Week 5 | “When God Seems Silent”

My quiet time lately is redoing what I did a few years back, going through the psalms. So here's what I do. I read a psalm, catch the tone, then I'll sit with my life before praying the psalm. Every day, one psalm a day. And it's really effective to searching my heart with the Lord and bringing before him an assortment of things. Sometimes it's lament, sometimes it's grief, sometimes it's confession, sometimes it's crying out to the Lord on behalf of a friend because that's who the Lord brings up. It's a beautiful offering. And here's what I found in doing this is that God moves me as I pray. But here's an interesting question. What happens to the prayers? Like the prayers themselves? I love what God does in me as I pray, but where do the prayers go? Or maybe, maybe you actually have thought about that question before because there was a season in which you prayed for a very long time for something and it felt as though the prayers just diminished or they hit the ceiling and maybe you stopped praying. And it's not because you stopped believing that God could answer them. You just lost a little drive

because you hadn't seen that he had. So what about what happens to our prayers? This is why I love Revelation chapter eight. What John does is he doesn't explain prayer. He lets us watch what happens to it. In fact, the entire book of Revelation, which is the series that we've been in as a church is pulling back this curtain of what is and what will happen in heaven as history is unfolding on earth. And I loved week one when Sean talked about when you approach the book of Revelation, you have to come in with your assumptions. For instance, the book of Revelation, while it's not written to us, it is obviously written for us. Or how the entire point of the book of Revelation is to reveal revelation, to reveal God. And so as we study where we're at in the series, chapter eight, I hope is that we see those two things. One, to see what God actually does with prayer and second, to find out who God is in the middle of that picture. So let's get a little bit of context. John's audience, keep in mind, is experiencing persecution because they were refusing to call the Roman emperor the king because they believed that that title was strictly reserved for Jesus. And in Revelation, we see God's response.

But no, as we're in Revelation eight, if you've been here the past few weeks, you feel the anticipations building. Why? Because to this point, six out of the seven seals have been opened. The seventh is about to begin. One chapter before, you have the martyrs crying out to the Lord. How long? If you remember the picture, the people that have been murdered for their faith, one chapter, two chapters earlier, 610, are crying out to the Lord. They're looking at earth and looking at Jesus and going, how long until your justice is gonna come to pass? They're lamenting. And in chapter eight, you hear the answer to those prayers. And just as an aside, that verse has always been highlighted to me, especially in the past five years, especially one moment in the past five years, I remember when it rattled my theology. Because when my late husband, Randy, went to heaven, I was convinced that he was busy worshiping the Lord and had completely forgotten about us. It's just weird when you're in the middle of deep and heavy emotion, suddenly just different questions come up.

And I'll just tell you this, don't ignore the stuff that comes up. It's actually those tensions that lead you to the intimacy that you need in the middle of them. In fact, there was a moment when I read about the martyrs in chapter six, when they're looking at earth and talking to Jesus, I became convinced of something. Wait a second, people in heaven can see? I can still remember that. at night's journaling time, when I was convinced as I was lamenting to the Lord in grief, that Randy could see it too. So in that prayer, and in every prayer I've prayed since, what happens to them? Revelation chapter eight, and I don't know about you, but has anyone else wanted an immediate response to those prayers? Or are you guys just patient and full of the spirit and just, wow, it's easy for you? You guys ready for an answer to some of your deepest prayers? Here it is, Revelation chapter eight. And by the way, I'm gonna read it. And I remember when I got handed these passages, I read it the first time and I was like, what just happened? Can you guys pay attention the first time? Like, so I don't have to read it a bunch of times and make sure that you're paying attention.

Like, just, you know, lock in right away. Here we go. When he, that's Jesus, opened the seventh of seven, seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Did you know that that happened? And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of God's people went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth. And there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelation chapter eight revolves around this question, what happens to our prayers? John answers using these images and this will be our outline. He uses silence. You've ever wondered why God is silent? He uses the altar, fire and waiting. Anyone else in the middle of waiting? First, let's look at the silence. Back to verse one.

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Point one, the silence. So we'll see the image and then we'll see what we learn about God. So point one, the silence, we learn that God is listening. In chapter four, so four chapters before you get to eight, if you remember, there's that heavenly worship scene. Do you remember it? Sean talked about it. It's the moment with all the angels and all the creatures and everyone's going, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God ringing a bell. Who was and is and is to come and actually speaks to it. It says, day and night, they never stop saying, holy, holy. This is the vision he's getting four chapters earlier. It just doesn't stop. It just doesn't stop. It just doesn't stop. And then in chapter eight, it does. Why? Commentators have an assortment of explanations. First one, and there's different views. The first one is it's reminiscent of creation, that this is the seventh seal. So on the seventh day, there's a rest. Another commentator says, this is the world's silence before God at the day of judgment that is beginning in this chapter.

Another commentator, it says, everyone in the heavenly places is in awe because heaven is anticipating utter destruction. And, I don't say or, and. Heaven gets quiet for the prayers of God's people to be heard. How do you do with silence? Let's see. Last night, I had a conversation with a friend about the difference between therapy and spiritual direction. Both are wonderful. But we were talking about one of the distinctions of spiritual direction is there's a lot of silence in it. Because the whole point is to be directed, not just by someone. In front of you, there's a lot of silence. Not just by someone in front of you, but someone who hasn't left. But what we were talking about is when people first get into spiritual direction, if they don't know what's coming, if you sign up. for spiritual direction at some point and you don't know what's coming. It's really interesting what happens with silence. Like she was telling a story, a friend of mine who's a spiritual director was telling the story of like how common it is for the person in the very first spiritual direction.

She'll be like, all right, let's wait on the Lord and just bring our hearts before him. So let's just create a little silence. And then the person's like, for sure. Did you hear anything? Like, we're so uncomfortable with silence. And I wonder if it's true, but it's not just like actual silence like this. It's actually how we feel when we feel like God is silent in response to these honest prayers that we've prayed, especially diligently prayed, right? Like what silence does in us, I don't just want to look at the fact that's what silence is but what silence does in us is it makes us at times almost feel ignored. But what if God's silence is not to ignore you but so that your prayers can be heard before God acts in verse five, he listens. And I know this not just from Revelation 8, Jeremiah 29, 11, the passage that talks about the fact that God knows everything, he is sovereign. Do you remember it? You put it on every graduation card. God speaking, for I know the plans I have for you. The one who knows everything. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. God knows the plans for everything. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord's plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope in the future.

Anyone else like that verse? Me too. The next verse, he says, then, so again, God already knows the plans. Then, you will call upon me and come and pray to me. How interesting. He already knows the plans, but what does he do? He invites you to call upon him, to come and pray to him. Why? He finishes it like this. I will listen to you. I don't know about you, but like, we get challenged all the time to pray. Here's my encouragement. I want to challenge you to realize that he listens. It's an attribute of God that's really beautiful. In fact, it's one area I believe he's wanting to form us to become more like, to look at our people around us and genuinely listen to them. It is such a gift. And it makes me wonder if there's a prayer that because you've felt absence, or you've felt silence, that you've stopped praying. Or maybe there's a prayer that you haven't been willing to pray because you didn't want to be disappointed, because you feared silence. I can relate. I went into a New Year's Eve with my friend Brooke and her husband. This would be a couple years back. And I don't know about, anyone else have like, the word of the year?

Anyone else do the word of the year? Me and her. Anyone else? Just, thank you. Few of us. And I, yeah, yeah. I was like, I always want to come in with the word, but I was just kind of tired. And I was in the middle of like, deep grief. And I'm like, I don't have a word this year. I don't care. And my friend's like, I have my word. I'm like, great. She goes, my word for the year is content. I was like, mine too. I just like, I'm like, I just stole her word. I'm like, that's my, gives me my word too. And so I went into the year content. What I didn't realize is the word of the year sometimes isn't just given to you. It just reveals how often it's not already in you. You know what I mean? So I walk around and I'm realizing my lack of contentment. But I remember at that same friend, her son's birthday party was at the beach. And we went to the beach and I was looking at my little boys in the middle of single parenting. And I'm like, my word for the year is content. This is hard. How do I, how do I get there?

So I'm just like praying as I'm looking at these two little boys running along the beach. And I'm, I'm thinking actually of heavenly rewards. Cause I know how God made me. He made me like want, want, I mean, want rewards. I believe so deeply in heaven. In fact, especially during that season, I didn't stop thinking about it. And then I think about the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus talks about what actually gives heavenly rewards. And it's not like this stuff, it's the secret stuff. It's the stuff that no one sees but him. And so I'm looking at these little boys and I was like, all right, God. And this is what I prayed. I remember the prayer so vividly cause it was so shocking to me. I went like this, give me hard. Cause I believe in heaven. I felt so content, which then surprised me when Just a few weeks later, I am on a prayer walk with a group of friends, and I'm thinking about my contentment, I'm like, you guys should pray for your longing. I'm like, what are you guys longing for? And I send them all off to pray, and I go sit in a rock, and I ask the Lord, like, what's in my heart for, you know? Like, what am I longing for? I'm like, I'm longing for contentment,

and I'm thanking the Lord for finding it, and then I notice something rise up in where? Silence. It was the first time that I felt a longing for remarriage. But here's the weird part. I did not pray it on that rock. Felt it, and I went, I don't wanna be disappointed. See ya, and I walked away, and it was like a month later that I was in Colorado Springs with my friends, Daniel and Lisa, and I'm sitting, eating Chick-fil-A with them, and we're talking. I don't know why Chick-fil-A matters, but Christian brand, closed today. Always, on Sunday, it's the worst. It's the only day I actually want it, but we're sitting there eating on a Friday, and I look at them, and I went, what do you do with the fact that, like, my word of the year is contentment, and then there's a longing? How do they, like, live together? Like, I'm kinda scared to pray, because I don't wanna lose the contentment I feel like I found, and he goes, well, this is so profound. He goes, God already knows it, so you might as well tell him. I was like, true, and that night, I did. Now, what I'm gonna tell you is a continuation of the story, but I wanna be careful that I'm not telling you

that if you pray what you pray, you get what you want, but I'll tell you this, he already knows. You don't have to stop praying. He cares about it. And I will tell you, as happenstance goes, that that was the week that I prayed, and it was in that month that I got set up with Scott, who I married a month ago. Now, and he's right over there, but, I wanna be really clear, though. This isn't some sort of reward. I don't feel like I deserve it. Oddly, the day before our wedding, I ran into a young girl. She's like, what does it feel like? What a story. And I was like, you know what it feels like is grace. It feels like grace. Doesn't feel like somehow I deserve it because I've been obedient, no. I'm so grateful God gave me content before he answered that prayer, so that my contentment would not be found in the answered prayer. And then, but here's what did happen, because I prayed, when Scott came on the clouds. Just kidding. Just kidding. When Scott came through a text, I saw God's hand in it because I prayed.

I would've, I could've missed his hand in it. In fact, Jeremiah 20 and 11, for I know the plans I have for you, and for the plan for me was Scott. For I know the plans I have for you, but your colors are plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, and you will call upon me and come and pray to me. I'm gonna listen to your prayer. Then verse 13 says, you will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. The goal for you is not the answer to your prayer, it's finding God in it. That's it. But I wanna let you know where it begins, with him listening to your prayers. Don't stop praying, church. We can't be a church that stops praying because we'll be a church that stops seeing him. He wants to be found by us. The silence. So what happens though to our prayers? We pray him and then he's listening, and then we're like, cool. No. Keep reading. Verse two. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. So the seventh seal opens the seven trumpets.

By the way, trumpets, not just in scripture, but just trumpets in general. I used to play the trumpet. So did Scott, it's weird. The trumpets always announce important events in scripture. Oftentimes it's a warning, but almost always it's God stepping into history. These trumpets are announcing the beginning of judgment. They precede the bowls, which by the way, the bowls and the trumpets both release judgment. But if you finish reading chapter eight, you'll see it is all done in thirds. We'll get to that in a bit. Let's keep reading, we'll come back to it. Verse three. Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. This is the second picture. The first one is the silence that God is listening. The second is the altar. And here's what we realize, that God doesn't just listen, he receives. Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar, the second picture. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar, there's the picture again, in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand.

I'm a visual learner, maybe this will help, we have a sketch. If you notice, there's a lot of Old Testament imagery that is happening, you have the altar of incense. This is where the priests offered their daily prayers all throughout scripture. This altar, notice, is to the right of the throne. This altar is before the throne. A censer, by the way, is the pan that holds the hot coals for burning the incense. It represents, as it's intermingled with the prayers of the people, as the prayers rising up to God. The smoke that you see is the visible representation of those prayers. This passage is all about prayer. Two weeks ago, in chapter five, if you remember, the elders had bowls. And what was in those bowls? Who remembers? My man, the prayers, chapter five. If you remember, it was a really great moment. Remember when, remember, Sean, when he was like, they were in the bowl, remember that moment? You need to come to church consistently. I know it's summer. If you missed it, I loved his line right here, he said, your prayers are in the room where history is being decided. Your prayers are in the room

where history is being decided. Which prayers? The ones that you thought no one heard. The ones you said in anger, why, are in the bowl. The ones where you went, I'm ready, God, they're in the bowl. The ones where you went, change them, change them, change them, change them, change them, just change them, change them. Get them to apologize. They're in the bowl. And now we're in chapter eight. If chapter five is where the prayers were collected, chapter eight is where we see what God does with them. But notice, that's three whole chapters, and the prayers have not left God's presence. The prayers are now with the censer and the incense and the smoke. They're now being not just heard, but received. And that's an important distinction. They're in the bowl, but they're also offered to be received at the altar. Your prayers do not disappear. And by the way, this answers that quiet fear, I don't know about you, but I've had, like, does God actually hear me? At the altar, the angel offers the prayers of God's people, and the prayers rise, and they're received. I sat with that picture. I'm like, whoa.

And then I asked a hard question, and I came up with a really challenging answer from scripture, and I went back and forth on whether or not to bring it up. I'm gonna bring it up, and I'm gonna trust that the Holy Spirit's gonna do in you what he needs to through it. But just know that the Holy Spirit is kind. So if you hear this, what I'm about to say, in any other tone but kindness, because it's his kindness that leads to repentance, I asked this question, are all prayers heard? Is there a time when God does not receive our prayers? Psalm 66, 18, God does not receive prayers from hearts holding on to sin instead of surrendering it. Mark 11, 25, God does not honor prayers from people who refuse to extend forgiveness that they've already received. Proverbs 28, 9, God does not delight in prayers from those who continually ignore his word. Isaiah 1, 15 to 17, hypocritical worship says this in that verse, though you make many prayers, I will not listen. 1 Peter 3, 7, God warns that a husband's prayers are hindered when he dishonors his wife. James 4, 3, God does not respond to prayers. driven by selfish ambition rather than his will. Selfish ambition might be like when we ask for things just so that life feels easier and more comfortable. Let me ask this.

If God were to have said yes to every prayer you prayed over the past month, if he said yes, would your life be more comfortable or would God be more glorified? Your prayers matter and so does your life. Hear me very clearly. We do not obey the Lord, listen to his word in order to find salvation or a relationship with God. It is our belief in Christ Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross to take all of our sin, to take the consequence for all of it. Friends, you have not, cannot, will not out sin the cross of Jesus Christ where it was paid in full. The wages of our sin is death. He goes to the cross and he dies to pay that penalty. On the third day, he rises to prove that he has defeated any weapon the enemy sends against us and not only that, did he take our sin. There's a great exchange he offers us his life the moment we believe on him for salvation. You do not receive salvation because you've been good. You receive salvation because Jesus was good on your behalf and he went to the cross to take what you deserve and then offers you by grace through faith that which he deserved, which is an intimate personal relationship with God who already knows everything and you are welcomed into the throne room of grace

with confidence the moment you believe. So hear me, we don't obey for salvation. Salvation is a free gift of grace given to those who believe in Christ's work on the cross but scripture is clear that our behavior can hinder our prayers. But the greater emphasis in scripture is that humble, repentant people have confident access. To God because of their need for Christ. Through their faith in Christ. The thing that is hindering your prayers needs to be prayed. The solution to the things that are hindering your prayers is prayer. We have silence where God listens. We have the altar where God receives. Prayer does not disappear. Prayers though don't just rise. How cool is this? This is where the action begins. They return, verse five. Then the angel took the censer. Remember the censer? You can put the picture back up. We got it, censer, there it is. But look at the bottom right corner as I read these verses. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth and there came peals of thunder,

rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. I'm going to read back starting in verse three. I want you to pay attention to what's in the censer because it changes. Verse three, another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense. What is a censer? Remember it's the pan that holds the incense and the prayers. With the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne, the smoke of the incense together with the prayers of God's people from the censer went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. First, it is filled with incense. Then, same censer filled with fire. Prayer rises, fire falls. God's action when the day of judgment comes is not some random destruction. Yes, thunder and lightning and yes, those images represent God's judgment. Why? Because he is just. He's answering the prayers

and the generation upon generation upon generation of prayers that are praying what Jesus taught us to pray. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. What are those prayers? The prayers that I hope. We have prayed for evil to come to an end, for things that are wrong to be made right, and for justice. And friends, my 150 Psalms, my 150 days of prayer, there are a lot of calls for justice because a lot of the justice that we wanna hold against people, only God can hold. And he makes promises through his scripture that one day things that are wrong will be made right. Don't stop praying. George Beasley Murray put it this way. He said, God has willed that the people that the, sorry, God has willed that the prayers of his people should be part of the process by which the kingdom comes. So hear me, the third picture is the fire because God responds. Put simply, what's prayed and brought to heaven moves eventually in God's timing on earth. And prayer is not convincing God to just join our agendas. Rather, he's inviting us all into his agendas

that the wrongs of the world would be made right. And he alone is the perfect judge. Silence, God is listening. The altar, God receives. The fire, God responds. But then another tricky question we come up with a lot in prayer is, what do we do about the wait? And the scripture speaks to that too. The wait is because God is patient because he loves. So in the picture we have in Revelation chapter eight, prayers go up before God. And what prayers? The prayers of all God's people for all of time. But we have some written out. Remember the one in chapter six, verse 10? How long until you write what went wrong? And in Revelation eight, God answers. And his answer is not immediate. But notice what God doesn't do. He does not wipe out everything at once. If you keep on reading through the rest of chapter eight, you will read this phrase a lot, a third. Let me just read, ready? It's verse seven, a third of the earth was burned up. Verse eight, a third of the sea turned into blood. Verse nine, a third. And the second one in verse nine, a third. Then verse 10, a third.

Verse 11, a third. Verse 12, a third. A second one in that same verse, a third. A third one in that verse, a fourth one in that verse. A fifth one in that verse, a sixth one, a third, a third. A third, a third, a third, a third. And any time you see repetition, start to pay attention. If you read through chapter eight, you would see a third, a third, a third. God is unleashing his wrath at this point in history. God unleashes wrath in thirds. And every time you read the third, I want you to remember this word, mercy. Everything left untouched is an opportunity to repent. God's judgment is real, church, but so is his patience. And the reason he is patient in responding to your prayers is because he loves the world. He's giving opportunities for more to know him. It's easy for us to pray and then mistake God's delay for a lack of care. Revelation proves otherwise. When we remember God's mercy, here's what happens. It softens our demands for speed. God delays because he loves. At the beginning, when we first started and I read the first verse, I wonder if you were like me on first reading, wondered about that silence, like it felt confusing. I hope as you just got to verse five, that by the end you see that it's love.

It's a remarkable scene, Revelation chapter eight, that gives us a whole lot of confidence. Because when we, the people of God, pray, he hears and responds. And when you don't know what God's doing, remember the truth revealed in this passage. He listens. He also wants to search your heart so that anything that's hindering it can be brought before him to listen to it. He receives it. He responds in his timing because he also waits in love. And so we don't want to have any prayer unhindered and I'll bring another couple of verses before you that I don't want to ignore. Jesus' half-brother, James, same mom, different dad. But a... James chapter five, verse 13, he writes this. If anyone among you is in trouble, let them pray. If anyone happy, let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone willow folks who are in the room? Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, church, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Because God has chosen to accomplish his kingdom purposes through prayer and through the prayers of ordinary people. We're gonna switch it up a little bit. Can I invite all of you to stand? I know we've done this in various weeks, but it's interesting because every week there's an opportunity Willow, South Barrington, for you to come forward and receive prayer. That's always an opportunity. And I always wonder what it is that stops us. But there is something really vulnerable about getting out of your seat and then having to walk toward your greatest source of strength. I wanna give us a little bit of a different picture. I wanna deploy the people of God to pray. I don't want us to, how silly would it be if we just studied prayer and we're like, that was interesting and then moved on. When he literally says, don't ignore my word. If you're sitting there, actually, one commentator made this comment about Revelation. It said this, Revelation, the book of Revelation is best understood by people who are going through it. If that's you, I'm gonna invite you to receive prayer, but in a unique way, right where you're at. If that's you, I'm gonna invite you to have a seat and we're gonna allow the people of God to come around you. And they're gonna do the work and intercede on your behalf.

Maybe if you're sitting there or standing there and you don't even know what to pray or you don't even have the faith to pray, let the church step in, it's time. Or maybe there's just confession between you and the Lord that needs to be done, which actually is all of us, but we still need a prayer team, so. Can I invite you right now, where you're at, just to have a seat? If you know that you know that you need to receive prayer this morning, and here's where it's gonna be sweet. If you just saw someone nearby you seated, welcome to the prayer team. I want you to get, I want you to move toward them. I don't want a single person seated without a hand on their shoulder. Now, people seated, you don't have to say anything, though you can. You don't have to, but you can. And people who are moving, yes, moving, getting out of your chair and moving toward them to lay a hand on them. You may pray out loud, you may pray silently, or you may pray from a distance with one of those extended hands. Freedom is yours. I love that people are moving right now. Friends, we are the body of Christ. And if you hear a passage like this,

the prayer of a righteous person. And by the way, your righteousness is not because of your obedience. The prayer of a righteous person is the person who knows they've been right by the blood of the Lamb, and some people need to be reminded afresh. So church, let's move toward each other and let's pray. And as you move, let me pray over all of us. Heavenly Father, I pray that people would be loved this morning. Hear our prayers, receive them, and give us eyes to see how you respond in your time and your way, and give us faith to trust you as we wait. And we pray all this and so much more. Let's pray for one another.