Nothing But Silence...

A lot of us know the story of David (he killed Goliath) but do we know what went on before he was King? 

David was a mere shepherd boy but God had bigger plans for him. 


1 Samuel tells us about the time when David was on the run from Saul (the current king of Israel) who was trying to kill him. Chapter 23 tells about the time that Saul was closing in on David fast. They were running up the mountain, David took one path and Saul took another path. They were both convinced that their path was the only way to the top of the mountain. Don’t we all feel like that sometimes, that there's only one way - our way?

There is a lot to get out of this chapter and I highly recommend reading it... During this time David was on the run, feeling frustrated, tired and probably felt God wasn’t on his side. David was in a season of his life where he was in the ‘wilderness’, and that’s what I want to talk about today, those times of confusion and 'dryness'. David was on the run and didn’t know where he was going or where this season would end, but God knew. God was preparing him for his destiny and even though David didn’t understand he trusted in God. God was building David up so he was ready to the call, it took him a while and went through many seasons but God prepared him to be King. We can feel like this, we are in the ‘wilderness’ and don’t understand this new season we are in but God knows and has planned it and knows when the season will end. Some seasons are good and some are hard but the ones we struggle in are the times when God wants us to respond!

When things aren’t going our way it doesn’t mean that God isn’t with us just that he has different plans for us and wants the best from us. He wants us to be Christ like and sometimes going through the ‘wilderness’ is needed. So how do we respond to this season? The questions we ask are: when will this season end? And God why am I going through this? But these are al the wrong questions, God doesn’t want us to moan at him but he knows our weaknesses and that’s ok! The question we should ask is: what are you going to do about the wilderness?

So how do we do this.... how do we respond? Don’t get stuck in this season but persevere!

Psalm 62:8 “People - trust God all the time.” 

This is a command and even when we don’t know what the future holds and we don’t know why we are in this season, we turn to God and trust in him.

Joshua 1:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Be strong and be courageous, glorify God through your wilderness. Take heart and don’t be frightened, for God is with you all the time. He won’t leave you nor forsake you! God is with you always so why fear, God has it sorted so trust in him and take heart!

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Amen

James 1:2-3  “My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith and this will give you patience." 

Persevere and keep going, don’t yield to low levels of faith but build up your faith in God.

In wilderness, in times of times of silence we pray, we persevere; we thank God and rejoice in him. We trust in him and know he has it under control. There will be harder days but that’s when we cling to God and feel his presence. 

Psalm 34: 15-19 “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. Face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all”.