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TEXT: John 11:1-6
TOPIC: When God is Silent
Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Center Point, Alabama
February 22, 2009
There is something wonderfully strange about silence.
For we who live in a noisy world the sound of silence is a welcomed sound.
When we are tired and worn down, we welcome silence.
It is during the quietest and sometimes the darkest periods of the night that we often find our greatest rest and peace.
But there are also times in most of our lives when silence is not welcomed or wanted.
Especially if that silence comes from God!
The songwriter said it this way.
/“The days are weary, the long nights dreary.
I know my Savior cares.”/
For those who hurt deeply, the silence of God is deafening.
Does God really care about my situation?
Is He near?
Then why is He so silent?
John 11 presents the seventh and the greatest sign-miracle of Jesus, the raising of a man named Lazarus from the dead.
And it is through this miracle and our Lord’s relationships with the persons involved, that we can come to better understand the silence of God.
Now write this down.
When God is silent, there is always a reason and always a right response.
(Read John 11:1-6)
*/1/*/ Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
*2* It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
*3* Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
*4* When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
*5* Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
*6* So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was./
John 11:1-6 (NKJV)
#.
*WHEN GOD IS SILENT, THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON*, *John 11:11-15*
*/11/*/ These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."
/*/12/*/ Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."
/*/13/*/ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
/*/14/*/ Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.
/*/15/*/ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.
Nevertheless let us go to him."
/John 11:11-15 (NKJV)
Times of sickness and~/or death often amplify the silence of God.
Four times in the first four verses it is said, “Lazarus was sick.”
“Sick” is a word that refers to a sickness that leads to death.
Lazarus had a terminal illness.
But verse 6 states the strange and peculiar response of the Lord.
Verses 11-14 indicate Jesus’ divine knowledge regarding Lazarus’ death.
Both during Lazarus’ sickness and his eventual death, the Bible makes it very clear that Jesus was fully aware of Lazarus’ condition, yet He chose to do nothing.
In other words, He remained silent.
Why did Jesus remain silent when Mary and Martha and especially Lazarus needed Him so much?
First, notice the importance of the truth that *it was not because Jesus did not care for or love Lazarus*, Mary or Martha that He was silent, (see vs. 3-5).
*/3/*/ Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
*4* When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
*5* Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus./
John goes out of his way to tell us that Jesus loved Lazarus.
I will never forget Dr. Oscar Thompson.
I knew him as Professor Thompson during my first year at Southwestern Seminary.
Dr.
Thompson was my Church Evangelism instructor.
Dr.
Thompson had incurable bone cancer.
Each day we would watch Dr. Thompson limp to class with the aid of a walnut cane.
There he would position himself at the front of the class, sometimes leaning upon his cane, sometimes resting on the corner of his desk.
From there he would teach us how very important human relationships are to doing effective evangelism.
One particular morning, one of my classmates was very emotional as he related to Dr. Thompson his anger with God over Dr. Thompson’s sickness.
It was Oscar Thompson’s response that I will never forget.
He said something next that I have remembered through the years and used again and again during times of adversity.
He shared with our seminary class this statement of wisdom.
“God never allows anything to come into our lives except by His permission.
And if He grants it His permission, then He will give us the grace to deal with it.”
Dr.
Thompson knew the love of God.
Someone has said, when you can’t trust His hand, trust His heart.
Second, we need to face the fact that *unconfessed sin will always disrupt our relationship with God.* Psalm 66:18 says, /If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
/Isaiah 59:1-2 from the New Living Translation says, /The Lord is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf.
He can hear you when you call.
2// But there is a problem—your sins have cut you off from God.
Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
/
When God is silent, you should first of all examine your relationship with Him.
If there is known sin in your life, confess it immediately, repent, and seek His forgiveness.
Then recommit your life to His sovereign control.
If you’ve done this, and like Job of the Old Testament you still feel slighted by God, then listen to this.
This could be the greatest truth of all.
The third reason God is often silent is simply the fact that *sometimes He wants to reveal a wonderful new truth about Himself to us.
*
Henry Blackaby in his study book, “Experiencing God” shares of a time in his own life when God was silent.
He says he had prayed for many days and there seemed to be only total silence from God.
It seemed as if heaven were shut up.
And then, while reading through this passage, he found in verses 21 and 32 a new truth the Spirit helped him to understand.
He says it seemed as if Jesus had said to Mary and Martha,
“You are exactly right.
If I had come, your brother would not have died.
You know that I could have healed him, because you have seen me heal
many, many times.
If I had come when you asked me to, I would have
healed him.
But, you would have never known any more about me than you
already know.
I knew you were ready for a greater revelation of me than you
have ever known in your life.
I wanted you to come to know that I am the
resurrection and the life.
My refusal and my silence was not rejection.
It was
an opportunity for me to disclose to you more of Me than you have ever known.”
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