London Free Methodist Church

Have you ever tried to pray only to discover that it seems like God is light-years away, and not particularly interested in answering your prayers?  Do you ever wonder why you’re getting the “silent treatment”? or where God is when you are hurting?  If so, don’t worry – you’re normal!  I think that most of us have experienced times like these – and I want you to know that it doesn’t mean: 

            [a] God has forgotten about you!

            [b] You’re a bad person!

            [c] God is punishing you!

It probably means that God is trying to teach you something important!

 In the Old Testament a woman named Sarah was unable to conceive and in those days such women were looked down upon.  Now, an old woman, she had given up hope!  Wait!  God had promised her husband Abraham that he would be a father. (Genesis 15:5)  But, they would have to wait for that promise to be fulfilled, and like many of us, Sarah started to run out of patience!  Feeling desperate, she took matters into her own hands, and following the custom of the day she offered her maidservant to her husband, and sure enough, the maidservant got pregnant!  Hey, don’t blame Sarah! After all, doesn’t the Bible say, “God helps those who help themselves?” Sorry, it doesn’t!  It does say ‘Wait patiently for the Lord!’ (Ps 37:7) 

 Sometimes it’s really hard to wait on God!  Imprisoned in a Nazi death camp Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “God if this is the way you treat your friends, it’s no wonder you don’t have very many!”  We don’t always realize that the times God is silent, he is actually helping us mature. (James 1:2)  It’s not always easy to trust God!  

 Sometimes we go and get out in front of God!  When we’re not sure what his plan is, we invent our own!  That doesn’t always work out, and often ends in chaos!  That’s why the Bible says ‘Seek his will in all you do and he will direct your paths!’ (Proverbs 3:6 NLT)

 We don’t always understand what God is up to!  That’s okay!  His thoughts/ways are beyond us (Isaiah 55:8)   But understand this…God always has a plan! “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.  I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.  And I believe in God even when he is silent!”  (Anon) 

                                                                                     Something to think about….