WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.599 Hey there folks, we're back in the vestry. Welcome 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.839 back to the Semi -Seminary and the only podcast 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.679 that combines theological depth, spiritual honesty, 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:15.859 and well, occasionally, the dad joke about camels 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.480 fitting through the eye of needles. I'm your 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.739 host, Pastor Jim. I'm not quite a seminary professor, 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:25.760 not quite a monk, but fully committed to figuring 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.960 out this faith thing in real time right alongside 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:34.200 you. Today's episode, when God ghosts you, the 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:38.619 silence of God, and what to do about it. Yes, 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:40.679 friends, we're diving into those moments when 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:44.200 heaven feels like it's turned on, do not disturb. 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:48.100 You're praying, journaling, throwing worship 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:53.340 playlists at the wall, and still, nada. I'll 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:56.799 see you on the other side. So we had a resource 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.460 fair at the Fishing Marketplace on Friday, and 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:02.280 one of the vendors or the participants that was 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.280 going to table there at the event, they no -showed, 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:11.459 and I did have two others decline. They weren't 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:12.719 going to be able to make it, but at least they 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.439 contacted me and let me know. This particular 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.900 organization, I won't mention who they are, ghosted 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:24.540 me full -on. I confirmed face -to -face that 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:27.319 they were going to be there, handed them the 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:30.680 information sheet, sent out the day before email 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:34.859 to remind them. Day of, nothing. Their table 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:38.760 just sat there empty. And I was telling this 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:43.739 to some of the volunteers. And one of them, older 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:50.489 than I was, goes, what's ghosting? And I'm like, 00:01:50.590 --> 00:01:54.290 well, I'm now old enough that it would be hard 00:01:54.290 --> 00:01:59.670 for me to explain it. But, like, just in, like, 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:03.250 usually in a digital way, just ignore you exist. 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:09.509 Just, yeah, just you don't ever respond to them. 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:13.150 And that got me to thinking about, and then I 00:02:13.150 --> 00:02:15.629 got to thinking about another thing about phones 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:20.349 and stuff like. I call it the blue bubble anxiety. 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:22.750 I don't know. Maybe I've got an iPhone. Maybe 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:25.270 if you have an Android or text screen, are they 00:02:25.270 --> 00:02:28.729 blue as well? I don't know. Anyone have an Android 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:32.050 phone? When you text to each, you could change 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:35.569 the colors. Okay. So for iPhone. Okay. Well, 00:02:35.629 --> 00:02:39.189 I'm going to go with blue, blue, almost said 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:44.259 blue bubble anxiety, blue bubble anxiety. And 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:47.219 there's actually kind of two parts to blue bubble 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:51.960 anxiety and you've all experienced, okay? The 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.939 one is you've texted somebody and you are waiting 00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:59.580 for their response and then you don't get it. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:03.819 Now, some people have the read receipt on and 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:08.379 some people don't. So sometimes you can tell, 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:15.129 I know you've read the message. Just read the 00:03:15.129 --> 00:03:19.750 message. No bubbles, right? You know what I'm 00:03:19.750 --> 00:03:23.069 talking about? Like, yeah, none. So it's kind 00:03:23.069 --> 00:03:26.349 of like ghosting, right? Like, what is up? Then 00:03:26.349 --> 00:03:28.490 here's one. Carrie had this one the other day 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:31.150 that I thought was great because she had texted 00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:35.469 somebody a question, a request of some point, 00:03:35.530 --> 00:03:40.139 right? Her anticipated response was going to 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:42.659 be what she thought the response would be just 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:46.400 either a yes or a no. But then the bubbles came 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:52.560 on and they stayed on. And they stayed on. And 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:54.719 you're like, it doesn't take that many bubbles 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.719 to type. Sure. It doesn't take that many bubbles 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.219 to type. Nope. So she was like, oh, no, this 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:05.719 is a long message. This is not what I expected 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:10.610 in return. Blue bubble anxiety. Ghosting. Right? 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:14.969 Now I want to take that and I want to talk about 00:04:14.969 --> 00:04:18.350 tonight. That's right. We're in church. What 00:04:18.350 --> 00:04:23.410 happens when God ghosts us? Tonight's discussion 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:27.350 is the silence of God and what to do about it. 00:04:28.350 --> 00:04:31.629 Now, we've definitely all been there with our 00:04:31.629 --> 00:04:35.519 phones. But let's also be honest about this. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.779 We've all been there when we've had spiritual 00:04:38.779 --> 00:04:44.879 blue bubble anxiety. You texted God. You're waiting. 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:52.279 No read receipt. No bubbles. And then all of 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:54.519 a sudden the devil starts whispering quietly 00:04:54.519 --> 00:05:00.459 in your ear. Maybe he's mad at you. Maybe you 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:04.730 didn't fast long ago. Maybe that one time you 00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:08.069 skip Leviticus, it's finally catching up with 00:05:08.069 --> 00:05:15.089 you. And you feel ghosted by the divine. And 00:05:15.089 --> 00:05:17.750 here's what makes it even worse when we talk 00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:21.709 about spiritual ghosting. God, I didn't use the 00:05:21.709 --> 00:05:24.810 Holy Ghost. That wouldn't work. But in church 00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:29.410 culture, in the church world, so often we equate 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:35.699 silence. was spiritual failure. Because so often 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:38.220 we've been brought up to believe in the faith 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:42.279 that if God isn't just busting down doors for 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:45.220 you left and right and speaking audibly to you 00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:48.579 every morning in the shower, that somehow, somehow, 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:55.120 we're doing something wrong. And we feel ghosted 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:00.439 by God. But let's look at the Bible as we want 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:02.899 to do. And one of the things I think is super 00:06:02.899 --> 00:06:10.639 cool is the Bible is full of people yelling, 00:06:10.660 --> 00:06:16.240 God, where are you? And what's funny about it 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:21.560 is those people aren't often minor characters 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:23.720 in the Bible that you don't really know about. 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:28.350 They're heavy hitters. Let me just throw out 00:06:28.350 --> 00:06:31.629 three real quick. We have David, right? Let's 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:39.449 talk about David. David is the original emo psalmist, 00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:43.329 right? Very moody, very emotional, you know, 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:48.029 a little bit, a lot of bit, right? Very melodramatic, 00:06:48.290 --> 00:06:51.170 right? There's no doubt about it. And when we 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:53.730 look at very briefly the story of David's life. 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:56.639 We have kind of an understanding saying maybe 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.660 where that melodrama came from, right? Because 00:06:58.660 --> 00:07:02.060 most of us that have grown up around the Bible 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:04.660 probably know that David had periods of his time 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:07.339 where he clearly walked in the favor of God. 00:07:07.939 --> 00:07:11.259 And there were times where he deliberately went 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:16.899 off road, right? And completely bailed on his 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:21.360 responsibilities to God as a man and as a king 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.550 of the people of God. And a lot of those Psalms 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:29.689 are actually written in his lament for those 00:07:29.689 --> 00:07:34.769 shortcomings, right? So David has a bit of a 00:07:34.769 --> 00:07:39.529 pass when it comes to his melodrama in the Psalms 00:07:39.529 --> 00:07:45.230 because David lived very much on the edge between 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:52.860 God's overflowing power and absolutely... breaking 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:59.620 the heart of God. And in Psalm 13, verse 1, an 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:03.860 example of this emotion, David says, how long, 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:12.319 Lord? How long? Will you forget me forever? And 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:15.759 David is out here turning his quiet time, right, 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:20.139 into like a Coldplay album. But he's raw and 00:08:20.139 --> 00:08:24.829 he's honest. And he's not afraid to offend God 00:08:24.829 --> 00:08:28.790 with his honesty. Let's look at another one. 00:08:29.089 --> 00:08:33.409 Job, right? Most of us know the story of Job. 00:08:34.330 --> 00:08:38.929 Job was the patron saint of pain. And if you 00:08:38.929 --> 00:08:43.309 know the story, you might recall Job didn't do 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:46.470 anything to ask for the things that happened 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:51.200 to him. Including the death of his children. 00:08:52.779 --> 00:08:56.740 And Job was just out here trying to be a devout 00:08:56.740 --> 00:09:01.960 man of God. And his entire life and everything 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:07.879 he valued was stripped away. And yet at Job 30 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:12.700 and 20, even though he's hurt, he's still praying. 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:19.840 I cry to you, God. Cry to you. But you do not 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:25.799 answer me. Job is the gold medalist of the Suffering 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:30.360 Olympics. What's wild about Job is it should 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.639 be an encouraging lesson to each one of us. Job 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:37.519 never stops talking to God, even when he's mad. 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:41.519 One more. Another cat you guys might have heard 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.059 of. A guy named Jesus in Nazareth. Yeah, that 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:52.139 Jesus. Mark 15 and 34 records these words of 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:57.399 Jesus. My God, my God, why have you forsaken 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:03.860 me? Even Jesus had a moment where he felt like 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:07.940 he had been ghosted by God. And that happened 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:17.210 on the cross. Now, why does God go silent? We 00:10:17.210 --> 00:10:20.669 definitely see it happens and all acknowledge 00:10:20.669 --> 00:10:23.509 that we have felt it in our own lives and our 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:28.429 spiritual journeys before. Why? Why does it feel 00:10:28.429 --> 00:10:31.289 this way sometimes? Well, let me give a couple 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:34.029 of reasons that I think are good reasons to consider. 00:10:34.129 --> 00:10:39.190 The first one is this. Silence is a test, not 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:46.259 a punishment. Silence from God. Almost all the 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:52.879 time is a test of something inside of you. Not 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:55.440 because God has decided all of a sudden you're 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.620 bad and he doesn't want to talk to you anymore. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.360 God has not blocked you on his phone. Deuteronomy 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.580 8 and 2 says this. Remember how the Lord your 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:09.700 God led you all the way in the wilderness these 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:14.289 40 years? And then it explains why. to humble 00:11:14.289 --> 00:11:18.730 and to test you in order to know what was in 00:11:18.730 --> 00:11:24.049 your heart. In the New Testament, we find another 00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:29.090 lesson about why does God go quiet. Silence often 00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:34.289 will invite spiritual maturity in us. The writer 00:11:34.289 --> 00:11:41.029 of Hebrews is comparing the word of God as food. 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:46.049 to actual food, right? And we give age -appropriate 00:11:46.049 --> 00:11:48.750 food to our infants, to our toddlers, and to 00:11:48.750 --> 00:11:53.169 our adults. And he talks about solid food in 00:11:53.169 --> 00:11:56.750 5 and 14. He says, solid food is for the mature 00:11:56.750 --> 00:12:01.490 whom, by constant use, have trained themselves 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:05.610 to distinguish the difference between good and 00:12:05.610 --> 00:12:12.480 evil. And the third thing, silence. causes us, 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:19.220 slows us down to reflect. David, writing again, 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:26.659 139th Psalm, very famous verses, 23 and 24, Search 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:32.879 me, O God, and know my heart. Test me, and know 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:38.259 my anxious thoughts. God's silence can often 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:44.080 cause us to dig deeper in ourselves about what's 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.840 ultimately required of us in this relationship 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:52.899 between God and ourselves. I also want to mention 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:56.860 this as well, and I think this is super important. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.480 Please, friends, remember that God's silence 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:08.440 does not underscore, does not equal God's absence. 00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:14.059 Silence does not mean that you have been abandoned. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:21.799 Remember, Jesus felt it too. David lived agonizingly 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:26.259 through it. And Job, Job flat out endured it. 00:13:27.299 --> 00:13:32.259 Psalm 13 ends with this, but. In other words, 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:36.059 no matter what my present circumstance, no matter 00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:40.960 where we are in our relationship, God, no matter 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:46.700 what sins I am confessing and atoning for, I 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:53.120 will trust in your unfailing love. Faith continues 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:58.139 to knock even when the door seems bolted shut. 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:06.019 So. You're not broken. You're not abandoned. 00:14:07.139 --> 00:14:13.360 And you're not a bad Christian. You're in the 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:18.740 middle of a very biblical, very human experience. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:24.879 Remember that silence is a season, not a sentence. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:30.460 So keep praying, keep trusting, keep leaning 00:14:30.460 --> 00:14:35.570 in. And maybe, like I mentioned, silence, the 00:14:35.570 --> 00:14:40.610 ghosting of God, isn't a punishment. Maybe it's 00:14:40.610 --> 00:14:45.509 the hush right before your breakthrough. Amen? 00:14:45.809 --> 00:14:49.049 Amen. It was short tonight. Sorry about that. 00:14:52.629 --> 00:14:56.389 Well, that's all for today here on the Seminary 00:14:56.389 --> 00:15:00.110 Seminarian. Until next time, keep asking questions. 00:15:00.909 --> 00:15:05.730 Keep showing up. Stay semi -sanctified and fully 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:07.909 caffeinated. Peace.