Daily Bread
Daily Bread with Dr. Jerrell & Angela Stokley offers inspiring biblical content designed to educate, empower, and engage everyone to seek God's Word as daily bread for the soul and live a life of purpose in Jesus Christ.
Daily Bread
God Is Not Dead - PT 1
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When the headlines shout and your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, it’s tempting to assume heaven has gone quiet. We tackle that ache head‑on, exploring how God speaks in the still small voice when spectacle fades—and why that whisper is often the doorway back to purpose.
We walk through Elijah’s cave in 1 Kings 19, where wind, earthquake, and fire fail to reveal God—but a gentle whisper does. That moment reframes the whole journey: discouragement can push us out of position, but God meets us with compassion and recommissioning—go back, anoint, continue. We also sit with Job’s searing honesty in chapter 23: I can’t find Him on any side, yet He knows my way; when He has tried me, I will come forth as gold. From cultural turmoil to personal losses—layoffs, illness, stigma—we name the fear and unmask the lie that silence equals abandonment. Instead, silence becomes an invitation to intimacy, where God matures our hearing and strengthens our identity.
Along the way, we get practical. We talk about leaving modern “caves” of isolation, returning to community and assignment, and using the tools that actually move us: worship as a first response, faith as ongoing action, and Scripture as living guidance. If you’ve been waiting for God to show up the way He used to, this conversation will help you recognize how He’s speaking now—often softer, but no less strong. God’s not dead. He’s not even distant. He’s reintroducing Himself in a way that grows courage, clarity, and obedience.
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Praise the Lord, everybody, and welcome once again to Daily Bread. I'm Dr. Jerell Stokely Jr., and I'm here with my lovely wife and co-host, Angela Stokely. Angela, would you like to greet our listeners and our audience on today?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, absolutely. Good day, everyone. We are so excited to be here. We're glad that you are here. And as always, we are just believing that something will be said to encourage, inspire, and help you to keep moving forward in the things that God has called you to do. So welcome and thank you so much for joining us again.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much for that, Angela. We would first like to thank our listeners and our audience for being a part of the daily bread family. We thank you so much for your prayers. And we continue to seek your financial and prayer support that we will continue to remain on the air and bringing you daily bread, the word of God, that may be applicable to any season and time in your life. I pray that you're ready for God to do something amazing in this teaching as we prepare to get started. So Angela's going to lead us off in some prayer, and then we're going to jump right into our teaching on today.
SPEAKER_02:Amen. Amen. Lord, we bless and we thank you. We give you glory, honor, and praise for this day, oh God. We are so grateful to be called your children to be a part of your family, God. We are grateful that we are each unique in our own way. And God, there is something special and specific that you called each of us to do. And we just give you glory and honor and praise. We are grateful for every listener, Lord God. We are grateful for the opportunity to share what heaven has to say in this space, oh God. So we ask in the name of Jesus that you would lead us and guide us in what it is you would have us to release to your people, oh God. We pray afresh and a new anointing, even now in the name of Jesus, to do that which you have called us to do, that we might edify the body of Christ and glorify you in all of it. In the mighty name of Jesus, have your way, do what you do, God. We submit to your will and your way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_00:Amen. Thank you so much for that, Angela. As Angela and I were talking previously about this session on today, uh, we realize that we are living in volatile and chaotic times.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Uh we people are experiencing so much despair and disfortune and disunity that many believers and others are asking, does God really care about what is taking place? We see a rise in evil. We see a rise in uh just a certain way that we are being treated and handled as a society. And across the globe, we see a great deal of dysfunction. And I believe that quietly some are asking the question, you know, does God love us? Does God care? Why would a good God allow things like this to happen? Absolutely. And in the midst of those tragedies, if we're not uh mindful and walking and rooted in faith, we can begin to ask the qu ask ourselves the question, is God dead? Is there really a God? Why would a loving God do something like this? So today we're going to address the topic: God is not dead. Absolutely. Finding God's hand in silence, suffering, and shaking. This is going to be a three-part series that we're going to break down for you. So I want you to get excited and stay tuned through all three parts. Today's session, today's series, part one, is entitled When Heaven Seems Silent, God is Still Speaking. Amen. It is important, Angela, that we understand that when God seems silent, his silence does not mean that God is absent.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:As a matter of fact, I have learned through the scripture that it is preparation for revelation. I see in the life of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 11 through 13, where Elijah went through discouragement, he was fearful, and because he was under threat from Jezebel, who was the wife of King Ahab, who had already killed many of the prophets, many of the men and women of God. And because this king was being persuaded by an evil queen, an evil wife, Jezebel, who had gotten tired of the prophecies of Elijah, because Elijah was representing God, speaking into the culture, into the context of how the king was ruling and how he and the queen were treating uh the people of God, that God began to send Elijah to prophesy there would be no rain, and the rain stopped. So there was a three-year famine. So then God would send Elijah and say that it will rain again, and then the rain came back. But during this time, Jezebel got so frustrated, she told Elijah, I'm going to kill you. And Elijah began to go on the run about that situation. And so Hurry is dealing with this personal dysfunction, and he was discouraged, he was fearful, and he goes and he hides in a cave. And I want to go to 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 11 through 13. Do you have that?
SPEAKER_02:I do have that.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, can you read that one?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Beginning with verse 11. The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_01:That is so good.
SPEAKER_02:It is it's so powerful. Yes, verse 14. He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said to him, Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hezeel, king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshe, king over Israel, and anoint Elijah, son of Shaphat from Abel Mahola to succeed you as prophet.
SPEAKER_00:That's great. I wanted you to read those extra uh verses to give context to the story.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:But now you see something going on in the politics of Elijah's day. Not only do you see it in the politics, you see it in the culture. So there is dysfunction, there is violence, there is a turning on the people. The people are turning against God, and this is a chaotic climate. The people are literally dying in this climate. The people of God, not just the people of God, the prophets are being killed. The prophets are the set-aside people. Right. They are the most holy people in the land. They are the seers for God, they're the mouthpiece for God. And in this context, this really could, in modern day and time, represent Christians. For sure. Represent believers, represent the body of Christ, represent those that love God. And there is this falling away that is happening in Elijah's time in this text. So Elijah has gotten so discouraged, and he has lost sight of the promises of God. Absolutely. He's lost sight of God's power. Because when pain really hits home, and things get personal, because now his life is even in jeopardy, and he thinks he's the last one left. But we know from his story that God had other prophets that Elijah did not know about. Absolutely. And so Elijah goes and hides in this cave, and the first thing God asks him is Elijah, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:What are you doing here? I thought, in and of itself, that was such a powerful question because it's important for us to really um try with everything in us. Sometimes it's difficult to stay in position. Right. Even in the midst of chaotic situations. Right. When the pressure comes and all of those different types of things, it is it is very easy for us to try to lean to our own understanding for real. Right. You know, as opposed to acknowledging God and following after him in all of our ways. And so when I read that, it it kind of tickled me because this for me helps me to understand he was out of position. He was somewhere that God did not intend for him to be. Thus the question, what are you doing here? And sometimes when we go through those difficult things and we feel like God's not speaking, sometimes we make decisions that put us in places that God never intended for us to be.
SPEAKER_00:Never intended us to be. We see the humanity. Absolutely. Absolutely. He's a prophet, but we see his humanity. Yes. And and when God, and not only do we see his humanity, we see a couple of things happening right here. God has not explained to the prophet, the seer, what he's doing. Exactly. It is reflective of the day and times that we live in that God, even though we have the word, we know we are moving toward the end times. And Jesus said there's going to be wars, there's going to be rumors of wars, there's going to be pestilence and tribulation, there's going to be earthquakes in diverse places. And Jesus says, when you see these things happening, fear because your redemption is not. And what he was saying is that all these things are going to begin to happen before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Exactly. And see, uh before that final redemption begins to take place. And and and so even though we have that information, it is what's happening in our personal life. Absolutely. How what's happening on the global and political and national and cultural level impacts our personal level, and we don't have all the deets of what God is doing with us personally. Absolutely. Like God, I know that Jesus Christ is coming back and all these things are supposed to happen. But I've been praying to you about a job and I haven't been able to get it. Absolutely. I'm about to go into foreclosure, and you haven't told me yet what to do. So we see the silence happening with Elijah. He has no idea what God's plan fully is with him. Right. We see the suffering that Elijah is facing, that the prophets are facing, and we see the shaking. God is allowing things to be shaken up in Israel. Yeah. And allowing this evil king, Ahab and Jezebel, to rule over the people. Mercy. And so we see that same thing happening in our culture and climate in America today, and against the people and the body of Christ, and people are shaking. And there's a question that is starting to permeate in our hearts is God dead? And I want somebody to know God is not dead. And you have to know that when heaven seems silent, God is still speaking. Now let's get to Elijah in this cave, shaking, hiding. And then God shows up while he is in that cave. Amen. He's in that cave. How many of us are in caves right now?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And I want to just add, because I think another, you you touched on this a minute ago in verse um, it looks like 14. Yeah, still in verse 14, about part C, if you will, uh, I am the only one left, he says.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:And when I think about that, that really speaks to psychology to me. His psychology, believing that he was the only one left. And oftentimes when we're going through those unfavorable things and we haven't, we haven't clearly heard the plans from God, right? We can oftentimes find ourselves with that same psychology, believing that I am the only one that's struggling like this. I am the only one that's going through something this terrifying or this horrible or this scary or this whatever it is. And so I love that you you mentioned this a minute ago about seeing the us being able to see the human side of this amazing prophet, this powerful prophet that the Bible um talks to us about. Right. And yet seeing his humanity, seeing that in spite of the anointing, in spite of all that God used him to do, he still struggled.
SPEAKER_00:He still struggled.
SPEAKER_02:And so, and even in that, just the idea that we shouldn't be embarrassed about struggling. No, we should not be embarrassed about struggling. When you just mentioned foreclosure a little bit ago when you were talking, yeah, it made me immediately I thought about the stigma of foreclosure and how the world and and sometimes the church, to be honest, can make you feel like you are a failure if you ever experience foreclosure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, and it's because of where we put value. But the reality is that the Bible tells us, Jesus said, anything that you lose for my sake, I will give that back to you, not only here, watch this, but also over in heaven, over in the glorious place. You know what I'm saying? That is so good. And so I, you know, when you said that, and I thought about the stigma that that that people that that the world has attached to that, sometimes the church, and how embarrassing that could feel for us, but how God doesn't see it that way. Right. So God would not at all be intimidated by allowing any of his children to experience a foreclosure. Right. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Just identifying like his, again, his plan's not our plan. Right. And he knows what he's doing. And so sometimes we go through things and and shame tries to jump on us, embarrassment tries to jump on us, and and we have to be mindful to stay in God, really in God's face and in his word about who he says we are. Right. So that we don't fall into the traps.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Because that that's exactly, I'm glad you used the word traps, because that's exactly what those feelings are. Absolutely. They are traps in the enemy to come and quench our faith and our praise and our belief in our servitude. Yeah. In God and in his goodness and in his love.
SPEAKER_02:And I feel like it stems from identity. You know what I'm saying? Like he can steal those things when I'm not sure who I am. Right. You know, when I feel like I'm I was zealous for God, like like He the prophet talks about. Right. But now this situation is starting to make me question who am I to God?
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Who am I? And then, yeah, it's easy for the enemy to come in and steal all of these different things from me. Right. Because I feel like sometimes it stems from my identity. Because when I don't know who I am, then I'm kind of open for anything.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And this is not condemnation because we all are human. Absolutely. Thus. Elijah. Elijah. Thus we see. Here's what I like, I really like about this. God sees Elijah in his humanity. The prophet of God, who knows God's power. Yeah. Who defeated prophets on Mount Cormel. Slay uh prophets with fire coming down from heaven. But here he uh prophesied that be no rain and the rain stopped. He knows God has power. He knows God is real. But here he is hiding in a cave. Ain't there some? But in his humanity, God does not uh separate himself from him. That's so good. God still shows up and asks him a question, Elijah, what are you doing here? That was compassionate, that was caring, that was a loving question. God didn't come and rebuke him. Why are you? He didn't he didn't come cast him down. God came, met him right where he was, yeah, in his fear, in his discouragement, and compassionately began to move in a way that blessed Elijah. Yeah. Showed that care and that compassion.
SPEAKER_02:I like, I like what just kind of jumped out at me, and I think you touched on this a little bit ago, but I think I maybe I'm seeing seeing it like a lot clearer now is how we seclude. We don't go in caves, but we find ourselves in seclusion. We separate and we withdraw. We stay in the house.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:We don't go anywhere. Yes. We stay away because we're just like, I feel like everything's after me.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And I don't know where God is right now. Yes. So I'm just, it's safe for me to stay in the house.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Glory to God. It's safe for me to just, uh-uh, I'm gonna just be by myself. Yes. I'm not, if you invite me, nope, I'm not coming because I don't feel like it's safe. I'm just going to seclude myself. And you know, I think that that just jumped out at me. Like our caves, they're not, they're not caves like what he was in, but our cave sometimes can be home. Yes. It is the places, the places where we seclude to to avoid whatever out of fear and concern and things like that.
SPEAKER_00:And out of discouragement. Absolutely. Because Satan was magnifying this in the heart and mind of Elijah to stop his prophecy. Absolutely. He goes into a cave, he's no longer prophesying. So the assault was against Elijah's destiny, it was against his anointing, and it was against his calling. Absolutely. That's why when God shows up and speaks to him and asks him, What is he doing in there? God gives him a certain specific set of instructions. Go prophesy to the king and go choose Elijah. So, in other words, get back on your assignment. Yeah. And in this day and time, in a climate like this that we are living in, the political climate, the violence, the racism, the, oh my God, the bigotry, uh, uh, uh, the inequality, people losing their jobs and people being targeted, certain races being targeted by people with power is causing, the enemy is using it to cause people to stop preaching, to stop singing, to stop teaching, to stop prophesying, to stop believing. At the core of Elijah's hiding in the cage was the beginning of disbelief. The beginning of unbelief. Yeah. He didn't believe in God's power anymore. Yeah. And he was so focused on his personal problems that he walked away from his calling.
SPEAKER_02:Now, do you know what I find interesting in this is that when God responded to him, he didn't even respond to the psychology that that the prophet had at that time. He was like, I didn't he didn't even respond to I'm the only one, and and now they're coming for me. And God didn't even respond. Right. His response was to basically what you were just talking about. He responded to what's your assignment?
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:He said, go and anoint. Go. Matter of in the first part, just go back the way you came. Go back the way you came. First of all. But then he says, when you get there, anoint Hezeel, king over Abraham. So it went right back into what is the assignment? What did I call you to do? Come on. It's almost like get back to that. Get back to that. Go back the way you came and then go anoint. So get back to what the assignment is that's on your life. Get back to the anointing that I've placed on your life. Get back to the thing that I've called you to do and the destiny that's on your life. Because it is not over here in this cave. It's not over there. Now, for us, translation is get out the house. Because what I called you to do, you can't do it in there.
SPEAKER_00:Right. That is so good.
SPEAKER_02:All of it can't be done in there.
SPEAKER_00:That is so good. You know? Yeah, that is so good because here's what I see in this. Here's what I see in this. Um, it's just like during the times of Elijah, we get off focus for what our calling and our purpose is. We do. But the bigger picture is God was showing Elijah, let me handle the politics, let me handle the culture. I like it. Let me handle the kings, let me handle the climate. You get back to the assignment. Yeah. Because he put Elijah right back into the strategic plan that he had. God says, I need you to go prophesy to the king over here because while you've stopped in the plan, I'm still working.
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:That is so good. Yeah, it is. So don't you allow, oh my God. Okay, let me say it like this. Because I'm so excited about this. Let me bring out this point. The point that I see in this is that Elijah was used to God responding in big ways. Yes. When he was on Mount Corma, fire came down and lapped up the sacrifice. Then God told him to take the sword and slay all these prophets. That's big. God said, go prophesy that it wouldn't rain. No rain came for three years. That's big. So because God wasn't showing up the same way that Elijah was used to him showing up, Elijah figured God, I don't know, maybe was abandoning him. And so he goes and he runs and he hides in his cave.
SPEAKER_02:This is a good one. God's done with me.
SPEAKER_00:God's done with me. So he goes and hides in the cave. But watch this. God comes and an earthquake happens. God wasn't in it. Fire. God wasn't in it. A shaking. God wasn't in it. But then a small, still voice. And God was showing Elijah, I don't have to show up the way you're used to. That's it. To be showing up. That's it. For me to be God. And for me to be working towards your good.
SPEAKER_02:That is it. Oh my God. That is it. And I think that is that is like that, what do I want to call it? It's like a turn point or just this point where you have to get to where you realize that what God has done is does not indicate what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And how he's done it before does not mean he's going to do it that way again. And one of the one of the greatest takeaways, I believe, in this is that we have to learn, especially in this silent time, right? We have to learn how to be flexible. We have to learn how to lean in and figure out how God is speaking. Because he is speaking. But just because he's not speaking like he spoke doesn't mean he ain't speaking now. Oh my God. And we have to learn how to be pliable enough and flexible enough whereby we're able to hear him in the wind if that's the way he wants to come. To hear him in a storm if that's the way he wants to come, but also hear him in a dream, in a vision, in a whatever. We have to make sure that we are we're open enough and flexible enough to really say, God, however you want to speak to me, your servant here. Oh my God. You know? And we have to, we have to do the work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Really. We have to do the work. We've God has spoiled us in a lot of ways. And when it's time to, aka take the training wheels off, we get a little uncomfortable. When it's time to take that pacifier away, we get a little uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:But God knows what he's doing. You know, and so we have we have to do the work of leaning in and learning this new way that God is revealing himself to us. That is so good. Oh my God. He's he's not running away from us, but he's revealing himself to us in a new way. He's reintroducing himself to us in a way that we've not yet been uh introduced to him before. And so we have to be willing. My goodness. I don't know why I just thought about like a ball. You know, you wear this a beautiful women or beautiful dress, men wear a tuxedo, but when you're when you're so used to interacting with God and your jeans and your sweatshirt, when it's time to put on the ball dress, you're uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Because we don't, sometimes we don't want to do what's required to meet him at the next level. Jesus. That is so good. But we've gotta be in order to hear him. And sometimes, sometimes he allows us to go through what is necessary to get us to the place where we're willing to do what we need to do to hear him.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my God. You know what I hear in that? That was beautifully explained. And what I hear in this uh Daily Bread family, sometimes we are better seers than we are hearers. I like it. We we will chase God down when we can see everything He's doing.
SPEAKER_02:You better believe it.
SPEAKER_00:If I can see the breakthrough, I love the Lord. I'm a high praise, I'll be in church, I'm shouting, I'm doing everything I gotta do when I can see it. But sometimes God will be silent to pull us into a deeper intimacy so that we can hear. Sometimes God won't do something for us to see, He will say something for us to hear. And I actually believe that it was necessary for Elijah to have this downtime. Because obviously Elijah hadn't heard whatever God was saying to him up to this point. Obviously, a lot something was going on with his with Elijah's intimacy that he needed it to be in this cave, sleep, sluggish, just kind of shut down, if you will, so that he could actually hear God speak with a silent, still voice. And I want somebody to know, I want you to know this God is not dead, his silence is not an indication of his absence, his silence is an invitation to his intimacy. Oh my god, I need to say that again. His silence is not an indication of his absence, but his silence is an invitation into deeper intimacy with God. Oh Lord, that was so good. And so God is using chaos to draw us into Cornelia because it is hard to hear in clatter and clanging sounds and many voices and hysteria and terror and screaming and shouting and arguing and fighting, and what the enemy is trying to do is block us from determining which voice is the voice of God. So, what is the remedy? We have to shut down and get into that intimate place, the place where it's just you and God. The Bible says, He that dwell in the secret place of the most high. Shut up by under the shadow of the Almighty, the Almighty, my God, you gotta run to your secret place. I love dead. He's not dead, he is still speaking. Just because uh we're going through some suffering and we're going through some tribulation and we are going through some trouble, doesn't mean that God is not speaking the way out, he's not speaking to us the door to go through, he's not speaking to us how to handle it. Just because he doesn't pull us out of it, doesn't mean he's not being God. God don't always pull us out. Sometimes he teaches how to survive in. Amen. Sometimes he teaches how to thrive in. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. We see that. Amen. He waited until they got in that fire. Absolutely. He said, I'm so big of a God that I will let them throw you in something that should kill you instantly, but it don't touch you at all. Yeah. Because I'm gonna be with you to shelter you in it.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Oh my God. And you know, one of the beautiful things that I've learned in those times when it seems as though God is silent, is that the truth is, is that God speaks through his word. Come on. You know, and I mean, there have been times when, you know, I wasn't sure what to do and would read the word or be listening to the word, and God would speak to me so clearly through a preached sermon. And, you know, you were preaching and you quoted a scripture, and that's and I knew it was the Lord talking directly to me about. My situation. So we have to remember. Oh, this is good. We have to remember that God has equipped us with tools concerning what He said, what He's promised, what He's doing, what He's going to do. We have to remember even to lean in more to the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01:That is so good.
SPEAKER_02:And one of the echoes in this, in my opinion, is that we have to be willing to do the work. Come on. We have to be willing to do the work. We I just felt this. We have to be willing to worship. We have to be willing to praise. Come on. A lot of times when we're going through those seasons and times where we feel like God is not speaking, it is one way that He calls us into worship. Come on. My God. Come on. It's almost that idea, you know, like, are we talking to Him? Well, we're talking about He's not talking to us. Come on. What are we saying to Him? Because that's what worship is. And so to me, one of the echoing themes, if you will, is that we have to be willing to do the work that is required to walk, which is action, right? Walk this thing out. We walk by faith. That's action, not by sight. We're supposed to be walkers. That means we're we're action-oriented. Oh my God. We're doing something. We're pressing in. Glory to God. And we're not apathetic and and and just standing still and and doing those things. We've got to put some skin in the game, as we call it. We've got to put some skin in the game.
SPEAKER_00:God knows the pains that we are facing. This he does. God knows the anguish that we are going through. Amen. God knows the gripping terror that often plagues our heart. But it is important that we praise God, that we pray to him, and that we encourage ourselves to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Don't succumb to the terror. Don't succumb to the assault. Don't succumb to the persecution and tribulation. Stand with the whole armor of God and let the people around you know. Let yourself, let your soul know, let your family know that I trust God regardless of what is going on in my life. Absolutely. This is taking me to Job. Absolutely. I am thinking about Job because Job faced personal pain and uncertainty on a magnitude and a level of no one that I have ever seen in my lifetime or heard of like what Job suffered. Absolutely. We know that Job got bad news upon bad news upon bad news. He hadn't done anything wrong. He was a righteous man. And Satan went to God to test Job. Job was going through a well, he went to God, and God said, Have you considered my servant you? God sanctioned Satan to try Job, to try him by fire. Absolutely. Because God knew that Job, though he would go through such anguish and pain that he would stand through it all and believe God because he had a love for God that was so deep that it could not be ripped from God, no matter what he went through. And that's what we have to get. It's all about love. We got to get to a place. Listen, daily bread family, you got to let your love shine and be rooted in your love for God, that nothing will separate your love from him because you know that he is good. Absolutely. Know that he is good. Absolutely. And so in in Job's situation, God's silence was shaping an unseen strength inside of Job. Because I'm assure it to you. If you go to Job 23, and I'm there, Job 23, verse 8 through 10. We already know about his situation that his children were killed, that he was robbed and raided, his house burned down, and that his cattle was stolen, his servants were taken, his body was stricken with boils from the top to the bottom, from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. And Job had the sentence of death inside of him, his friends turned on him, the community mocked him. This man went through a horrible, shameful situation. But in chapter 23, verse 8, he says, Look, I go forward. But he being God is not there. Watch this. Watch this. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as well. Oh my God, that is so good.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. That's a beautiful profession to make. I love it. I absolutely love it. And sometimes, you know, you you sometimes you have to say those types of things, even when you don't yet believe it. You have to just keep opening up your mouth until your faith can catch up with such a profession. You know what I'm saying? That's beautiful. I love that.
SPEAKER_00:He's basically saying, how can God lead me like this? I look this way and I don't see him. I can't find God. The God I know, the loving God, the protecting God, the preserving God. I don't see, I don't see preservation in this. I don't see protection in this. I don't see abundance in this. I don't see security in this. But what I do know is that I trust God. Yes. And that He is going to get the glory. Come on. And He is going to make me better in this situation. He said, when I come out of this, I'm going to be like pure gold. I'm going to be like pure gold. I'm going to be. So listen, daily bread family, listen. I need you to trust God right now. Amen. I know you're looking for him, and he's not showing up the way you are accustomed. Yes. I know he's been a good father. The reason you're experiencing some questions right now because he's been so good to you.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:I know he's been a good guy. He's been providing for you. He's been protecting you. He's been watching over your house, your family. Come on. God blessed you with the job that you have. Come on. God has you've been going on vacations. You got you had money in the bank. God has allowed you to have some of the best times of your life. He you made it through college. He has your babies are growing up. You got a beautiful family. God has been good. God has been good. You have walked in peace. Yeah. You have walked in a sound mind. God has done so many amazing and beautiful things for you. And He's been a good God. And He's still that.
SPEAKER_02:And He's still that.
SPEAKER_00:You're just going through a time of tribulation that Jesus prophesied about. But listen, it's still working good because these things have to happen. Yes. Come on, somebody. That evil may rise to his full place so that Jesus can come back and redeem the church. This has to happen.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:You gotta trust him.
SPEAKER_02:Man.
SPEAKER_00:My God. I looked on the left, I didn't see him. I looked backward, I didn't see him. I look forward. Oh my God, this thing is one. I don't see God nowhere in this. But Job made a profession. He says, but he knows the way I take it.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:He already knew I was gonna be in this. He says, but here's the deal. When he has tested me, I shall come forth.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Better than I went in.
SPEAKER_02:My God. Hallelujah. My God. And I, you know, I was I was thinking as I was um as I was listening to you, I was thinking about how important it is for us to remember that God has left other believers to give us testimony of how to process through. Come on. What to do when you don't know what to do, and what the other side looks like. My God. Come on. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's good.
SPEAKER_00:I mean Listen, we pray. We really bring it up.
SPEAKER_02:Sometimes we just have to just, you know, I'm thinking, I just think about the the people in the Bible that I don't know that we we really make them real sometimes, you know? That's right. And and we have to remember that we read their story, we know the end, but they didn't know it until they got to it.
SPEAKER_00:They didn't know it until they got to it.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I'm saying? And so is the case with us. We don't know it until we get to it. But what we do know is that there are some folk that went before us. Ah, for some, there's grandmothers and great-grandmothers, but then we can go all the way back to the Bible, hallelujah, and we can see that they also made it over. They went through, we see the human side, but we also see how God brought them out. And oftentimes we have to remember that God left his word, not for one thing, really, but for many. And one of the things that we can use the word for is to have hope that the same way he brought them out, he's gonna bring me out.
SPEAKER_00:That is so good.
SPEAKER_02:One way or the other, I will make it to the other side. Glory to God. And I so, so really, really, that speaks and says to me that God really hadn't left me out here by myself.
SPEAKER_00:Come on.
SPEAKER_02:I'm still learning as I go. And as long as I remain a student, I will continue to receive revelation, instruction, and understanding. Come on. And I can walk this thing out even when it hurts. Come on, even when it's painful, even when I have to cry. Because God never promised me that it would look like what I thought it would look like. Come on. But he did promise me that he knows the plans that he has for me and that they are good and not evil. Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00:That is so good.
SPEAKER_02:Hallelujah. And glory be to God. That is so good. So we've got to utilize the tools. Amen. And glory to God. Because the Bible is filled with testimony after testimony after testimony of those who had to endure what felt like quiet times.
SPEAKER_00:Come on.
SPEAKER_02:Silent moments, silent seasons, and then really dig deep in the word and see how, oh, but they grew. Oh, but they developed. Oh, but they worship. Oh, but they praise. Oh, but they whatever it is. And then apply that to our lives.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And I think sometimes that's where we fall short. We hear the word, but we don't do part B, and that is apply it.
SPEAKER_00:Come on.
SPEAKER_02:Because the word really will work. If you're working. If we work it. Glory to God. That's good. I am a witness that it'll work.
SPEAKER_00:If you're working.
SPEAKER_02:If you work it. So when we don't know what he's saying, go open the Bible.
SPEAKER_00:Go open the Bible. Listen, you mentioned tools and two tools that popped up in my mind. One you already mentioned earlier, that's worship. The first thing Job did was worship. When he got all the bad news, everything that happened to him, he worshiped first. That was the first thing that he did. And so when we have worship and faith working together in tandem, we then have everything that we need, everything that we need for God to do what God has got to do. We have everything that we need for God to do what God has to do. So we know we have our two tools. We have worship and we have faith. Let me let me raise these few questions and then we're done. I'm gonna I'm gonna jump off of here. Here's a question I want to ask you. If you lose a child, does that mean God has abandoned you? No, it didn't happen that way for Job. God was still with Job. If you are furloughed from your job or get fired for uh uh wrongful termination, does that mean God doesn't love you? No, Job lost everything. God was still with him. If you are stricken with a disease in your body, and it's a real disease, your body is hurt and hindered, does that mean God doesn't love you? No, Job had balls from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. His breath was putrid and he wanted to die, but God was right there with him. So in your most agonizing, painful moments, you must remember, you must remember that don't mean God is dead. That doesn't mean God doesn't love you. You're coming out as pure gold. He still loves you and he knows you're more than a conqueror and able to sustain it. Listen, this has been a great time being with you all today. We thank you for tuning in to the Daily Bread Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jarrell Stokely Jr. and my wife, Angela Stokely. We love you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to go and show your best gift at covenantgracechurch.org. Go and show some love for our podcast. We're gonna see you right here for our next session about God is not dead, finding God's hand in silence, suffering, and shaking. When we come back for this next session, you're gonna love this. We're gonna talk about when evil reigns, God rules. We'll see you next time on daily bread. Amen.
