THE SILENT TREATMENT
DAY 93: One of my favorite commercials on TV right now is from a cell phone company. It features a teen girl who is calling her boyfriend - for the eighth time - to inform him that she is giving him the silent treatment. With confusion and a little irritation the boy responds, "I don't think you understand the concept behind the 'silent' treatment." With a knowing look the girl sits quietly on the other end of the phone fully ready to embrace the "silence" of the silent treatment.
I like the scene because, like the boyfriend, we all wish that some people would opt to engage the silent treatment and give us a break from their constant input. There are probably even times we wish God would sit this one out and not comment on our choices. Be careful what we wish, because God certainly has the prerogative.
There are times recorded in scripture when He did just that. For instance, the 400 years prior to Christ's birth He sent not a single word to the people through a prophet, or when sin was cherished in the life of one of His people- they stopped hearing from God. God understands the silent treatment. Thankfully, He does not employ it often. Instead He says that if we seek Him we will find Him.
There have been times I have had the expectation that God was going to butt in, pick up the proverbial hot line and call out to me with His will in a circumstance. Then when He didn't take a direct approach to give me answers I labeled it "the silent treatment." In reality, I almost always discover that God is waiting for me to call to Him, to "seek" Him out. Prayer is an act of seeking. For most of us though, it is an act of calling out to God in the midst of challenges to simply vent. How often have you been disappointed that God did not respond with the "still small voice" specifically telling you what to do. Certainly, He does that; He has done it for me - if I am listening and not just talking. But more often I hear His voice when I go to where He always speaks: scripture.
I don't mean that I hit a crisis and start flipping through the passages looking for the "right" answer. When I hear God most consistently on the specific issues in my life is when I am systematically already in His word everyday. I have learned to trust that God does not require me to play hide and seek with Him in His word. If I am seeking Him daily, He will find me. I have yet to experience His silence when I am spending time with Him everyday in scripture. I marvel, I mean MARVEL, that He is speaking directly to my life in the passages that I already had planned to read for the day. I don't change my reading plan because my circumstances change.
Today, He did it again. While these random verses for April 3 in my Daily Bible, may not have spoken to anyone else, God found me and spoke clearly to what was on my heart on April 3. I heard His voice clearly when I read what was on the page in front of me.
Deuteronomy 26:1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the first fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name
Deuteronomy 26:10 bow to the ground in worship before him. 11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. . . 17 You have declared today that the Lord is your God.
Luke 11:8 . . . if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
These may be random verses to some, and it isn't even important that anyone else knows why they were meaningful to me. Amazingly, God knew what questions were on my heart TODAY. He knew where I needed His direction TODAY. He knew what issues I was desperate to hear His voice about TODAY. And, as He so often does, HE FOUND ME while I was seeking Him in the routine of reading His word. He isn't even thrown off if I get my days mixed up or fall behind. Don't imagine that He is in Heaven thinking, "Drat, she skipped yesterday and now she will never hear what I wanted to tell her." In His sovereignty, I can't throw Him off. HE FINDS ME WHEN I AM IN HIS WORD. He will find you there, too.
It is not His habit to give the silent treatment. I always know where to find Him and He is always willing to be found.
Day 93 of 365
Deuteronomy 26
Deuteronomy 27
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 11:1-13
Psalm 76:1-12
Proverbs 12:15-17
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I like the scene because, like the boyfriend, we all wish that some people would opt to engage the silent treatment and give us a break from their constant input. There are probably even times we wish God would sit this one out and not comment on our choices. Be careful what we wish, because God certainly has the prerogative. There are times recorded in scripture when He did just that. For instance, the 400 years prior to Christ's birth He sent not a single word to the people through a prophet, or when sin was cherished in the life of one of His people- they stopped hearing from God. God understands the silent treatment. Thankfully, He does not employ it often. Instead He says that if we seek Him we will find Him.
There have been times I have had the expectation that God was going to butt in, pick up the proverbial hot line and call out to me with His will in a circumstance. Then when He didn't take a direct approach to give me answers I labeled it "the silent treatment." In reality, I almost always discover that God is waiting for me to call to Him, to "seek" Him out. Prayer is an act of seeking. For most of us though, it is an act of calling out to God in the midst of challenges to simply vent. How often have you been disappointed that God did not respond with the "still small voice" specifically telling you what to do. Certainly, He does that; He has done it for me - if I am listening and not just talking. But more often I hear His voice when I go to where He always speaks: scripture.
I don't mean that I hit a crisis and start flipping through the passages looking for the "right" answer. When I hear God most consistently on the specific issues in my life is when I am systematically already in His word everyday. I have learned to trust that God does not require me to play hide and seek with Him in His word. If I am seeking Him daily, He will find me. I have yet to experience His silence when I am spending time with Him everyday in scripture. I marvel, I mean MARVEL, that He is speaking directly to my life in the passages that I already had planned to read for the day. I don't change my reading plan because my circumstances change.
Today, He did it again. While these random verses for April 3 in my Daily Bible, may not have spoken to anyone else, God found me and spoke clearly to what was on my heart on April 3. I heard His voice clearly when I read what was on the page in front of me.
Deuteronomy 26:1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the first fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name
Deuteronomy 27: 16 Cursed is anyone who dishonors father or mother.’
And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’
Luke 11:8 . . . if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
These may be random verses to some, and it isn't even important that anyone else knows why they were meaningful to me. Amazingly, God knew what questions were on my heart TODAY. He knew where I needed His direction TODAY. He knew what issues I was desperate to hear His voice about TODAY. And, as He so often does, HE FOUND ME while I was seeking Him in the routine of reading His word. He isn't even thrown off if I get my days mixed up or fall behind. Don't imagine that He is in Heaven thinking, "Drat, she skipped yesterday and now she will never hear what I wanted to tell her." In His sovereignty, I can't throw Him off. HE FINDS ME WHEN I AM IN HIS WORD. He will find you there, too.
It is not His habit to give the silent treatment. I always know where to find Him and He is always willing to be found.
Day 93 of 365
Deuteronomy 26
Deuteronomy 27
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 11:1-13
Psalm 76:1-12
Proverbs 12:15-17
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ive been away from ur wanderful messages from GOD and im thankful to hear GOD TODAY THROUGH U : )
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