When God Feels Silent

This episode explores the profound topic of feeling God's silence in our lives, addressing how believers can navigate periods of spiritual quietness with faith and resilience. Through biblical insights and practical advice, it encourages Christians to deepen their trust in God's plan even when His voice seems distant.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

This is the growth room. We're thankful that you have signed on today, that you have joined us in the different room here tonight. We have prepared a room for us today in a different location, a different area of the United States. I am currently sitting in Calvary Church Addison in the great state of Illinois under the leadership of Pastor Brian Labat, who has enabled us to be able to record a podcast session with some great friends of mine that I'm honored and privileged to be here with them. We're going to go ahead and get our introductions out of the way. My name is Joe Cass, and I'm pleased and honored to be with you here today.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

My name is Matthew Combs, and it is an honor to be on the podcast. I'm a youth student here at Calvary Church Addison.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

And I'm Wesley Combs. My favorite title is Matthew's Dad, and I also attend church here at Calvary Church in Addison.

SPEAKER_05 0:54

Awesome. Well, we're thankful to have both of you guys. I know you are both really great friends of mine, really close to you guys, and I'm honored to have you guys on the podcast today. And I know for those of you that are signing on right now and joining us either audibly through the other streaming platforms or through you can see us in the room right now on the YouTube platform, you're going to be blessed today because we are going to talk about a topic that is a daunting question and a daunting thing that every single Christian in the world right now, today, has, uh either is or is going to experience. And that is the idea of struggling when God feels like silent, when he feels like he's just gone silent in my life. And so to kick us off, we're talking about something I think that every believer in the room, out this room, in the world has faced at some point. But what do you do when God feels silent? Not distant because of sin that you're going through or something you're doing, not because even you walked away, maybe, or maybe you did, but you know, you're doing the good things. You're checking the boxes, you're praying, you're fasting, you're reading the word, you're doing all the Christian activities that we are called to do and discipline our lives, and you're seeking, and it just feels quiet. It just feels calm in the room. And I want to bring up a scripture to get us going here. And uh, that's from the book of Psalms, chapter 13, verses number one and two, which says, Help, Lord, for the godly man seizes, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The Bible says David literally, in the next chapter in Psalms 13, he literally goes on to say, How long, Lord? So this isn't just a struggle that David is experiencing. This is something in the scripture we find where people in scripture they walked through this struggle. They didn't just write it down, but they experienced this. And I'll say of Psalms 13, 1 and 2 as well, How long would thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will thou hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? And so, what I would like for us to dive in on today is this topic of what do we do when it feels like God goes silent in our lives? And so I want to open it up for comments from you guys.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Well, it I think you what you said is very, very accurate in that if you haven't experienced that, I promise you will. Um I think it's a very common thing, and it's it is absolutely not a sign that you've backslid necessarily. Um but I do think we have to be sure that we are in alignment with him and with his plan. Um it if if we're close to the source, we hear it well. And we all understand what that means to kind of get a little farther off course. And we anybody that's been in this for a while, you know. You know, if you're not quite in alignment, quite where you need to be. Um, but I think what do we do in those periods of silence is uh we can't we can't lose faith in it because just like David said, How long are you gonna hide from me? God was not hiding from David. God, God doesn't run and hide. You know, it could be that David in that context, and I'm not exactly sure which psalm that was, but it could be, you know, maybe David wasn't in alignment or had done something that maybe caused him to get out of alignment with that. So I think we have to be mindful and check ourselves. Um, it almost sounds in that psalm like God, it's it's you. Where are you at? God, where am I at? How come I'm off course? Why can I not hear you right now? Might be a better, a better question. So I think self-reflection and taking a step back and looking, looking at yourself and asking those questions, hey, have I allowed something to creep into my life that uh is making me feel like God is silent.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, just to add on to that, um, like you said, just if this happens to you, it's not it's not a personal thing. God isn't, you know, mad at you or anything like that. Um, but I mean it happened to David. So it nobody, nobody's exempt. Um and so I'd say the biggest thing to do if you're in a in a if you're in a quiet season right now, just to keep doing what you're doing, um, as in like devotion with God. So if you're you know praying and reading your Bible and you know that what you're doing is what you should be doing, I think that it's it's what you should be doing. And so, you know, stopping, you know, prayer and reading your Bible isn't gonna get you closer to God. It's not gonna get his voice out to you. Um, but just continue and push further in your uh devotion, in your uh Bible reading and prayer and uh fasting time. And honestly, fasting probably more than any of those, because fasting humbles our flesh, it silences our voice that way God can speak.

SPEAKER_05 6:36

So yeah, I think that both of those are so good because let's be honest with ourselves. As soon as you take honest introspection, you know, just because I am checking the boxes, am I actually checking those boxes for the right reasons? Right. Am I praying for the right reason? Am I talking to God or am I talking at God? There's dynamically differences whenever I'm talking at the Lord than when I'm talking with the Lord. You know, we can scream at him and point the finger and say, Lord, this is why this is messed up. This is why, you know, you're not showing up in my life. But actually, just like you said, whenever we're doing those disciplines the correct way, it gives a space for the Lord to show up and to show out for us in spite of us because we're not in the equation any longer. So that's that's I think that's very good. And I think as we really dive into this conversation today, every believer, what we have to do as believers, um, is we have to be honest with ourselves and honest about the situation. I mean, let's make it simple here. Let me give you a simple analogy. If I'm walking through a trail in the backwoods and a snake bites me, was it the snake's fault or mine? Was it my neglect of looking at the environment that I'm in, or was it the adversary in the environment he was already inhabiting? I stepped into his realm and got bit. But it was a lack of my self-awareness in walking this trail, getting bit by a snake where I may have not, may not have should have been where I was. So I think that many times we point our finger at God and we're like, God, I would have done this so much better. Oh my gosh, wow. The creator of the universe who built all of this, like he tells Job, and he responds to Job's talking at God, and he says, Job, where were you, bro? Where were you when I built the heavens? Right. When I built the earth, when I the ground you're sitting on yelling at me, I made that. But where were you when I did that? And it was like a humbling experience for Job because Job's like, oh Lord, you're exactly right. Who am I to yell at you like this? But it all was happening because Job was in the middle of a situation, a storm, a trial, what have you, a wilderness experience where he's just locked in this environment that he cannot see what God's currently working on. And God doesn't want him to see it just yet. So he's like, Job, sit back, buddy. Give me a minute. I'm working something out for you. Yeah. But in the meantime, it looks to you like I'm being quiet, but I'm being quiet for a reason, and it's twofold. One, Job, while I'm quiet, you're in the testing room because I'm so proud of you. I'm so honored to have you on my team that I want to put you in there to throw the biggest test out there because of the enemy of your soul, because I know that you're not going to turn from me no matter what. Right. So, number one, the dynamic was I'm testing you. And number two, it was I'm building something better for you while I'm in the silence. Yeah. Very good.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah. I like what you were uh getting at there. That the teacher doesn't talk during the test. And so, and he said that you said that God is so proud of Job that he trusts him with the test. So if you are going through a trial, God is control of and is he is in control of everything. So if something happens to you, it went through his filter first.

SPEAKER_05 10:46

Yeah, it's very good. And like when I am sitting in the classroom though, in the moment taking that test, it's very daunting. It's like a lot of pressure. Yeah. It's like, what if I get this wrong though, God? What if I miss this mark? And well, I mean, God's sitting there like, brother, it's an open book test.

SPEAKER_04 11:10

That's good. That's good. Like everything you need to pass this test, I already wrote it down for you. You just got to get in there and find the answers to this test, buddy. Don't stress it. It's open book.

SPEAKER_05 11:22

So that's very good, though. Like many times, you know, God is silent during the test, but the test is what is built and manufactured to give you the testimony, right? To go with you, to witness. Because if, you know, um, growing up, I had I had a pastor in my life, Pastor Charles Clark, who would say this often and it became integral to my walk with the Lord. And he would always say that if you never need a delivering, you don't know him as deliverer. Right. If you never need a saving, boy, you don't have any idea what a savior he can be. Same thing with every attribute and character that God is. If you didn't need him for anything, he never became anything for you. So there's got to be a need element there.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

He he left certain nations in the promised land to teach the Israelites how to war. He let some things be there to teach them. And I think those silent times, and they are miserable. I'll be honest. I I have I have had them that felt like they were were long. And it wasn't God's problem. It was absolutely my problem in alignment, like I was talking about. Um, but when you come through it, and you will come through it, if you're in it now, you will come through it. Right. Um, you realize it's you we always say hindsight is 2020, and you know, several years removed from my silent years, um, I can look back and say, this is where I was off course. Um the good news is God was right there the whole time, watching me, watching over me, didn't let me fall out of out of step. So, you know, if it is an actual test, as Matthew said, with and the teacher doesn't talk during the test, the teacher knows exactly what that test is. And he is he is watching, and he's not gonna let you fall spiral completely out of control. And if you do, it could be that it takes hitting rock bottom to to finally get back into alignment and and look at him and find him.

SPEAKER_05 13:29

That's exactly right. And actually, um, in my vocation where I am at work, we use these tools called radio antennas to carry a network from one building to another. In order for that to work, like you're saying about alignment, in order for that functionality to work, both buildings have to be in perfect alignment for that network to carry, right? For all the information, all of the power, all of it to carry from this building to that building. I and the other building, we have to be in alignment. Line of sight. Exactly. Yeah. There has to be a line of sight. So, really, in that introspection that you and all of us have to do, really on a daily basis, you have to be willing to ask yourself a very powerful and really deep question. And that is, am I far from God or has he just gone silent? Because it could very well be possible that it's actually not God that is silent, it's you that just drifted away from his voice.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

And and we heard tonight, even in Pastor of the Bats message, drift, drift can start very slowly. It it it's it's very rarely a huge you're off course moment. It's a very gentle, maybe it's a little small push, the wind, maybe just the world, maybe just some kind of a pressure, just a little something that that just barely nudges you. And you know, if you look at and you know, look imagine a 45 degree angle, you know, down here at the point, when you when you start off course, you're not off course by much. But if you carry, if you keep going that way, the f the longer it goes, you are way off course. But you're never so far off course you can't make a course correction and come back.

SPEAKER_05 15:23

Right. So that's really good. All right, I have another scripture that I want us to uh throw out here for the audience. That's from Isaiah chapter 45, verses 15 through 18. And the Bible says, starting at verse number 15 of Isaiah 45, verily thou art a God that hideth himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Now, if you just stopped reading there, that's kind of daunting. That's kind of if you just read that one sentence and pulled it out of the church hat and pulled it out of the Bible hat, and you just took that and said, Okay, see, God hides himself from us. But wait, there's more to this. Verse 16 says, They shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them. They shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. So here, the reason God hides himself is because literally what takes place is when we set idols up, God says, Okay. He's not gonna he's not gonna share space with that. No, no way. So, but there's more. All right, so God hides himself because we set an idol there of opposition, and he's a perfect gentleman of our souls. So he's like, Okay, I'll take a step back. But verse 17 goes on to say, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor confounded the world without end. For thus says the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. It goes on to say, I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Wow. So right here you have such an interesting scripture that is very dynamic in its attributes and application for us. Because out the gate, God's like, look, if you want to be your own idol, that's okay. I will let you be your own idol. If you want this other golden calf to be your idol, I'll let you worship it. You can worship it. But if you want me, you need to take me and all of me. So in the Christian living, we check the boxes and we think we're worshiping God, but in reality, are we just worshiping ourselves? Because I would almost make the argument that just because you are a theologian of the word of God does not mean you worship the God of the Word. Right. You could actually be in search and in um a path to just acquire only knowledge, but not knowing Him.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

The greatest Bible scholar in the world could easily die and go to hell. Easily. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can memorize it, but if you don't apply it, it does you no good. It means nothing to you.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yeah. The Bible says that he's a jealous God, right? So he's not gonna sit somewhere and you know get put in the passenger seat when he knows that he's supposed to be in the driver's seat. So anything can be an idol. So, like you're saying about the Bible scholar, you can make academics an idol. You can make the, you know, you can make the book an idol over the word. Because the word is the content that is in the book. The word is what you apply to your life. The book is something that you buy at a store. And the book is powerful, but the word is what can change your life, not just the book. So it's important to make sure that God is your number one and he's not an idol that, and instead of because he will tell you what's right and what's wrong. But social media and just culture nowadays, whatever you want to do, it's fine. There are no limits, there's no boundaries anymore. Um, so that's why in the word there is boundaries and there are guidelines to help you live a righteous and a better life. And in the beginning was the word right out the gate.

SPEAKER_05 20:10

Like I said, the very beginning. Man, that's good stuff. I want to share a quote with you guys, and I want to see what you guys think about this quote that I put here. This quote says, God has a pattern of working in ways we don't always see or feel. Just because he's hidden doesn't mean he's gone inactive. What are your thoughts on that quote?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Something that's been on my mind a lot recently is that um true faith doesn't rely on miracles and signs and wonders. Sure, those are great and those help elevate your faith, but true faith is walking, taking that first step over that ledge and trusting that God is gonna catch you and not relying on, you know, and it's so easy to fall into this trap of like wanting to go deeper into the supernatural with God, which leads you to want to, you know, I want to see uh people in wheelchairs, I want them to see them walk, I want blind people to see. But and sure, that's great for faith, but when it comes down to it, that's not what faith is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, not seen. So to elevate your faith, sure those are fine. But the substance of faith is not what you see, but it's what you believe and what you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

And I'll I'll follow that with something that a verse that really jumped out to me when we talk about okay, God is silent, but does that mean he's inactive? This is this is cool. Second Chronicles chapter 32, it's uh 27 through 31. I'll jump around a little bit. Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor, and he made himself treasuries for silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant jewels. Storehouses also for the increase of corn and wine and oil and stalls for all manner of beasts and coats for flocks. Moreover, he provided him cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him substance very much. And so verse 30, um, and Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Check out verse 31. Howbeit, so God was with him. No doubt. God has been with him all over the place. Hezekiah is doing really good. Howbeit, in the business of ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart. Ooh, that's good. Ooh, oof, ooh, scary.

SPEAKER_05 22:53

But anytime that you want to truly test an attribute or anything within somebody, the true test is letting them go, letting them sink or swim. If I've teach you how to swim, and I teach you the functions of it and what it takes to swim, that's great. But at some point, you got to get in the water. You gotta dump, dump yourself in there. You gotta swim. And you either gonna sink or swim. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah. It's like whenever you're exercising your physical body, um, you are you can learn about the bench press all you want, but until you actually jump on it and do the bench press, you do that exercise, you will not, you won't grow muscle sitting there watching a video of a guy doing a bench press. No, you have to get on there and do it yourself. You have to exercise yourself. And I've also heard it said before that um people don't work out just so they can um bench press their way out of a trouble scenario. So, like um, imagine you're a burglar and you're breaking in somebody's house and somebody yells at you, you see them, and then just starts doing the bench press. No, you don't bench press to bench press in front of somebody that's trying to take your kids. No, you bench press to build the strength so you can defend yourself. So the trial, you know, may not be exactly what you're thinking of, but it can be preparing you. It exercises your mind, it exercises your body, your spirit, your faith for a trial that is down the road that you can use whatever that tool that you're learning now.

SPEAKER_05 24:29

And I love what you brought up about Hezekiah, and it's so in alignment with Job as well, that we've already talked about, because what God did in both instances was he on the surface looked like he pulled himself away for a time, pulled the hedge of protection down to try both of those men. But you look at both of them in their stories, and it's like God did something powerful through them on the other side of this trying time, though. So, but what is so interesting about the trying time for a Christian is it really is that kind of uh either I fail or I'll pass an environment. I've seen so many Christians go through this trying time, and immediately when God pulls his strength away, they're like, oh, I'm done. Oh, I quit. You're not doing it for me, God? Oh, come on, bro. What in the world? What kind of faith is that? You know, kind of like what you're saying with the robber and the bench press. I mean, it's a great analogy, but here's the spiritual side to that. We wait until the battle to get engaged. We wait until the warrior is in the threshold of our lives before, God, I need to pray. God's like, buddy, you had three months to prep for this. You're in it now. Yeah. It's like the young boy David was already ready to slay that giant and the four brothers behind him with the five rocks he had in his hand. Before he got there, God prepped him and said, Hey, you don't need just one. Grab about five. Why? David didn't know at the time, but when he showed up to the battlefield, not only did he utterly slay that giant that was in front of him, but he had the ammunition in the pouch to slay every brother that Goliath had as well. So when we're in those battlefields and God has already prepared you to kill everybody, are you satisfied with just one?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

And you gotta think about that too, because David, and when the big trial came, David had the confidence. David was not only prepared, but he knew he's like, I'll slay you just like I slayed that lion.

unknown 26:56

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

I know how to fight this battle. And so I think, you know, as we get older, as we progress on, there are battles that I fight now that I could be like, well, he did it once before. He'll do it again. But if you don't, but if you don't survive that first battle, whether it is the first silent period, you know, and I and I hope I never go through another silent period. If I do go through one, I will know check my alignment. But but I will I will have learned from those previous battles, okay, here's what I've got to do. So so we gotta realize it reminds me, like at one point, uh a couple points in my life, I've worked with my dad in mechanic situations, and um, he is he's an excellent mechanic. Robert Combs, everybody knows him, it just just outstanding genius mechanic. Um, so what did that make me more apt to do? Hey, dad, how do you fix this? Dad, what would you do here? Dad, how do you fix this? You know, and so instead, so and it finally got to the point that at one time in Tennessee, I was asking him so many questions, he said, if I was dead and gone, what would you do? And it and it was it was kind of comical at the time, but it was like, if I was not here to answer you right now, how would you fight this battle? Right. Oh, well, I guess I have to engage critical thinking and and figure this out on my own. But let me look at my manual, let me go back to what I know and okay, I'll at least go with what I know is factual and do it. And a lot of times I kind of knew how to fix this problem. But it was, dare I say, I don't dare I say a crutch, inside joke, just recovering from a broken leg. We went there. It was good, but it was convenient. It was very easy to do that. And so it it takes some pulling back a little bit to realize not that not that we can do anything in and of ourselves. I'm not saying that. Don't don't twist that saying we don't need God, you can do it on your own. You can't, I promise you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

There you have it. Very good. Yeah. Um, back to what he was saying about David is David was it that what Goliath wasn't his first time using his sling. He had used this tool and he has mastered this tool by the time that the real test came. So, something that I've also been focusing on is don't just read your Bible and pray when times are good. It's because you don't need to cry out for help whenever life is going great. But what happens when life isn't going great, and all of a sudden you got a lot more burdens, you got a lot more weights on your shoulders, it's a lot harder to read your Bible. So, in that point in time, you need to be in your good times, you need to be storing up those treasures. You need to be harvesting as much as you can get. Because when that dry season, when that quiet season comes around, you're gonna need to work off of that. What God speaks to you while he is speaking, you're gonna need to work off of that when he's not speaking. And so that's why it's so important to build up that routine of devotion, of prayer and Bible reading. Um, so that way when the tough time does come, it is easier to um get into devotion, whereas without, you know, beforehand, it would have been tougher.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 30:08

And, you know, you you talk about storing up things to carry you through the silent periods. You actually see that in the word of God right before Jesus comes onto the scene, and you see a big one. Oh, you see a 400-year silent period. However, after 400 years, you still had believers in God and you still had a young guy who would grow up preparing the way for Jesus, believing in what the scriptures prophesied about Jesus through at right after a 400-year gap of silence. I mean, think about that number though.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

That's several generations that had to pass it down without seeing or hearing anything.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Yeah, John the Baptist said, There is one coming after me that is greater than I. He John the Baptist was referring to Jesus. Um, so like you're saying, with that prophecy, he was holding on to that and he knew, even when they were boys growing up. I'm sure that his parents told him, No, but I'm sure that his parents told him, hey, cousin Jesus is over there teaching old people in the church. And so he knew, he knew who Jesus was.

SPEAKER_05 31:22

He knew. Yeah, man, that's so good. And like you have Noah in almost a very similar era of time when God was silent to everybody else, and God scanned all the people and said, Boy, only person I got left is old Noah over here. So he speaks to Noah, and Noah receives the word and begins building the ark, and all of his friends are looking at him like, bro, what are you doing? We've never even had rain before, you crazy nut. We've never seen God do this before. Does that mean God can't? So let's make this real. Just because we've never experienced God do this, that, whatever the fill-in-the-blank is in our lifetime does not constitute a reality that God cannot step on the scene and cannot do something he never has before. As a matter of fact, it creates the space with faith that God would want to step on the scene and do something that's never been seen or said before. But it all takes faith because with John the Baptist and with Noah and with us, we have to sit here in the silent times and still hold true to our faith and say, God, just because I don't even see you yet coming down that dusty road, I still think you're coming to bet to baptize these people with the Holy Ghost and with fire. I still believe in what I've been holding on to since I was a kid, that you are coming after me and I'm going to prepare the way. Because if John's willing to prepare, God's willing to bring revival. So if you're willing to set aside your intentions, your plans, it's going to cost you, you know, a Starbucks coffee, maybe to prepare somebody's ground for them. But at some point, God, if you prepare the ground, you're casting seed, you're throwing water on it, God will cause it to grow and it'll become a revival. But it all comes all the way back to are we willing to get engaged with what God's trying to do? And are we willing to wait during the quiet times, really? Something that I constantly tell youth, and I'm sure that you've, maybe both of you guys have heard this, me say this before, but I tell the youth all the time, I understand, I've been there when my prayer life doesn't look like what it should look like. I know what it's like when I'm not in this word, like I know I should be, but God forbid that I ever just let go entirely. The Bible says, hold fast the profession of your reading. Hold fast the profession of your praying. No, no. Actually, and I'm not saying don't pray and don't read. Don't get me wrong here. I am saying that without faith and profession in your faith, prayer and reading is nothing. So if you can't even just hold on to him with faith, you have nothing at all.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

One one thing that came to my mind when you mentioned John the Baptist. And I and I say this if somebody is going through that silent time, kudos to you for listening to an apostolic podcast. You're hanging in there. You're keep going. Go. Um like, share, subscribe. Like one of my one of my favorite things about John the Baptist, and this is relevant, I think. Um we know all of the the awesome stuff, the powerful, you know, and and calling out Herod and everything else. When he was in prison, about to be beheaded. Oh, yeah. He he he knew who Jesus was, okay? So, but he got pretty, in my opinion, this is how I read it and how I understand. I think he got pretty low.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

I think he got real low. I mean, think about this guy baptized Jesus, okay? We got signs coming out of the sky. This is my beloved son. He's in prison. Jesus, are you the one, or should we look for another?

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

So, so don't beat yourself up, is basically what I'm what I'm getting at with that. If you are, because I know when when I was in my silent period, you know, I I, and this is kind of a loaded answer in itself here. I knew I wasn't quite where I needed to be.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Anyway, for John the Baptist, can you imagine he's about to be beheaded, like he was saying, and you've worked your whole life preparing for this guy. You've met him, you've had conversations with him. You lived in the wilderness for years on end. You wore fur when you could get just fine clothes, you ate bugs, you ate raw meat, and you were an outcast from society. You've been, you got so many death threats, it's unbelievable. Can you imagine preparing the way for this guy your whole entire life? And then just about as soon as it's about to take off, as soon as the whole climax of Jesus coming, the crucifixion, and then just a little bit later, um at you know, Pentecost, can you imagine knowing what is coming? But knowing that you're just a little bit, you have to leave. Yeah, you have to leave that. Yeah. You you spend your whole life devoting your life to something, and you don't even get to see it come to pass. That's faith. That's faith. But also, it gets you low. I mean, you couldn't you couldn't devote your whole life to something, then you reach the end of your life and you realize it all meant nothing, you you wouldn't feel great about yourself either.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

And I think it's probably safe to assume this is not scriptural as far as I know, but it's safe to assume it was pretty quiet in that in that jail cell. I don't think he was hearing a lot, or he wouldn't have, he wouldn't have had to ask that question. So as I was saying, you know, don't beat yourself up if you are in that silent period. Yeah. Um, but you know, he also he also got in touch with other people. Um, you know, hey, I need I need a good word here. Yeah. Is it what and is you go back and tell John the blind eyes are open, the deaf here, you know. So, so reach out to those. That might be good a good thing to say there, you know. Reach out to somebody that you know it is able to hear from God right now on your behalf. We are absolutely not an island.

SPEAKER_05 38:06

You cannot do it on your own. You need somebody in your corner that can be a cheerleader for you whenever you're playing the game and you're feeling down and you're in the fight of your life, and who's like, I don't know if I can keep going. And that person comes in your corner and says, Yes, you can, and convinces you again. A wise man seeks counsel. That's right. So I think something good here. Uh, we're gonna start winding down this podcast is so really good. I think we're just getting on fire here right now. But I want to share uh another quote that I've got here with you guys, and I'm gonna ask each of you a couple questions here. Um this quote says, faith grows strongest in seasons where you don't have fresh confirmations. That's when faith grows the strongest, is in seasons where you don't have fresh confirmations. So here's the questions I have for you guys. Number one, do you think we rely too much on feelings sometimes?

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Oh, yes. Absolutely. I I know I certainly do. Um I I just feel like I can't hear God right now. I just feel like God is too far from me. Feel, feel, feel. Feelings will always deceive. That's how Jacob the heart above all things. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. And that's how Jacob pulled his deception. He made himself feel like Esau.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah. If we if you live off of feeling, you're not living by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. So if you're walking by sight, you're going by feeling, by your emotions. That's not trusting God, and that's not a way to live. Um, and you can't, you just can't walk through that season in that way.

SPEAKER_05 40:07

Man, that's really good responses you guys have produced. Second question following up that um is what does real faith look like when there's no new word presently being poured into me? What does real faith look like in that kind of atmosphere when I'm not getting anything new coming in, like the rain has dried up and I'm in a desert experience? What is it maybe even that you and your own personal lives have done to really uh energize and kickstart your faith again during that dry time?

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Yeah, something that I've done is obviously so we waver, we change our emotions, control our paths sometimes, but the word never changes, the Bible never changes. And so something that I've done is go to Psalms. Most of the time it's a happy book. It'll, it'll it's just, it's just, it's just what it is. It's a happy book. It'll give you uplifting. You'll find a little, little nugget in there that's like, man, that's really what I needed right now. Um, and another thing that I've done is start searching for new worship songs because man, I've been low before, and then all of a sudden I hear the song at church or on the radio or whatever. Um, and it'll just be exactly what I need. And it'll, I mean, it'll feel like God told the songwriter to play this song for me and about called my name for it, just because it is exactly what my situation was. So um go to the happy book, go to Psalms, and then it's it's a happy book most of the time. Um, and then find a new worship song. And like y'all were saying, find accountability. Somebody that isn't in a silent time that can minister to you, that can help you through this. Like how every the body needs the body. We are not our own entity. We are not an island. The fingers need the shoulder in order to operate correctly. If you want to reach that over there, you have to stand on the shoulders of others. So you need to have that good group that's not gonna lead you away from God, that's not gonna um, you know, weaken your faith.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

I think, I think when we are going through a time where we don't hear anything, what was the last thing you heard? So, so this is a situation, and I could, we could go a whole podcast about this, but I won't. But I know with a big moment in my life, big, big, like life-changing moment, I basically I heard a word, a a word. And and I will say, let us not always be listening for God to kick and shout and knock down that I I mean, I won't say how he speaks for everybody. I know how he speaks for me. And it's usually a still small voice. It's very calm. And and Wesley Combs is the farthest thing from a still small voice. Okay. There, my head is loud and crazy and fast all the time. So, you know, but it was it was the initial instruction, the initial word. And then it wasn't a lot after that for a while. Um, I sought counsel at that point after a while. I said, Hey, I heard this, but God hasn't said anything else. And uh he told me, he said, he may not have nothing else to say right now. Oh, ouch, I don't want that. Right. I want, I want daily, you know, here's your agenda today. This is what we're going to do. Um, but it was, you know, think about in aviation, you know, await further instructions. Well, what about await further instructions? Do do the last thing I told you. It could be that you're in a holding pattern right now. And you alluded to this earlier. There's some other things going on down here. There's some other things getting orchestrated and and set up right now. And and I'm busy working over here. I'll be back with you in just a second. You just stay faithful. You do what I told you in the instruction manual. And you just stick with that. I gave you instruction. Stick with that. Don't take the silence. Silence does not equal rejection by any stretch. Again, if you're out of alignment, get in alignment. Get help with that. Talk to your pastor. Confess that you need to get back into alignment. Tell God that you need to get back into alignment and He will guide you back into alignment. But I think await further instructions. Don't lose your faith with that. When I got my word, I shared it with a very few confidants. Very, very few. And I had to feel it out. But honestly, if I would have been given all the instructions up front, I don't think it would have been a good thing. And other things I had to do in that in that period after instruction, whoa, that's big. Right. And nothing. It was kind of, okay, Wesley, put your money where your mouth is, kind of moments too. And it was like, okay, I'm going to take a, and I mean, little, I would feel little nudges and little things like, okay, I'm going to explore that. So, so explore those things. It'll never contradict the word, obviously. That goes without saying. Right. But you know, be be sensitive. And frankly, you got to fast to get sensitive. You got to kill this flesh. Because this flesh is going to make all kinds of noise and all kinds of racket. You got to kill this thing.

SPEAKER_05 45:18

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

So I think humble yourself. And if if you can't hear God through the noise, get rid of the noise.

SPEAKER_05 45:27

I want to add on to that that you're talking about right there. So many times Christians, they're like, why can't I hear the voice of God in my life? And I had at one point wrestled with the same thought, you know. But when I began to discipline myself and figure out my relationship with the Lord, which is really what that scripture means by when it says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, it means work out your own relationship with God. It doesn't mean there's another form of salvation. Absolutely. That's a different podcast episode. But however, many times when that question is posed and we're like, how do I hear the voice of God? Um, there's some premises that are being swindled in on that little statement you're saying. What you're really saying, you're really saying is, God, I want you to silence all of my voices so I can hear yours. God ain't gonna do that. So if it is a still small voice, God's trying to talk to you, and probably isn't even trying, He is. You're just not actually actively listening for his voice, and you're not silencing the noise in your own life for him to be able to speak. Um, first of all. Secondly, you uh you see this kind of question that I that comes up in my own life multiple different times. And the the real question that you have to grapple with is what do we actually do? What are we acting on? What are we practically enacting in these moments? And you've already alluded to this, both of you guys of well, you're not going to be sensitive unless you get this guy, this guy under subjection. And that is so painful. But you have people in the New Testament that wrote scriptures to help you and to actually make it more relatable because it was Paul. My goodness, what kind of a better apostolic uh example do you have than Paul, who wrote half the New Testament? And he tells you, buddy, I died every day. Every day. I gotta I had to put myself on that crucifix every day and kill my flesh, just like Jesus did.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

So who do we think we are when we say, God, you need to silence the noise and the pestilence in my life? And God's like, Well, I did already did my part.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Yeah, that's true. I'm gonna, I'm gonna advocate for my generation, Gen Z, just a little bit. I think that it, and I've heard from countless different sources of people, friends that are my age, that they just say it is it's so hard to hear God. And I think part of that is because I mean, we have the label of the anxious generation because we are I say we, but the majority of teens now are consumed by social media, um, care way too much what other people think. And so we have all these voices, and social media is probably the loudest voice that you can get. It is addicting, it is not healthy, but it's just it's a loud voice, and everything has a voice now, and now you're encouraged to use your own voice, right? But what happens when these voices start echoing around your head, and that's all you can hear, and you're searching for that truth, you're searching for that still small voice, but you can't, you can't hear a quiet noise over a loud noise. No, that's because that's the volume of the noise. But I think the part of the reason that God puts his voice at quiet is to see how badly you want to seek him and to see how badly you want to hear that voice, right? Because if you don't want to hear it, why should he waste his time on you if you just want a little, you know, maybe you need to pick me up, but if it's we don't live day-to-day just by small things. No, we live by big things. We need the big things. We need to go deep with God. We need to dive into the supernatural world with God. And so it's important we're not gonna be able to do that safely and you know, logically without silencing the other voices. You can't tell God to silence the voices. He didn't tell you to make the voices louder. No, you did that on your own. So if what you get yourself into, you got to get yourself out. Clock it. Oh man, clock that.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Okay, I'm old and I don't exactly understand what that means. But I will say this this is this is something that that I will follow up on what he said, and that is very good. I challenge anybody, take a week or dare I say a month and delete social media off. Oh, absolutely. But yes, it's loud. It is engineered. I'm an IT guy. I promise you, these algorithms are engineered to capture you 100%, and it will provide all the noise. But here's the thing, and I picked this up from men's conference uh several years ago, Virginia District. God and you asked for, God, take this noise away. God is not going to deliver you from something he expects you to manage.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

So it's up to you. God is not a kicking and screaming God. No, no, he is a gentleman. Yeah. So it's up to you to silence those voices, and you have to take some personal accountability there to do that. Absolutely. Fasting will get it done.

SPEAKER_05 50:41

Yep. He is equally as much a jealous God as he is a perfect gentleman. Yes, he is so jealous of what is consuming your time, but he is so gentle with us that he's like, I am here when you're ready. Yep. Wow. Yeah. So good. As we start winding down here, I've got a couple more things. I've got two more questions that I have for our guests this evening, and then we're going to close out this episode with you. Um, a couple of things I want to say, and then we'll ask these questions and we'll wrap up. Um, you don't ever stop praying just because prayer seems to not break the wall. What if you are on your sixth lap around Jericho's walls and you stop six and a half goes, and you're like, God's never showed up on day six, so why march on day seven? You never know when that glory cloud of prayer fills up to actually rain today. So you don't stop praying, you don't stop showing up. Scripture actually tells us this that you need to assemble yourselves together and that much more as we see the day approaching. And what is that day? That day is, to me, in how I study scripture, it's twofolded. The day that is approaching us is the day of the coming of the Lord, but it is also the day of judgment for those that are not ready. So, why should we assemble ourselves together? We should assemble because I need to pull you out of where you are. So I'm assembling you with me. So don't stop showing up and don't stop being consistent with your disciplines, with your praying, fasting, and with your reading. So here it is. Silence in our lives is not a signal to step back. It is an invitation to press through. I'm gonna say that again. Silence is not a signal to step back, but it is an invitation to press in. You had a woman that was um had, was it 12 years? She had the issue of blood, and she pressed through the crowd to get to Jesus and finally touched him, and virtue ran out of his body into hers, and she was healed. Why? Because she was willing to not sit back in the bleachers, she was getting in the game and she was willing to touch him where he was. So last two questions for our guests that I have for you. What are some practical ways that you yourself stay consistent when you don't feel like saying staying consistent? What are some practical tools and things that you use? And maybe I'll share mine to help to help us with this. So I used to, especially when I was younger, I really struggled with reading on time and punctually. Um, but it wasn't until I was um 17, 18 years old that I literally, this was actually when I got a phone from first time, that I would set a reminder every day at 8 a.m. It still goes off to this day. This Apple reminder still goes off to this day. And it tells me, stop and read. That's it. Stop and read. That's all. And every morning I go, uh, actually, I think I moved it up to 7 a.m. But nonetheless, it tells me every day, stop and read. And I get my Bible out and I read and I pull out a devotion and then I put something with a little paragraph, and it becomes my devotion for the entire day. Multiple times throughout the day, I'll pull that out and I'll look at it and I'll review it, and I'll be like, man, I'm so thankful to have that word for this day because it developed throughout the day. Um, and then secondly, so I set like reminders, like, God remind me. I can't remind myself because I'm flesh. So I set my own reminders with my device. Um, and then prayer. How I tackle prayer is I've never been habitually good at doing the one to two hour prayers ever. It's just not been in me. So I constantly pray and talk to the Lord throughout the day, just like I'm talking to you guys today. So that's kind of like how I tackle those.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

Yeah, for me, I think I I make it to where it's the first thing I do because if what the first step that you take dictates your path for the rest of the day. So for me, if I wake up and first thing I do is pray and read my Bible, that's I'm gonna be meditating on godly things for the rest of the day. And it's easy to stay away from temptation and sin when that's your priority. Um, and another thing I do is I don't let myself do anything on my phone. I don't text anybody, I don't do, I don't play games, I don't look at the weather and do anything until I have that, I have checked that box. Um, and that makes me, that forces me. I have, I mean, you have to have internal count accountability for this, but um it it forces you to prioritize that over um what your flesh wants. And it's putting, it is literally putting God first, putting God before your fleshly desires. Um, so that's something for me that's been very um good. And then also, like he said, setting reminders. I have reminders on my phone. I think I have 12 active reminders right now. Um, and it's just whatever you have to do, and his, his way is gonna be different. My way and his way is different. And so ultimately it's trial and error. You have to try all these different ways, try all the try reminders. If they don't work, it's is it's okay. It's God doesn't hate you for not being able to use reminders. And so it's whatever your routine needs to be for you to make sure that that is your priority, to make sure that you are getting that done throughout the day, even if it's not in the morning. Maybe you're a night person more than a morning person. If you can allot time for yourself at any point throughout the day, do it because God wants time with you. He didn't die for you just so you could put Philippians 4 13 your uh bio, and then that's it. No, he died because he wants a personal relationship with you throughout the day. Clock it.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Right. Did I do that right? Okay. All right. No, I mean what I'm hearing is is, and both of you all said it, it it is intentionality. Um, you have to, and exactly like you said, you have to find what works for you. Same as me. I I wake up, my phone on the nightstand, it's got seven things that that require my attention. You know, bills due and and work emails, and it's all, and and we all we're all in that world that, you know, in the in the career path here, but um I read first. Absolutely read first. Do I read as much as I should? Not every morning. Uh so just it that's just how it is sometimes. And I'm not making excuses for that, but but I I have to be intentional about that, um, taking time for it. Um, you know, uh my favorite prayer time is uh morning walks. We we walk the dog in the morning. I'm fortunate enough to work from home, so I'm not under, but see there again, I'm not under the same time crunches in the morning as a lot of people are.

SPEAKER_03 57:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

And so I've that works for me. That may not work for somebody else. Exactly. But you've got to find time. You you have to find time for it. And I promise you, you have time for it. Yes, we're busy. Yes, we have jobs, yes, we have families. You have got time to read some scriptures, you have got time to to take time to pray. I am I'm going through another annual Bible plan. Um, I've got it set January 1st, December 31st, and I've timed it roughly, okay, not every day, 15 minutes a day. 15 minutes a day, rough call it, call it three chapters is what it looks like it's averaging out to uh with this plan that I'm that I'm doing this year. So we're talking 15 minutes a day. And I I don't think that's asking too much. And you you said about the two-hour prayer thing, something that came to my mind there. Um, and and a lot of people on this podcast have probably heard it before. I rarely pray longer than five minutes, but I don't go more than five minutes without praying. And for me, that was really well.

SPEAKER_03 58:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 59:00

That's so good. And I wanna I wanna throw this out there and let the listeners hear this. This is something that I tell, um, because I'm a youth pastor, I say this pretty frequently. Um when you're trying to figure out how you work with your relationship with God, we've already said you're not an island, nobody's off by themselves. But with that, here's the rubber to the road. You, because you can't be alone and you cannot be an island, you have to set up somebody in your life as an accountability partner, somebody that you give full access to the whole file cabinet of your life. And you say, This is it, and I need you to keep me accountable to this. And when you say that, you need to abide by that. And so this is a quote that I say constantly whenever there is something going on with a youth, and they need some kind of foundation of accountability. And this is what I say: emotions end at the door of accountability. My feelings and how I want things to go, my emotions, although God-given emotions, they stop at the door of accountability because that person on the other side of that door that I open into the door of my heart needs the full access, VIP access to be able to speak into my life and say, hey, this is not healthy. Shut this off, put this away. Then I'm just gonna leave it there. So to bring us down and to close out this episode, I am so thankful to have all of our guests here that is with us today. I feel like you have been blessed as much as I have. I have grown within my spirit just by talking to these men just for a few moments, but um I want to leave you with all of this. Um, I think what we have to understand at the end and the conclusion of this episode is that God's silence is not necessarily ever rejection. It's not abandonment. And a lot of times it is actually an invitation to a far deeper trust and burden for something. So here is a final pick-me-up for all of you listening on the on the airwaves. Even when you can't hear him, you can still trust him. Because God doesn't stop being God just because we stop seeing God. Let that sink in. So good. The God of the universe that created everything and you and me does not stop being God just because I stopped seeing him. So I thank you for being a part of the growth room today. Thank you, Wesley, and thank you, Matthew, for joining us for this episode on When God's Voice Goes Silent. I'm so honored that you guys have joined us. I hope that all of you listening online have enjoyed this. And I hope that you like, share, subscribe, send this to all of your friends. And uh, like we like to say here, we are here merely for real talk, for real growth. And I hope that you've been blessed. And like I say, we'll see you on the next one. God bless you.