Most of us would have had an experience where you really need God to give something to direct you but nothing happened. You sought the Lord, you prayed, read your Bible and nothing seemed to happen. It can be very troubling. You ask God to help you, He doesn't seem to help you; ask God to guide you, He doesn't seem to be guiding you, you don't seem to hear anything and it seems quite disturbing. It seems like at times heaven seems to be silent about the things that are really important.
John 10:27, Jesus said: My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. So one of the things is, it's possible for any person to hear the voice of God. Whether you're saved or unsaved, God has got no trouble speaking to you. He can get through to you. He's got a way of doing it, and even if you're unsaved, people don't always recognise it's God, but many times they understand, actually that's God trying to get a hold of my attention.
But for a believer, this is what Jesus said: if you're My sheep; two things - one, we hear His voice; two, we respond, we actually do what Jesus said, we follow Him, or we make choices to act on what God said. Last week we shared with you some very simple keys on how you hear the voice of God. We talked about the flow of the spirit within you, how Jesus said that the spirit of God would flow like a river from within. We shared that the voice of your head is different to the voice of your heart. The voice of your head is logical, rational, one idea after another in an order. The voice of your heart is spontaneous, with pictures, and it flows. We saw that the spirit of God when He speaks to us, speaks to our heart, brings witness in our heart; and this is not something you just take for granted. It's something you cultivate. It becomes a way of life, of learning to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and you'll save yourself a lot of hardship if you listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. How many felt unease or something was disturbing them and they ignored it, then it turned out really bad for them? How many have had that experience? See, we've all had that experience at some point; so what happens of course is that if you override or ignore the directings of God in your life, there's a consequence of it; so neither does God want us to be just a puppet, where He tells us everything; so there's this balance of human responsibility, of thinking and working out how to interact, and work my life out; with God working with me, to guide me and direct me. The two go hand in hand.
One of the most common experiences that people have is this: What do you do, when God doesn't seem to be talking? What do you do, when God seems to be silent? Now He's never silent, He's always speaking, and He's always available to speak; but there are times in our life, when God seems to be silent. How many of you know a time like that, known a situation; and it's very, very challenging! In Psalm 28, David knew this. Let's have a look at it in Psalm 28, a time when God was silent. Of course, if He's silent all the time, you've got a problem, you're disconnected. Psalm 28: To You, will I cry O Lord, my Rock; Do not be silent to me, lest if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. So David is saying, or the Psalm is saying, he's saying: I need You to talk to me God, I need You to speak to me. I put my life in Your hands, I'm facing pressures and difficulties, I need You to talk. So he's saying: if you go silent on me, and give me the silent treatment, I'll end up in the pit of hell, pit of depression, pit of despair.
So let's just talk a little bit about what happens, when it seems like God is silent. Most of us would have had an experience where you really need God to give something to direct you, but nothing happened. You sought the Lord, you prayed, read your Bible; and nothing seemed to happen. It can be very troubling. You ask God to help you, He doesn't seem to help you; ask God to guide you, He doesn't seem to be guiding you, you don't seem to hear anything, and it seems quite disturbing. It seems like at times heaven seems to be silent, about the things that are really important. How many know that kind of situation? I hate that kind of situation. I have learned some things about it, so when God seems to be silent, there's always a reason behind it. There's always something we need to learn from it, when God seems to be silent; but you can go through many different experiences, and unfortunately many Christians don't respond the right way. Some get very angry and resentful, that God is not talking to them; some get offended that God's not talking; some just feel depressed, or feel what's the use, and actually feel like: well, I'll just get on with my life, and they kind of park it.