336: Peter Moore - Exhortation: When God Doesn't Show Up

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to good Chris Delphian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world.

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   Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

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   Welcome to the good Chris Adelphian Talks podcast. This is brother Brian. This week’s talk is an exhortation that was given last year by our brother Peter Moore of the Gosnells Ecclesia. And the exhortation is called When God Doesn’t Show Up. Brother Peter compares the accounts of God’s obvious divine intervention in the lives of some believers to the experience of others who find themselves still waiting for their circumstances to change, if ever. And it’s a great test of spiritual endurance for us to consider.

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   Is your faith paper thin, needing a quick result? Or are you built to be able to hang when God leaves you hanging? Or so it may feel at times.

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   I found it to be a good talk because it’s thought provoking and it reminded me of another great series on Job by Brother John Popel where one of the best reminders is that God does not equal our happiness. We can be fully miserable and feel abandoned, but that does not alter the goodness and righteousness of who and what God is doing.

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   It’s great if we are feeling blessed and should praise our Lord for our abundance, but true rock solid faith and human feelings do not go hand in hand. Brother Peter has a nice little gem in here about the three PS that we need to be working on if we feel our faith is wavering and we are discouraged.

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   And while the overall topic is definitely under the header, easier said than done, The stories from the characters in the Bible are there so that we can relate to them for our comfort when we are in times of dark valleys.

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   So, as always, we hope that this strengthens your faith and brightens your day. Brother Peter Moore when God doesn’t show up. Some of the the the most memorable stories in the Bible are those in which we see divine intervention on a very large scale. Some of the most memorable Sunday school stories that we that we learn of as we grow up in the truth are those in which we see God’s might and God’s power on display.

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   Stories such as the plagues in Egypt, the burning Bush, the destruction of the earth by flood, Daniel and the lion’s dead, water gushing out of rocks in the desert. And this is especially true when we look at stories in which we see individuals or groups of people facing seemingly impossible circumstances, seemingly impassable trials, only to be rescued, saved by some mighty act of God, some mighty act of divine intervention.

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    These are stories like Daniel’s three friends who were thrown into a furnace. So hot that the heats from the furnace killed the soldiers who put them in there. And yet even in that situation there was an Angel there with them in the flames and they were miraculously saved with not even the smell of fire or smoke on their clothes.

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    The Bible is riddled with these types of stories. We have the events which unfolded in Joshua chapter 10 where we have that coalition of five kings who had who had amassed a mighty army and they had made war against Gibeon. And even there in the face of a seemingly impossible battle, God intervenes and he throws the army into a panic.

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    And and we have something amazing happening in verse 13 where we find that the sun stood still and the moon stopped in its course until the nation took vengeance from their enemies. And verse 14 goes on to point out just how special that was. There has been no day like it before or since when Yahweh hearkened to the voice of a man, for Yahweh fought for Israel.

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    What an incredible story of divine intervention, much like the events when Israel left Egypt under the leadership of Moses. And there they are, trapped in between a impassable, raging sea and the might of the Egyptian army. Exodus points out that this wasn’t just one or two horses and Chariots and a few foot soldiers. This was all Pharaoh’s Chariots.

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    All Pharaoh’s army was pursuing them. And the people are beside themselves with panic and despair and this sense of total terror and hopelessness. And Moses stands up and he says, be still and see the salvation of Yahweh. And we know the story. The sea opens up and the people cross on dry land.

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    The Bible is full of these stories which tell of impossible circumstances, situations which are full of terror and despair and panic and hopelessness. And then, well, then God shows up and does something incredible. One of my favorite stories as a as a young Sunday School student was the contest on Mount Carmel in the days of Elijah, a story we find in first Kings 18. And we have this almost theatrical drama unfold and and the prophets of bail are are calling out to bail, to cut, to hear them and burn up their sacrifice and, and they cry out. And as they get more and more desperate, they start cutting themselves.

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    And the record points out that blood began to gush out of them. That’s how desperate they be. They became. And yet even then there was no answer, no noise, no action. And then Elijah starts mocking them and he says, you know, why don’t you cry a bit louder? Perhaps your gods asleep and needs to be woken up, or perhaps he’s on a journey, or perhaps he’s on the toilet and he mocks them with this sarcasm.

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    And then he, well, then he calls the people to him and we know the story. The fire of Yahweh fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and even the water that was in the trenches. An incredible power, a display of God’s power, a faith affirming moment and a moment not only for Elijah and the people who saw it that affirmed their faith where they could look at and say that is evidence that God exists, that that is evidence of God’s power. But we can too, brothers and sisters, just like we can look at all of these stories that we’ve mentioned and we can say, wow, what an amazing God we have a God who is powerful, a God who is magnificent and in the words of the psalmist, a God who is awesome.

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    But the reason that story’s been one of my favourites and the reason that story resonates with me is not because of the fire coming out of the sky. It’s not because of the sarcastic humour of of Elijah. It’s not because of even the the battle or the contest over Baal that was won by Yahweh.

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    The reason it’s been one of my favourites over the years of my life is because, well, because I’ve felt like that in times in my life that I have been like one of those people running around crying out for an answer, shouting out for an answer, pleading, begging, praying for God to do something, to show up,

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    only to have silence as a reply. No noise, no action, just silence. Because, brothers and sisters, so many times in our lives we have seemingly impossible situations. So many times in our lives we face incredible trials and traumas. So many times in our lives we can feel like we are stuck between an impassable sea and the March of the Egyptian army.

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    And sometimes we can feel like we have nowhere to go. And instead of the sea opening up for us and providing us with a path ahead, instead of a miraculous visitation by an Angel, when we call out and cry to God, and when we pray and beg and plead for God to do something, sometimes, just sometimes, God doesn’t show up, or so it seems at the time.

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    In fact, sometimes we might even ask ourselves, is God even there? And when we’re in that frame of mind, when we are feeling like that, listening to these amazing stories of divine intervention can be really, really hard to read, can be really hard to listen to well, because, well, because God didn’t show up when we needed him to.

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    And it’s all very well and good for for Daniel’s friends and it’s all very well and good for for Moses and Elijah, but when I needed that to happen in my life, God didn’t show up.

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    And that’s an incredibly heartbreaking and an incredibly spirit breaking frame of mind to face. And those of you who have been there will know exactly what I mean. So when we feel like that, when we are in a a time in our life, brothers and sisters, when we feel like that, what is the answer?

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    Where do we go to? Where do we look to if that’s how we’re feeling? Well, God in his mercy has also read all the pages of his word with other stories, stories which perhaps we might be able to relate to if that’s how we’re feeling. Stories where people faced terrifying challenges, where people faced heartbreak and sorrow, where people faced death, annihilation, prison, physical suffering, mental language, disappointment, confusion, stress. And in those stories, even in those circumstances, God didn’t show up, or so it felt to them.

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    And it’s in these stories where we find the answer, the way forward, the road ahead on how we cope, on how we find the strength to change our frame of mind from wondering is God even there to doing what Moses says and stand still and see the salvation of Yahweh. And it’s in these, and it’s these stories that this morning I want to briefly consider to draw out some encouragement and exhortation because it’s in these stories, we’re going to find 3 answers and they’re going to point perfectly to this man we’ve come to remember.

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    The three answers that we’re going to look at point perfectly to the Lord Jesus Christ because he will show us what those principles look like in a very practical way.

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    These are the stories like John the Baptist who near the end of his life he found himself imprisoned in the dungeon fortress of King Herod. No doubt many prayers were offered, praying for his release, his disciples faithfully praying, pleading with God to send an Angel and loose his chains. But instead of the sound of his chains falling in the prison gates opening, he heard only the noise of the approaching footsteps of his executioner.

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    A sad, lonely, terrifying end to the life of the one who came to prepare the way of the Lord. These are stories like Esther, her people facing annihilation at the hands of the Persians due to the wicked influence of Haman. God’s own people are facing annihilation. And yet in the whole book, there’s no mention of God.

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    There’s no prayers recorded. There’s no religious sacrifices or rituals. There’s no fire coming down from the sky. There’s no miraculous divine intervention. In fact, it appears as if God isn’t even there. King David anointed king at a very young age. God’s anointed king, but his life didn’t pan out like he might have thought.

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    He was forced into hiding in the deserts and forests and caves of the earth, being hunted like a wild animal by a merciless and a mad king, all the while losing his friends and his close acquaintances and his mentors and people he loved. Times in his life where he felt totally forsaken, totally forgotten. And year after, year after year, King Saul reigned on, whilst David, God’s anointed king, kept hiding. No miraculous fix, no obvious way forward. We see the same story in Israel’s own history. God gave Abraham a promise that his son, that his seed, would go on to be as multitudinous as the stars in the heaven and sand on the seashore, and in them all families of the earth will be blessed.

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    And this was a promise which Abraham believed, which Isaac believed, which Jacob believed. And yet within just a few generations, that seed found itself under the control, subdued as slaves, under the might of the of the Egyptians. Slaves, the most powerful nation on the earth. Slaves for 400 years. And then years and years of wandering in the wilderness. And then finally when they get into the promised land, they’ve still got to deal with the with the nations around them who are constantly attacking them.

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    And then Babylon comes and drags them off into captivity and destroys their cities and burns their crops. And then the Persians, and then the Grecians, and then, well, then the Romans. And it’s a never ending story of subjugation under foreign rule. Thousands of years go by and how is that in line with God’s promise to Abraham?

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    If you are a Jew living in those times, how does that line up with God’s promise? Where is God in any of that? Why didn’t God show up and stop that from happening? Put yourselves in the shoes of a, of a Jewish man or woman in the time of Christ, living faithfully through some very difficult times on the back of a 400 year period of all of, of nothing of no Bible stories of, of a falling away from the truth and, and the creeping in of, of Greek mythology and such like.

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    And there you are as a brother or sister in Christ, and you are looking and longing for the coming of Messiah, the one spoken of in Isaiah 9. For years you’ve had these words of Isaiah 9 ringing in your ears. You’re encouraging your family, you’re encouraging your ecclesia not to give up because the Messiah is coming.

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    And you’re citing these words to them. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the of the increase of his government and peace.

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    There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. That is your hope, brothers and sisters, that’s what you’re you’ve been waiting for your whole life. But years go by, and finally the Messiah is born, but to a poor family, conceived under dubious circumstances, born in squalid conditions in a place no one’s even heard of.

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    And then 30 years, nothing happens. And instead of coming in and and overthrowing the Romans and establishing his Kingdom as Isaiah 9 promised, he operates on the outskirts of society. He spends his time with sinners, social outcasts, tax collectors and fishermen.

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    That doesn’t match up with Isaiah 9. Why is God letting this happen? And not only that, but now the Romans are preparing to crucify the very man you have waited your life for. But even still, you cling on to hope. Well, because you know the stories, you know that God can intervene, you know that he’s in these very circumstances, that God shows up with might and power and awesome displays of strength.

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    Surely he’s going to send his legions of angels to rescue Messiah off the cross. And you pray and pray in the whole ecclesia, praise and begs and waits and watches.

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    Nothing. No answer. Only silence and darkness and the image of your dead Lord slumped on the cross on Calvary. You’ve only got one question. Why didn’t God show up? And is God even there?

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    We could go on and on and look at these stories to prove the point. But this morning I want to look at three stories in particular because it’s in these three stories that we find the answer to that question. Why didn’t God show up? These are the stories that will provide the answers we so desperately need in those times in our lives when when it appears if God isn’t there, those times in our lives when it feels like he doesn’t show up, when the first of these stories is that of Job.

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    And we know all these stories very well, so we’ll just touch on them briefly. We know the extensive list of list of sufferings that Job endured. We’re aware of his terrible losses, the people he loved who died, his own family, let alone the material losses he endured, and finally, intense physical trauma and disease.

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    And as time goes on and his suffering goes on for weeks and months, he gets to the point in chapter 23 where he’s beginning to feel like he’s all alone. He’s already pointed out in Job 19 that all his close friends and those whom he loved, even his own wife had becoming strange to him, forgotten him, forsaken him. But now in chapter 23, he’s reached a new level of despair and he’s looking for God everywhere. And and he cries out with this utter sense of total despair in verse 3.

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    And he says, if only I knew where to find God. Verse 8 and 9 I go, I go forward and he’s not there. I go backward. I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work, and I cannot see him. He hides himself on the right hand that I cannot see him.

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    He’s saying I’ve searched N southwest and even E even in the east where God is sure to be found. But even there he’s nowhere to be found. In spite of my many prayers, in spite of my continued searching and calling out for God, I’ve not been able to find him. He hasn’t shown up. So what does Job do from here?

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    Does he give up? Does he conclude that since God didn’t show up, since his circumstances continue to get worse with no sign of improvement, perhaps God isn’t even there? Well, in total contrast to that, Job actually goes on and gives us an insight into how each one of us should respond when we feel that way.

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    When we feel like God hasn’t shown up and we we begin to question is even there. The answer to that question is found in verse 10 of Job 23. Because Job continues his dialogue and he says even though I’ve searched the four corners of the earth for God, even though I have, I’ve searched for signs that God is at work. Even though I’ve prayed and pleaded and begged and cried for God to show up, even though I don’t know where he is. Verse 10, he knows where I am.

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    Even though I don’t know where God is, He knows where I am. So the answer from Job, the answer from his story is perspective. And that’s our first word this morning. Perspective. We have to have the perspective that Job had that even though we might not be able to see God working, even though we might not see God show up and do something, even though we might not know where He is in our problems or in our lives, He knows where we are. So the first answer Scripture gives us for when we feel like we can’t see God working in our lives or when we feel like God isn’t there is get your perspective in line with the perspective that Job had.

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    The second story where we find an answer is the story of Joseph. As we know as a young man, Joseph had dreams that one day his brothers and his family would bow down to him. He was hated by his brothers because of his dreams and because of the love shown to him by his father Jake. And due to this, he was nearly murdered by his own brothers. He was thrown into a pit, he was sold to slave traders, he was shipped off to to Egypt, and he wound up after false accusations, being in the dungeon prison of the captain of the guard.

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    Not particularly how Joseph would have imagined his life to go, especially after the dreams he had as a young man. We find Joseph in Genesis chapter 40 run at the end of chapter 40 in prison totally forgotten about it says there in verse 23. Yet did not the chief Butler remember Joseph but forgot him? Joseph would have been well within his rights to feel like God had forsaken him, that everyone had forgotten him. But because of Joseph’s perspective, that he was able to see that just because his situation was less than ideal, just because his face may be hidden from view for a moment, it didn’t mean that God wasn’t there, and it didn’t mean that God wasn’t working.

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    And we can see what this perspective looks like when we turn the page to chapter 41 and we see what Joseph has to say when finally the chief Butler does remember him. Because in verse 16, Joseph answered Pharaoh. It is not in me God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. I find that absolutely incredible, that after years of rotting away in prison, having been totally forgotten, having been through so many trials, so far away from home, suffering false accusations, injustice, cruel treatment, having been praying for so long with no apparent answers, with no sign of God’s intervention, with no sign that his circumstances were going to improve, that Joseph’s perspective was such that he was still absolutely confident that God would give Pharaoh an answer. Notice he doesn’t say.

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    Maybe God will answer. You don’t notice he doesn’t say. Well, Once Upon a time I would have been confident, but God hasn’t been listening to me recently. So let’s give it a crack and see how we go. He doesn’t say that. He says God will give you an answer. And he was able to do that, brothers and sisters, because Joseph had the right perspective. And one of the beautiful messages that comes out of the reading of the story of Joseph is numerous times that said God. It says God was with Joseph and that even when things go wrong, it says God was with Joseph.

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    And because of Joseph’s perspective, he was able to see that even though God’s presence in his problems didn’t seem to change his situation, even though God’s presence in his life didn’t seem to lessen the hardships he had to endure, because he was just able to see that God was there. He was able to persevere through them.

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    And that’s our second answer, the second lesson that comes out of Scripture that will help us when we feel like God isn’t there, when we feel like he’s not listening to us. First, we have to have the right perspective, and then we have to persevere. And Joseph was a brilliant example of someone who persevered through trials, even though his circumstances didn’t seem to improve for long periods of time. And I’ve got a a note in my Bible which is attributed by the Dan Jolly from many years ago.

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    Don’t look nervous, Dan, but it actually highlights this point because it was a lesson that Joseph learned and that was that the wheels of God’s purpose may turn slowly, but they do turn and that is perseverance. One O 1. So King David actually writes of this same lesson in Psalm 23 where he writes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

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    Your rod and staff comfort me. Notice David doesn’t say because you’re with me and because your rod and staff comfort me, I don’t have to walk through the valley.

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    God’s presence in our lives does not mean we don’t have to walk down some incredibly tough, scary, terrifying, and sometimes heartbreaking roads. But if we have the right perspective, we will be able to persevere because we’ll be able to see that God is with us even in those times.

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    The final story I want to touch on this morning is that of Jeremiah. Jeremiah shows us just how critical it is to have perspective and perseverance, but he completes the lesson by adding one more, by providing one more answer. We all know Jeremiah, the prophet who appeared to just get absolutely smashed on every side. We he suffered probably, probably more than any other prophet.

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    He personally suffered along with his people and it had a profound impact on his writings, which we’ve been blessed to have access to. And he and, and, and his story this morning takes us to Lamentations Chapter 3. We read of the facts which led up to the background of Lamentations 3, But you don’t need to turn there.

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    But we find them in Second Kings 25, verse 8, where I’ll read them for you. It says they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and they put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon in the 5th month, in the 7th day of the month.

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    It was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebu Zaraida. And the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the House of Yahweh in the King’s house. And all the houses of Jerusalem, every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chordians who are with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon together with the rest of the multitude, Nebu Zahraidan carried into exile.

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    So that’s the context to these words of Jeremiah. That’s the context. This is the destruction, the slaughter, and the desolation which Jeremiah writes about in Lamentations. And poor old Jeremiah has now got to the point where he feels like God is actively causing his troubles. That that even though God not only was God not answering his prayers, perhaps God was actually causing his problems. Look what he writes in verse 8 of Lamentations. Three though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones. He has made my paths crooked.

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    He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding. He turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces. He has made me desolate. Jeremiah feels like God is not only ignoring his prayers and his desperate cries for help, but God is like this bear got this lion lying in wait, ready to tear him into pieces. So just like Job and Joseph, we ask the question, what does Jeremiah do when he feels like that? Does he give up on God?

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    Turn the page because he gives us the answer in verse 25, which is worth highlighting because he shows us what his answer is. And the answer Jeremiah gives to complete the lesson is Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh. Isn’t that exactly what Moses said to the people? Be still and see the salvation of Yahweh. The answer Jeremiah gives.

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    The lesson Jeremiah teaches us is the need for patience. It is good that we wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh. Perspective is the key to perseverance, and perseverance requires patience, which is the key to waiting for the salvation of Yahweh. It might feel like that salvation is a very, very long way away, brothers and sisters.

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    It might feel like we have been persevering for an awfully long time. We might be feeling like we can’t persevere anymore. And if that’s the case, Jeremiah encourages us, don’t give up, be patient and wait for the salvation of Yahweh. Once again, this is something that David writes of in the Psalms where he says in Psalm 37, be still before Yahweh. Wait patiently for him.

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    It’s a lesson he personally had to learn. He writes in Psalm 130, verse 5, I wait for Yahweh. My soul waits for the Lord more than Watchmen for the morning.

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    So this story, the story of Jeremiah, the story of Joseph, the story of Job, shows us the answers on how to cope when we are feeling like God isn’t even there. When we are feeling like God didn’t show up when we needed, when we needed him to. When we feel like he’s not answering our prayers. When circumstances in our lives are spiraling out of control with no sign of God at work.

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    When we don’t know what to do next, When we don’t know the way forward. The answer is found in three words, perspective, perseverance, and patience. We may not know where God is, but He knows where we are. We got God’s presence in our life may not stop us from having to walk down some very dark, scary valleys of the shadow of death. And it may feel like we have been persevering for an incredibly long time with no sign of God. But if we persevere and wait patiently, God will show up, brothers and sisters.

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    And when he does, he will bring with him the salvation that he has promised to those who wait. So we’ve looked at Job, Joseph, and Jeremiah. We’ve seen the lessons their stories teach perspective, perseverance, and patience. But there’s one more story which beautifully ties these principles together. And that, of course, is the story of our reading in Luke 22, the story of the man we’ve all gathered this morning to remember our Lord Jesus Christ.

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    And it’s in this story, in his life, that he showed the perfect example of these three qualities. Let’s begin our short look at his story in Luke 22 and read from verse 41. And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

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    Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared to him an Angel from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Here we find our Lord in one of the lowest points of his life. Here he is in combat in a struggle, a struggle between his own will and the will of his Father, which was the will that he came to perform, as it says in Hebrews 10. Here is our Lord in anguish, in agony. Matthew says very heavy.

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    The word for agony is to be completely overwhelmed with anguish. The word is used in the Greek language to describe the most extreme form of anguish which the soul can feel. It’s an excruciating anxiety and a torture of spirit. That’s how our Lord is feeling in this moment as he prays in the garden whilst his closest friends sleep. At this moment, brothers and sisters, our Lord was a hair’s breadth away from failure.

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    He was a hair’s breadth away from cracking and, and there he is praying in agony. He’s experiencing the most extreme form of excruciating and torturous sorrow. And he calls out to his father. He cries out, ABBA, dad, please, if you’re willing, remove this cup from me. And his father, recognizing what was going on, he, he turns to his Angel and he says to his Angel, you get down there right now and strengthen my son because he is this close to cracking. You get down there and strengthen my boy. And there was the Angel, Luke points out, strengthening him. And there, in the midst of these incredible moments, our Lord wins the struggle right there in the garden, before he’s even been arrested.

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    Right there He has won that combat because his perspective was in tune with his Father’s will. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done for this, ’cause I have come to do your will, O God, as it was written of me in the scroll of the book. Jesus our Lord, in these terrifying moments showed the importance of perspective.

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    And because his perspective was right, he was able to persevere through the rest of that terrible night because he knew, he trusted. He was convinced that just because God was with him, just because the Angel had come down to strengthen him, didn’t mean he still wasn’t going to have to endure what was to come, the cross.

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    He understood that although God’s presence wasn’t going to change his circumstances in the short term, he had to persevere and keep his perspective right and God would hear his cries. Hebrews 5 verse 7 says, Who in the days of his flesh, when He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him, who was able to save him from death, heard was heard in that He feared. This is referring to these terrible moments that we’ve just read of in the garden in Luke 22, when He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, not just unto God, but unto the very one who was able to save him from death. And even though the answer wasn’t the one his natural mind would have wanted, even though God didn’t send that legion of angels to to take him from the cross, even though there was no fire coming out of heaven and some awesome display of divine intervention, He persevered.

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    He kept on praying and Hebrews assures us he was hurt. God sent the Angel, and even though He still had to die on that cross, the grave could not hold Him in. The answer to that prayer came in the form of resurrection to eternal life. And finally He demonstrated patience, patience in the most extreme form.

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    Once again, it’s Hebrews that points it out for us in chapter 12, which we know well. Consider Him. Verse 3 says. Consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. We find the word endured in verse 2 as well. And the word endured comes from the root word meno, which means to patiently stand. It’s the same word we see in Romans 12, verse 1212, verse 12 that says be patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.

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    In fact, Lamentations 3 actually points out to us the patience that Jesus was going to demonstrate, because you’ll see in your margins. The Lamentations 326, which tells us to wait patiently for the salvation of Yahweh, links us to Isaiah 53, verse 7, which describes a suffering servant in this way. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.

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    He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so He openeth not His mouth. That is patience in its most extreme form. It’s one thing to be patient in tribulation, like Romans 12 tells us to do. It’s quite another thing to be patient and wait for the salvation of Yahweh as you were being oppressed and afflicted and LED to your own slaughter.

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    The Lord Jesus Christ, who we’ve come to remember has shown perfectly in His own life in the most extreme way, in the way He responded to intense agony and excruciating anxiety, how to get through those times in our lives. Don’t give up on God. Perspective, perseverance and patience. Those are the keys to endurance.

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    Those are the keys that open up the door in front of you. Those are the keys which help you get through the darkest moments in your lives. The stories of Job, Joseph, Jeremiah highlight the importance of each one of these lessons. And the example of our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates for them, demonstrates them for us in a practical way. Well, we’ve referred to Hebrews a number of times this morning, and I want to finish in Hebrews because I think that Hebrews sums it up really nicely for us.

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    It encourages us so that when we are going through dark moments in our lives, when we are facing the valley of the shadow of death, when we are in the lion’s den or in the fiery furnace. When we are touched with physical or mental traumas. When it feels like God is not answering our prayers and our circumstances are spiralling into a very dark hole.

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    When it seems like God doesn’t show up, when it feels like perhaps he isn’t even there. If that’s how we are feeling when when that’s how we are feeling. Hebrews 10 verse 35 sums up the lessons that we’ve considered and we’re going to finish with this. Hebrews 10 verse 35 Do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

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    Don’t throw away your faith when things get tough, when you feel like God isn’t there. Hebrew says you need to have patience, you need to persevere, you need to to have the perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to do God’s will, not his own. And if you and I can do that, then we will receive what is promised, the salvation of Yahweh. Thank you for listening to the good Christadelphian Talks podcast.

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    God bless and talk to you next week.