When God is silent // S01E12 (EPISODE 12)
We’ve all lived through a time where we’ve questioned if God is listening and, if He is, if He’s going to answer us. How can we figure out why we’re experiencing the silence and how tell it’s Him talking when He does speak?
QUESTIONS WE TOUCH ON IN THIS EPISODE:
VERSES FROM WHEN GOD IS SILENT
Psalm 37:7, Ecclesiastes 3, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Romans 15:4, Psalm 62: 5, Psalm 119:105, John 1:1, John 1:18
QUOTES FROM WHEN GOD IS SILENT
“When in doubt use the word.”
Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S01E11 (EPISODE 11)
“Where’s my focus. Am I stuck in the world? Or am I chasing after my Father, if you’re chasing after your father, if you know that like your heart is in it and you’re like God, speak to me”.
Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S01E11 (EPISODE 11)
Transcript
Shea: It’s good to be back.
Michelle: Back in the dining room. We gave up our office so that our child could have a room. And so my wife’s office is actually the dining room now. And with a Mac this big, yeah. I’m thankful you don’t mind. Cause it takes up half the table.
Shea: We’re good. Very good. Very good. But uh, we’re going to, we’re going to go into a subject. I think that a lot of people go through, sometimes it can make us feel so alone. Um, confused, uncertain. There’s all these keywords. It’s those times when God seems silent. When this topic came up, I was really thinking about this, like in my own life, in those silent moments, you know, what, what really was there? You know, what was the consistency? What always seems to kind of be the role in it, into it or out of it and really to be honest it’s confusing. Sometimes I know that sounds bad from someone who’s about to talk to me.
Michelle: It’s comforting to me actually, to be that honest, you know, we’re not going to always give you the only answer.
Shea: Right, right. But I know where it starts. We are a society. We are generations of immediacy. And I think that’s where a lot of the issue transpires and plays because we just haven’t learned how to sit and just kind of be patient. I mean, I could pick up my phone somewhat. I mean, I do it all the time, honestly, out at work, you have to like Google everything or run against some search engine that you trust because my guys at work will throw some stuff out there.
Shea: And honestly, I’m a flip phone kid. So that was like my first phone. We didn’t have all this smart technology in it, but nonetheless, it was like, it was amazing. Cause back in the day, if someone told you something, you kind of had to just receive it, you might have a notion in your head. Like that doesn’t sound quite right or, Oh, that sounds right. And it would take some time to research this thing. Um, we did have computers. Okay. But it wasn’t right there. Yeah. You can just pull out your phone right. Where you are.
Michelle: You’re like, let me remember that. And remember to like check it out at the local library, where they have WiFi.
Shea: You got to go through the file cards or those things card catalog. Oh my gosh. They’re like little pictures of like pictures that they took and you go through it. It’s got a little light behind it. Oh those are older. Yeah. We’re going way back. So if you know, if y’all know what that is, put it in the comments because I can’t remember it. Of course by the time the comments come up, probably Google search. I like immediacy. I don’t want to wait for you to write it to me. Right. So that’s my point though, you know? So it’s kind of like, you know, and I think when we, cause I love cooking and when I think of a meal, some meals are pretty simple to throw together. And then some of the meals that I put together, it takes me a little bit more time because of the amount of steps, the way things have to blend or be seasoned together. Right. And so it takes a little bit more time and that’s kind of how this is. There’s no set answer until when God will start speaking to you again, there’s a lot of things that you can look at and say, Hmm, and my meeting this criteria or this criteria, and that’s really what we’re going to get in tonight.
Michelle: Yeah. It makes me think of Psalm 37:7, where it says be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him, fret, not yourself over the one who prospers in his way or over the man who carries out evil devices. And when we think about evil being anything outside the will of God, I know for some people that rocks them a little bit, right? Because no one that loves the Lord wants to do anything that is termed evil. But if that is what it is, then this verse actually gets a lot more broad. And so you’re not just thinking of those, those ne’er do Wells, those villains. Right. And it’s really about getting frustrated when you see other people that you don’t know, if they’re listening to God or not, but you see them moving forward and they seem to have a direction, they seem to know what their next plan is, what their goal is. And you’re still waiting on the Lord. And sometimes you don’t know exactly when that’s going to come, which is why it’s so important to wait patiently for him. And it makes me think of a story when Saul was waiting on Samuel to do the sacrifice, but he was impatient. And so he didn’t see Samuel coming and he did it himself. Sometimes God’s waiting to speak for a purpose other than to drive you crazy.
Shea: It’s going to take patience. I’ve tried to do a souffle the right way.
Michelle: Have you even done one with me around that? Honestly, it’s not worth it. Isn’t it
Shea: I’ve felt more. Cause then I’ve succeeded. And like the patient’s level it’s like, so you’re like, is it or isn’t it? Is it? Or isn’t it? Is it? Or isn’t it. And then it falls. It’s like, it didn’t
Michelle: Wait, when it’s done, I know this off topic but when it’s done and you cut into it. Does it deflate? So like, does it taste good?
Shea: We’re in culinary school here and that just eat, eat mode c’mon. My wife is an eater. I am a cook. So, so sometimes we think differently.
Michelle: No, you’re a chef. I’m a cook because I have to. And you love it.
Shea: The flavor of the souffle. No, it’s just the appearance. And you know me, in this silence, is it a season or is it a disconnection? Um, I really like Ecclesiastes 3, you know, it’s that? Everything has its time. Oh man. From sadness to happiness, from rain to sun. But it’s a, is it a season or is it a disconnection? Cause I think that’s important because another way to look at that. Is, am I quenching the spirit or again, is it a season something that God is using to grow me? I mean, we’re going to grow in everything, even in a disconnection, you grow because when you reconnect, you’re awakened to the truth and you’re like, wow, okay. I have one of them almost a day. And then I used it. It was just kind of funny.
Shea: Me and my boss had a little bit of words and I probably said a few things that like were a little harsh and uh, I’m just being real y’all. But then I turned around cause you know, God speaks. He’s like, come on, you didn’t have to really say it like that could have done it in a different way. And I went to my boss who he know, he knows some word he’s I don’t know where he’s at, but that’s it, man. You know, the Bible says when I’m on faithful, he’s faithful. Cause it ended up working out without really, you know, it was just all of a sudden, like 10 minutes later, what exactly what I was hoping for. Cause I mean, Colby is going on and there’s some safety issues there. It happened. And it’s like, Oh, did I really have to even say anything? Not like that. And so God actually produced it and it made a good place in good word, vice. What I’m saying is are we disconnected or are we Ecclesiastes 3
Michelle: Is God putting a pause on the conversation or are you muting it?
Shea: Oh yeah, that’s good.
Michelle: That might help some people because I know for me, I was hung up on quenching the spirit for a while. I just didn’t because when I think quench I’m like, Oh, satisfying thirst. But it also means to put out a fire, you know what I mean? So for people who might have not heard that really cool theological term before you’re welcome.
Michelle: But um, the other thing, when you were just saying that, it made me think of is sometimes it can be really frustrating when you’re waiting on an answer from God and then he’s not giving you that answer. But then you hear from him about a correction. You ask him to do something, then you do something about it that, you know, it might, you might have no control over it. Someone might’ve come to you and ask you something about it. And then you say something that maybe wasn’t the best way to say it. And then you hear from God, then he has something to say and it’s to correct you. And you’re like, really? But then right after being vain, boom, this time he answered you about the thing you’d asked for too.
Shea: I started throwing verses at my boss, but like
Michelle: When in doubt use the word.
Shea: No I was wrong. You know, it was like, but here’s why self evaluation. Right? Um, I think that’s very important when you’re in a silent type of season or a, or other silence, where is my heart? Where’s my focus. Am I stuck in the world? Or am I chasing after my Father,if you’re chasing after your father, if you know that like your heart is in it and you’re like, man, I’m wired part word, come on, God, speak to me. And you’re reading and you’re reading, you’re reading and like, it’s quiet. There might be something going on there. But if all of a sudden you’re like, Oh, can I use the example of Instagram?
Shea: Like, okay, so my wife and it was before pregnancy was definitely before pregnancy, they were selling the apartment. Right, right. And we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re laying a bit. And I mean, she was going through a season. It was like, ah, man, I was just, it’s just everything. It was just not right. And I, sometimes I correct when I need to cause that’s my job. But a lot of times I sit back in prayer and so I prayed a lot. We wake up and all of a sudden she’s like, you could hear, she just like defeated, even get out of bed. And I look on her screen and she’s scrolling Instagram and I said, Hey, how do you start your morning? And she goes
Michelle: I started laughing. Cause I knew where this was going.
Shea: She goes, I scroll Instagram. I said, maybe you should start in the word of God. And you know what? That changed. That was a pivotal moment of change. But see, that’s what we’re looking at. We’re looking at, are we in the world mind frame or are we looking in a spiritual mind frame?
Michelle: And just to add another layer to that, I had been asking the Lord like, why am I feeling like this? Why is this so hard? You have to help me et cetera. And in this case it was me not wanting to hear what God had to say. And so I was muting it. And when Shea asked me, you know, what are you doing in the morning?
Michelle: Like I couldn’t help, but smile, which was a miracle in itself because you can also just get really defensive and bitter or whatever. But in this moment I was just really humbled because I had known for like three days that God had been saying the exact same thing I’d felt convicted about starting my morning with Instagram instead of YouVersion. And uh, I felt in that moment, him like, okay, well, if you’re not going to listen to me, I’m going to say it through the promptings in your husband.
Michelle: And then in that moment convicted me in a whole other way. I was like, why couldn’t I just listen to God? Why did he have to use my husband? You know what, like, so why am I listening to my husband more than God? You know? Like sometimes you just don’t want to hear it. And you’re convinced it’s not God. But if you check it back to the word, that’s the way you should do it as test. Is this the enemy telling me this? Or God, well God’s word always lines up.
Shea: Right. And it’s kind of amazing. And this is of course another one, one day, but spiritual leadership it’s like is the word that is the word of God. You know, God was prompting and it came from him because it was not of me and I, and you have to be really careful on that, but let’s, let’s move forward because I like in that thought that 2 Corinthians 13:5 always brings it up beautifully. It says, examine yourself to see whether your own faith test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourself? That Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test. That’s that’s it. Are you thinking of Christ residing with Christ in that connection, and relationship with Christ? Are you speaking with Christ? Are you reading the word? I really liked that because sometimes it’s like, we’re too busy trying to figure it out.
Shea: What’s going on? I don’t hear God. I don’t hear God. I don’t hear God. I don’t hear the spirit. I don’t hear the spirit is the spirit even talking to me and we’re so wrapped up with a voice and sometimes we just need to sit and be still and be silent. And you know, Romans 15:4 takes us into that for whatever was written in former days was written for instruction. This is all, it goes back to the word that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scripture, we have hope. And that hope is huge in this, in his silence, we need to be silent. You know, we gotta think about who’s our hope. Who are we supposed to be hearing from? Who’s supposed to be speaking to us. If I speak to myself, I go down the wrong path. But if I allow God to speak to me, if I wait on God, cause you know, a Psalm 62: 5says for God alone, all my soul, wait and silence for my hope is from him.
Shea: If I’m hearing something else, if I’m allowing myself to drift, then I’m not hearing. Now I’m saying, when I say sit in silence, do I mean like, trust me, you’re not going to be. Even if your mouth is closed, you’ll be thinking, silence can be found in the word of God, studying the word of God, reading the word of God, prayer. These are some really good aspects of what really bring you to this alignment. I love Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Watch this. Sometimes you have to wait for night for his light to shine.
Michelle: So true. And also in Psalm one 19 in verse 11, it says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. That helps when you’re in the dark waiting or when you’re in the light. And you just don’t hear when you have put up a wall against God, regardless of the situation we live in a time where we have access to the word of God. You know, we might not have access in this very instant to a brand new thing. He’s saying, you know, in, in our lingo, in our head that just to us, but we have his word in a book and in an app and on the websites, you know, it’s important. If you take it back to our name, the pantry, the more of his word you put in the pantry, the more you can pull out when you can’t go to the grocery store, which again, alludes to right now, they’re saying, you know, don’t go out, keep contact to a minimum.
Michelle: The people who have bulk buys, don’t have to go out. People who don’t have a lot, have to think spiritually your pantry can be as big as it needs to be. And it’s important to hide as much of his word in our hearts. So that if there is a pause in our day to day, whether we did it or because he’s putting it on, we can draw on something to test all these voices. Because I mean, Job’s a perfect example when it, God, isn’t speaking other voices start to come in and you need to be able to test all those voices because sometimes he might be using one other times. He’s not the one using that voice. You have to have something stored up to test every voice again. So you know, when it’s godly and when it’s not.
Shea: Anything pre pre like Jesus going away and telling the disciples, Hey, look, I’m going to leave someone for you. You know, an advocate, a helper. Let me do that. He’s got so many words and y’all know where I’m going with this. The Holy spirit. I mean, my problem with that, it personal problem sometimes is that I’m talking it’s back to that silence thing. And he’s there. I, I know God uses silence sometimes, but I think a lot of the times, you know, we’ll, we’ll talk ourselves into the wilderness. We come out of the wilderness and we look back really like I wasn’t with me. I like to laugh about it as though I have always learned something from this stuff. So even when I’m in this, these storms, I find joy. You know, it’s like, it’s like, how do you find joy in that kind of storm?
Shea: And I’m like, well, because eventually I’m going to come out of this and he’s going to teach me something. I’m going to learn something. He’s going to take something else away. Um, and I love how Jesus even put it when he was saying, Hey, I’m going to leave someone for you. Because the first thing that he puts in there, he says, if you love me, keep my commandments, keep my word, keep me because you know, John, 1:1, the word where it was, God word was there before the beginning. Yeah. All that cool stuff. He’s the word. He’s the commander. He brought it. Everything that you’re you’re reading is from God. And he says, he’s going to pray for you to his father. And he’s going to give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. And then if you skip down to 18, it says, I will not leave you orphans.
Shea: I will come to you. So you gotta understand too. The Holy spirit is not speaking for himself. He’s speaking for Jesus. Whenever the Holy spirit speaking to you is coming straight from Jesus. That is awesome. It’s like, he’s there. He’s not just leaving Oh, here you go. No, he’s like here. He’s, he’s just speaking to you. He’s there with you. You call on him. You, you ask him questions, you know, he’s going to be there for you. And when his answer comes, you know, that’s coming from the throne. That’s coming from your King. And that is what drives us. That is what gets us out of these silent moments. Either we learn that we needed to be silent. Sit, wait patient on the Lord. Or we learned that we need to change our minds and we need to give up something and move forward in something he’s going to teach us all things.
Shea: That’s what the Holy Spirit’s there for to teach us all things and bring remembrance. Of course, to Jesus. That is our silence. You know, it’s like, let’s sit back sometimes. Let’s just take a pause. Let’s take a break. If you feel like the waves are crashing down on you and you feel like God’s not hearing you being silent. First of all, may I say this? Pray, Lord guide my steps, open my heart to your word. And then, you know what? Open up Bible be with your father. Exactly. Be still and know that he’s the Lord. Amen. Amen.
Michelle: Remember to drop us some word of your own on the pantrypodcast.com or on the pantry podcast on Facebook so that we can hear what you’re thinking. Remember, prayer requests are always welcome and we will talk to you next time.
