have you turned off all the devices in your house lately and just sat in the silence? it’s a little unsettling and it used to not be like that. These days it seems like my phone is dinging every five minutes and there’s another email alert flashing before my eyes and there’s always something to attend to. And I’m not complaining -I’m just stating a fact that the world is loud and noisy. And even now the television is blaring and the dishwasher is running and there’s a cacophony of sounds from my children. Today we have smart phones and social media and we put information out to the world or reach out to somebody and expect an immediate response. And sometimes when we don’t get an immediate response we freak out.
That’s called classical conditioning when we expect a response for our behaviors. So we are now so conditioned to expecting a response whenever we perform an act or text or post-- we expect a pat on the back for our acts- we expect a "like" on our Facebook posts- we expect some response and when we don’t get that response we feel ghosted --and for me that’s a very real thing - with the events of my life where I’ve been abandoned and trusting in a higher power and a god that’s going to not leave me is already a hard thing.
That’s called classical conditioning when we expect a response for our behaviors. So we are now so conditioned to expecting a response whenever we perform an act or text or post-- we expect a pat on the back for our acts- we expect a "like" on our Facebook posts- we expect some response and when we don’t get that response we feel ghosted --and for me that’s a very real thing - with the events of my life where I’ve been abandoned and trusting in a higher power and a god that’s going to not leave me is already a hard thing.
So Sunday at Village church my pastor Jonathan Taylor started his sermon series called Silence and we’re working through what it means when God is silent. He referenced John 11 versus 28 through 37 where Lazarus dies and they have the funeral. And Jesus shows up a couple days later and Mary and Martha are responding to his arrival.
so this is my response to the sermon on Sunday — spoiler alert: there’s no place in the Bible that says being a Christian would be unicorns and rainbows there’s no place that says anything would be easy Jesus Himself says that we would have a hard time.
I am no stranger to storms: metaphorical or real - living in the south, just two days ago we experienced hurricane Michael - we (my little family) recently (and in some ways currently) faced a life storm -
During this time I’ve been Mary rushing Jesus when He seemingly finally shows up at the funeral of her brother Lazarus and she is asking Him: “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? why didn’t you come sooner?! you could’ve fix this!! you could still fix this!!!” and I totally get where Mary is coming from. I totally understand that she is tired and scared and worried and grieved. And the first point is that it’s awesome that we are able to talk to God in this way -it’s OK- He’s not scared of our emotions and He’s not scared of our questions....
there’s a developmental milestone called object permanence - it’s the knowledge that something exists even when we can’t see it - it’s kind of funny to watch babies develop this sense... but what if we transferred this idea to God? It’s easy to question God's presence with the world being so much louder than His voice - it’s easy to believe what you see with your physical eyes instead of seeing with your heart and with the knowledge of what the Bible says about Christ.
so our faith is the evidence of things unseen but I think that maybe object permanence is an instinct that we need to switch over to our spiritual senses where we might not see God but we know He still there. I’ve had people ask me
"where is your faith?
why don’t you trust?
why are you doubting?"
well I’m human and I’ve had some bad experiences that would make me doubt and not trust... but if the enemy can get us in a place where we turn so far away from God because we don’t hear Him or sense Him or feel Him ... that’s where the enemy wants us ... that’s where we are defeated when we give up.
"where is your faith?
why don’t you trust?
why are you doubting?"
well I’m human and I’ve had some bad experiences that would make me doubt and not trust... but if the enemy can get us in a place where we turn so far away from God because we don’t hear Him or sense Him or feel Him ... that’s where the enemy wants us ... that’s where we are defeated when we give up.
So today I am gonna get outside - I believe that God is still around me even if I can’t “feel” Him.... He is in the wind and the trees and the grass... and I’m gonna walk around without shoes on and feel the grass under my feet... and know the God who holds the universe- holds me too.
And if He holds me, He holds you.
