Seasons of Silence

                                                  Judges 6:11-13

Introduction: The Bible is about God’s presence. His creating presence, his intervening presence, his sustaining presence and his incarnate presence all resonate through the pages of Scripture. But the Bible is occasionally about God’s absence: his presence withdrawn, his presence withheld, his presence expected.

Transition: If you have been around ‘the faith’ for an extended period of time, you might have experienced what seems to be the absence of God.

Judges 6:13, “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” (NLT)

Every believer has times in which they feel as though God is distant. Or absent altogether.

Many Christians assume that silence from Heaven means something has gone wrong, that the inability to “feel” God’s Spirit means God has turned His face away. But this is not what God’s Word tells us. His apparent silence is, in fact, an important part of how He works in our lives and grows us up into the men and women of faith He wants us to be.

Application: My time when I lived in Carson and heard the wind chimes from a distance. As you’ve heard the voice before you will hear it again.

1. Silence could be the result of a broken / severed relationship tied to sin/rebellion. –

‘Judges 6:1, ‘The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years’. (NLT)

1. Silence often leads us to ‘hide.’  

Judges 6:2, ‘The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years’. (NLT)

1. Silence is often accompanied by ‘loss’.

Judges 6:3-5, ‘Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, ⁴ camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. ⁵ These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare’. (NLT)

1. Silence can / should lead us to introspection & repentance.

Judges 6:6, ‘So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help’. (NLT)

• In the Silence, God will send a Word.

Judges 6:7-8, ‘When they cried out to the LORD because of Midian, ⁸ the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt’. (NLT)

• In the Word, God will remind us of what He’s done in the past and what He can do in the future.

Judges 6:8-10, ‘He said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. ⁹ I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. ¹⁰ I told you, ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.’ (NLT)

Judges 6:11-13 – Text

• In the Silence God allows us to move forward!

Judges 6:14, ‘Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” (‘NLT)