When your voice is loud, but your words are empty. Do you ever feel that way? If you're human, you do. Whether in your job, a relationship or any other area of life involving people, you're going to feel that way at some point. For Christians, that may be an all-too-familiar feeling that seems to come in seasons. Do you ever feel like you pray, read and seek Jesus with all your heart and yet....nothing? You may be seeking Him on how to handle a situation or praying for someone and their health or salvation, or it may just be a normal day and you just don't hear or feel anything. You're not alone. But, what if you're a worship leader in your church? What if it's your week to sing or play and you aren't hearing from God about an issue that you need some help in. You feel nothing. You seem to be screaming at Him for an answer and you get complete silence. What then?
I've been there. It's a hard place to be in when you feel that God isn't hearing you and you're needing an extra dose of patience and understanding at that point in time. You sing and play on a platform in your church, knowing that you still aren't hearing from Him. It's quite a lonely feeling isn't it? It drains you spiritually, mentally and sometimes even physically. In my case, the thing that helped was beginning to learn the art of listening. In some ways I can be terrible at listening. I can hear, but I don't always listen. Sometimes it's the fact that I think I'm not hearing from God, but in reality it's that God isn't speaking to me in a way that I feel like He should. So, my prayer as of late has been for Him to help me be more aware and to do a little more listening and a lot less talking.
I'm often drawn to think of Elijah. What a relationship He had with God and what a longing he had to be with Him. God used Elijah to hold rain from the people for over 3 years because of their sin. I can imagine how Elijah was dis-liked. Yet, he was faithful and preached all this time, but he heard nothing from God. God just seemed to be inactive. But, seemingly out of nowhere.....
"After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land." 1 Kings 18:1
That's an encouraging story for me. The Lord took care of Elijah, giving exactly what he needed, exactly when he needed it. The "when" can sometimes be the hard part.
Recently, I was at a worship conference and was listening to Paul Baloche speak. Someone asked him about continuing in worship while going through somewhat of a drought in your walk with God. He gave a simple, yet perfect answer. He said, "You're going to go through this, and sometimes you just have to put on your tool belt and go to work". What a great answer to a seemingly complicated question. At that moment, our jobs as worship leaders is about something far bigger than ourselves. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we are creating a meeting between God and His congregation. Seek Him even in the dark and in the silence. I've also found encouragement in the fact that a teacher is always silent during a test. God is doing something.
In these times of silence, no matter how painful, no matter the level of anticipation you have, know that you are in God's best interest. When you read, pray and seek Him; listen. Do a little less talking and a lot more listening. Don't ignore the silence. Quiet your voice and lessen your words. Sometimes God's biggest moves come after periods of silence. Think about Elijah. In the fullness of time, you will see His power displayed.
Peace,
Justin
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