus, every day when he was traveling, he never missed it. He prayed for his friends. Do you know what happened to his five friends? A year and a half later, more than five years passed before the first man came to know Jesus. Another man came to know Jesus 12 years later. Another man came to know Jesus. He prayed without stopping. His two friends were still alive after praying for 48 years.
Before he knew Jesus, he wrote in his diary: "Two of my friends were not yet followers of Jesus" but he had been praying. After George Müller's death, two of his friends had not yet known Jesus but two years after his death Years, 52 years later, God answered his prayer and you know what I found? While you were waiting on the Lord? When you pray sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers in our lifetime, but God is an amazing God so He calls us to pray and He gives us this promise "Whoever waits for you will not be ashamed" This is Psalm 25 The word "shame" can also mean "disappointment". God promises us: "If you wait on the Lord, you will never be disappointed".
So, keep waiting. What must you do when God is silent? Waiting on the Lord How do you wait on the Lord? Well, move forward. Move Forward with Him What does it mean to move forward? Because a lot of times you don't understand. So, let's see what David wrote. David said, "O LORD my God, look after me and answer me"! Keep my eyes open, lest I sleep into death. Do you know what he was praying for? He said: "Lord, help me" "make my eyes clear" The word "enlighten" means to bring light. "Help me, if it were not for God, I would die, I would be asleep, I would be alive, but spiritually dead. Help me, God, my enemy will say, 'I have overcome him' my enemy and rejoice when I waver". In other words, "God, I need your perspective, help me".
So don't run from God when He is silent. Most of us run from Him. Most of us get discouraged, not David, David waited and waited and he poured out his heart to the Lord, so you have the psalms that David wrote. These are the prayers of David, who asked for enlightenment. You know the Bible tells us, when you don't know what's happening. What you need to pray for is enlightenment. For example, in the book of James, the Bible tells us to "consider it all joy". Notice, count it all joy when you face trials of many kinds. Know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, but perseverance should also be "That may make you complete and complete, lacking nothing".
A lot of us stop here, verse 3. But can I tell you something? When verses 2 and 3 tell us that you have a problem, "Both Think of it as great joy". But the truth is, how can you be happy when you have problems? He now says, look at it this way, "Faith is tested". When you have problems, it's because God is developing our faith. The whole purpose of testing our faith and making it grow is to make you perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. The idea is that God is more concerned with our character development than our physical comfort. But did you notice the next verse? This verse is very important. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to everyone generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Why does He ask us to ask for wisdom? Because sometimes you don't understand. You don't understand? Why do you have a problem? In fact sometimes people come to me for counseling and tell me "Why did my wife die? Why did my friend get cancer, how could it be"? The truth is we don't always know why, but one thing I know God wants us not to turn away from Him. When there is a problem, we should get closer to Him and deal with Him. Your perspective reminds me of the reality of butterflies among you. Many people may not know how a worm turns into a butterfly. If you study biology, which is one of my favorite subjects, the caterpillar, the worm ends up hiding in a cocoon.
When this caterpillar takes this shape, You may not know what's inside, what's inside becomes a liquid, everything is a liquid, the proteins, the cells, are now multiplying inside. Why? Because one day this caterpillar will turn into a butterfly. It usually takes 10 to 14 days, two weeks without shortcuts one time I tried to take shortcuts and I saw a cocoon and what I did I tried to open it up a little bit so the butterflies would come out earlier and faster guess what? Thing? The butterfly didn't survive, why? Because the inner transformation process requires struggle. The butterfly has to struggle to come out of the cocoon. Because part of the growth process is struggle.
Many times in life we like to take shortcuts, one of the most difficult things. 1. When you're waiting on the Lord and you don't know why, challenges make you impatient. You know if you can learn to see things from God's perspective. If you learn to know why, or learn to understand why, you'll be better off. Wait, they did an experiment. One of the busiest airports in the United States is Dallas-Fort Worth. One of the busiest airports in the United States is Dallas-Fort Worth. When the plane lands, passengers always complain when they go to the baggage counter, it could be 12 minutes, 15 minutes and passengers were always complaining, you know how they solved it?
They hired more baggage handlers, so it was shortened by 30% and people were still complaining and then One psychologist responded: Why don't we reroute passengers when the plane arrives? We make sure the entry gate is farther away from the baggage counter so they can walk further. So guess what, when the plane arrives you can't go to the baggage right away you have to walk because they identify the door and the baggage is further away and guess what happens when they arrive the baggage is already there they don't save any time, But they just go further, so what's the point of not complaining anymore?
You see, people complain while they're waiting, especially when they're doing nothing. God works while you're waiting. God was at work. David learned in the final stages of escaping from Saul. In the final stages of evading Saul before he became king, he learned the lesson of waiting. Why? Remember, when? As you learn to wait, God begins to develop your faith and character. This is the second half of his life before he became king. I want you to see David growing in the Lord. Saul tried to kill him. This is the second half of Saul's life, David was surrounded, but God gave David a chance. God caused King Saul to fall into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, both the people and David went to see Saul.
David could have killed King Saul but because of David's Faith in the principle of waiting on the Lord became so real in his life. David didn't take matters into his own hands. You see, for many of us, we would take matters into our own hands, but for David, he didn't. Did you notice what David did? David said to the man on his right hand, "Do not kill him. Do not kill King Saul, for he is the Lord's anointed". David said, "As the Lord lives, I will smite him. You know what David is saying". What? "If God wants me to be king, he will get rid of King Saul. God will smite him. Either he will die or he will die in battle". Look at David's faith. David said, "I will not take matters into my own hands, of course, I wanted to be a king".
David wanted to be a king, but he learned to wait for God's time, to wait for God's way. Many times, young leaders are impatient. We think God is not in control. We think we need to be in control. But David would not violate the principles of the Bible. He would not kill people in order to become a king. He learned to wait and pay attention. He said: "In the presence of the Lord, I will never dare to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed one". Learn to wait, and all the people of God will Know how to wait, let me give you an example let's look at Abraham, how long did Abraham wait from the time God promised him to be the father of all nations, 25 years or until he was 100 years old? How long did Moses have to wait? What did God do to save his people ? God made Moses wait 40 years or until he was 80 years old. How long did God have to wait to shape his character ? To fulfill him as a leader?
Joseph was enslaved, he was in prison, how long did he wait? At least 15 years until he was 30 years old. How long did David wait to become king? Many scholars tell us 15 years or until he was 30 years old. You see, while these people were waiting, God was busy working. How do you raise a shepherd boy to be a king? It takes time, it takes training. How do you raise another shepherd boy, Joseph to be? Prime Minister? It takes time, so, learn to wait on God, when God is silent, when your career is not changing, when things you ask for are not happening, wait on the Lord, pour out your heart, tell Him your pain, your fears. to be with God.
Learn How long did Paul have to wait to become an apostle and missionary, traveling around the world? How long did Paul have to wait to become an apostle and missionary, traveling around the world preaching the gospel? It was 14 years after Paul met Jesus that he founded his first church. Why? Paul needed to grow. He spent three years in Arabia, receiving personal training from God in the church in Antioch, not as a leader, but as a helping believer. You see friends, wait is important, why? Because God is at work. When God is silent, learn to wait, wait on Him. I like the quote by Richard Hendricks, "Next to suffering, waiting may be the greatest teacher and trainer of godliness and maturity".
And in true spirituality, most of us have experienced. I don't like waiting, but I'm learning to wait. Wait on the Lord. What do you do when God is silent? Wait on the Lord. How? You pray, you pour Your mind. You seek perspective from God. Finally, you praise Him beforehand. You see, when you wait on the Lord, you have to learn to trust Him beforehand. What do I mean? Let's look at Psalm of David chapter 13 verses 5-6 Let's look at Psalm of David chapter 13 verses 5-6 But I trust in your mercy, and my heart rejoices in your salvation I will Sing to the Lord, for He has dealt abundantly with me.
Notice, David is still hiding until his problem is solved. David is still running, but notice even before the problem is solved, David says, But I trust in Your lovingkindness. The word "CHESED" comes from the word "CHESED" which has to do with grace and sometimes his kindness, his kindness, a very special Hebrew word that is a combination of grace, kindness, and love. David said, "I believe in your grace, I believe in your mercy, I believe in your love" Not my own righteousness, I believe in you, God! Your lovingkindness. "my heart will rejoice" note "because of your salvation" it's all about God, what will he do? "I will sing to the LORD" note that the way to express your faith is to praise him in advance "for he has been gracious to me".
Notice, past tense, this has not happened yet. What he is praying for has not happened yet but he is already saying, "Lord, you have been gracious to me". Remember a few weeks ago I shared that this faith will Declaring God's future actions as past tense. Why? A prophet named Jeremiah had the same idea. Similar Questions Jeremiah was one of those magical prophets who served the Five Kings. From a human perspective, Jeremiah was probably a failure. From a human perspective, he was not successful and he warned of everything he hoped for.
People repented, they didn't do what he wanted the people of the country to do. Humanly speaking, he was a failure. But in God's eyes, he was very successful. Why? Because he was faithful to God and he took God's message. to the people but can you see why Jeremiah was called the "weeping prophet", the weeping prophet? He didn't weep for himself, he wept for the people because the people wouldn't listen to him and he saw the problem and he He was discouraged and he saw what was happening and he warned the people, "If you don't repent, God will destroy Jerusalem". They didn't repent and Jerusalem was destroyed. He warned them that God was going to destroy the temple. The temple was destroyed and he warned them. Said, "You will be captives". They became captives.
So, if you talk about depression, here's a prophet, so this is what he wrote. Remember, O Lord, my distress and distress, which is like wormwood and gall. It's like a Repeat, he's saying "I'm in pain, I'm distressed, I'm overwhelmed" I'm thinking about this, just brooding inside and he's saying "I'm going to be depressed, I'm feeling hopeless" What did he do? Did he run away from God? What do you do when God is silent? You pour out your heart, and that's what He does. How does He deal with it? "I think of it". Notice, He's dealing with it. "There is hope".
What did he think of? He began to meditate on the LORD's unfailing love and His mercy. "It is new every morning. Your faithfulness is exceedingly great". It's amazing! Jeremiah told us, I started thinking about it. Do you know what I'm saying? Remember, if your thoughts are right, your emotions will be right and your actions will be right. This is the "TEA Principle" T-E-A. This is how you deal with it, you are right, he began to think correctly about who God is. He did not judge the circumstances, but began to judge the circumstances based on who God was. He did not judge God based on the circumstances, because everything he warned them about that he hoped for did not happen, but he kept trusting God.
Notice what he said: The steadfast love of the Lord never fails. God doesn't change his mercy even when circumstances are wrong. God doesn't change, even if I don't feel it. I know he loves me and then he does. Say, "This is all new" you know my prayer, and I'm sure a lot of you are waiting on this while I'm waiting, I'm sure, you're thinking "When is this quarantine going to end"? When will these problems end? Maybe some of you are single, you wish you could get married, you're waiting, some of you are praying for your husband, you're saying, "When will my husband know Jesus"? You're hurting, and God seems silent.
What should you do? Remember, wait on the Lord. You pour your heart out and you process and learn God's will and I'm sure God wants to shape your character. Before God changes others, He wants to change us first. That's the perspective. This is how you deal with your relationship with God, ahead of time. Praise Him. How do you praise him? "It's new every morning, your truth is exceedingly great" You know I wish I could sing this beautiful song about "The steadfast love of the Lord never fails" Well, I won't sing it anymore, I believe them Who can sing, I want you to sing with me But they are new every morning, Your truth is exceedingly great, O Lord.
Notice the next verse. Next verse from Lamentations of Jeremiah "The Lord is my portion" I said in my heart "Therefore I will hope in Him" For waiting, he now finds out that the Lord is his portion The greatest blessing is not what he likes to happen Jerusalem must If it is not destroyed, the people will return to the promised land. No, he discovered that "the Lord is my portion". Therefore, I look to Him because God is faithful and God is love. This is my hope. The LORD will be gracious to those who notice "wait". "The LORD will be gracious to everyone who waits for the LORD and seeks him in his heart".
Did you notice anything while you were waiting? You should seek God. "It is good for a man to hope in the Lord and to wait in silence for his salvation". Jeremiah learned to wait on the Lord. He said, "This is good". Why is it good to wait on the Lord in this way, especially when God seems silent? Do you know that God's will is for us to learn? I call it "The School of Waiting". What is the School of Waiting? You know many times when we wait on God when we pray because we want a blessing. A lot of people, they wait because they want God to answer their prayers. That's the beginning of the school of waiting. Most young believers, a lot of us, that's what we want, we want blessings. And then what? God seems silent and nothing happens. You want blessings but nothing happens. Then what? Our hearts begin to change as we wait. God uses this time to shape our character and change our hearts.
As you wait on the Lord, God is at work. Guess what happens next? You will find that God is the ultimate blessing. In other words, our desire is for the gift, but God's desire is that we love the giver more than we love the gift. How does this happen? There are no shortcuts, it's usually by waiting. We begin to realize that the gift is secondary. The Giver, God is Primary We begin to realize that gifts are secondary. The Giver, God is First The School of Waiting will result in the following For many people they begin to say: "God is good because He answered my prayers" Most of us do this. "God is good and He answered my prayers"
When you are more mature you can honestly say "God is good" Many times we wait on God because we want something from God and there is nothing wrong with that But God says, "I love that you grow, I love that you realize that I am your greatest blessing". God wants us to realize that He is a blessing. It's not what He can give, it's not what He can do. So, while waiting, David learned that the greatest blessing is God. So why when you read the Psalms, you will find that David said: "One thing, I I have asked, I will still seek, I want God's presence, I want God Himself, I will no longer pursue the throne, pursue power". David said: "There is one thing I ask to be with the Lord".
Friends, Jeremiah He did the same thing, and he realized that the greatest blessing was God. God told Jeremiah, and the Lord said, Jeremiah, "I know that the plans I have toward you are plans for peace and not for disaster. So that you may have hope in the end". Now this is an amazing promise, and we use this passage again and again but many of us don't know the context of this verse. What is the content of God's amazing thoughts? The content is that they were driven out, they were defeated, and they were now living in Babylon. But in the defeat, God said to Jeremiah, "You must do this, believe me".
Build houses, live in them, and plant. Eat the fruits of the fields, take wives and have children; take wives for your sons, give your daughters in marriage, have sons and daughters, and multiply there, so that it does not diminish the city into which I have led you into captivity. Pray to the LORD for the city's peace, because when the city is at peace, you will also have peace. You see, waiting on God does not mean waiting for the LORD for nothing. It means that no matter where you are, you must be busy during this time. While you wait, I believe God wants you to grow. God wants you to be busy and be a blessing to others. That's why He told Jeremiah to tell the people, build buildings, fields, get wives, have families, have children, have children. Many seek peace. Keep your fingers crossed.
You know after verse 7, you know what the context is? Let me tell you. This is what the LORD says: "When the seventy years for Babylon are completed, I will visit you and fulfill my promise to you, so that you will return to this place". God says, "In my time, I will fulfill my promise to you, LORD". Say: "I know that the thoughts I have toward you are thoughts to bring peace, not thoughts to bring disaster. I want you to have hope in the end". Pay attention to the content of this great promise. God is saying, "I care about you, I love you" etc. wait for me. While you wait, get busy doing the right things, develop your character, and be a blessing.
As we wrap up, notice the next verse. Call on me and pray to me, and I will answer you. Seek me, and if you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. I will be found by you. What is the greatest blessing? According to God the greatest blessing is to me "you will find me". My friend, I believe that when God is silent it is not because He is silent God wants to speak to you, while you are waiting, God wants you know that the greatest blessing is God Himself. God wants you to find Him and be intimate with Him. Many of you listening, maybe God has spoken to your heart. You are saying, "You know what? I want this blessing".
The blessing of God Himself. Not what He can do, not what He will do, not what He can give me. These are wonderful things, but the greatest blessing is God. God wants you to know Him, God wants you to experience Him God wants you to be intimate. Notice, He has given you a promise "You will find me". A guarantee "You will find me," He promises, and you will find Him "when you seek Me with all your heart". Can I tell you how to seek God? He tells us to "come to Jesus" because Jesus is the revelation of God. Jesus told us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". If you want to have close contact with God, I believe that during this time of waiting, God is talking to you. Pray together:
Lord Jesus, I realize that during this time of waiting, you are calling me to be close to you. You want me to know you better. Lord Jesus, I want to be close to you, I want to have a relationship with you. Please come into my heart, Jesus! I accept you as my Lord and Savior. I ask you to forgive my sins. I receive your gift of eternal life. Most importantly, I receive your best gift, Lord Jesus, into my life. Amen, amen!