True confession: I never remember the outlines of sermons I hear! Worse yet, I probably couldn’t tell you much about the sermon if you asked me the next day, especially if it had several points. However, more times than not, a single comment will park in my overly crowded little brain. This blog is about one of those comments from a couple of months ago.
The message was from Malachi, the last of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. The pastor was particularly burdened and delivered a heartfelt message, but one passing comment stuck. “Malachi closes out the Old Testament, and God was silent for 400 years!”
My wife and I would occasionally go into the silent mode with each other. She was always good at breaking the stalemate. My silence was the result of needing time to think about it, at least that is what I had convinced myself I was doing. Could it be that we get impatient with God and move into our own silent mode?
Because I believe in God and his son Jesus, God’s spirit is within me and is never really silent. The silence I perceive is often my own impatience and lack of faith. I never wanted Sue to go to a lot of trouble fixing a meal. Now, if it doesn’t go into a microwave, toaster, or a blender, I won’t bother with it. I don’t like waiting in line or in traffic. However, Godly faith waits patiently, even in the perceived silence.
Faith believes even when life doesn’t offer the answers we think we need. Faith trusts God in and through the violent storms of life. Faith rests in God in the deafening stillness of a sleepless night. Faith is spiritual weight training. The more our faith is tested (exercised), the stronger our faith becomes.
I want life to be like the calming sights and sounds of a gentle babbling brook in a nature filled forest. God gives us these seasons, but the very same God will not stop the storms of life. They are the proving grounds of our love and faith. “God, I will love and trust you whatever comes my way! We have been through too much to do otherwise.”
Stan Means
Elder Source Senior Ministries
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