But it's of concern to us, if we're talking to God, and there's no response. Something is not right. We need to figure out what to do in situations like that, and at times God seems to withhold from us, the very thing we need to make a decision, or the very thing we need to get us out of a fix. When that happens, it can be quite distressing, unless you know what to do. One of the things to understand, is that when God is silent, there is always a reason for it; and sometimes that silence, can just be to let what's in your heart, rise to the surface. There's a king called Hezekiah, and it says: God withdrew from him for a while, to see what was in his heart; to test him, let what was in his heart, come to the surface. That's found in 2 Chronicles 32:31; so King Hezekiah was a godly man. He walked with the Lord, God blessed him and guided him; but there was a period of his time, when it felt like God had withdrawn from him. Now did God leave him? No. Does God leave you? No, He doesn't leave us, but it feels like He's not there. It feels like other things are really there: the pressures of finances, the pressures of a family situation, the pressures in a marriage, the pressures of your work situation, the pressures of a decision you need to make.
It feels like those are there, but God isn't there. The reality is: He is there, He is never going to leave you, He is always with you. The challenge is: how you handle that time, when it doesn't seem like God is responding. I want to give you just some things NOT to do, some things not to do; and we'll just give you some Bible examples on it, some things you should not do, when God is silent, and you just really do need to get some direction from Him. Now there's a lot of areas, that it's not clear what the answer is. We actually need the spirit of God to speak to us; decisions you make about your work, where you live, who you'll marry, decisions about family, there's a lot of things you can't actually, easily read, and find an answer exactly for it; so we actually have to position ourself, to let God talk with us. So what do we not do when God is silent?
Now I'm going to give you an example of a person who did this very thing, and every one of these people that did this thing, got themselves into trouble. So here, not necessarily in order of importance, but here's my number one. It's found in Luke 24:13. There were some disciples, after the resurrection of Jesus; now remember Jesus had died, He'd been buried, He'd risen from the dead, but He hadn't spoken to them. In other words, they had a period of silence, when God was not talking to them; and the Bible says that the two disciples headed out of Jerusalem, the place where they were called to be, the place where they were called to remain, the place where they were called to pioneer, the place where God had positioned them; and they began to go to Emmaus, which means literally the place of hot pools, the place of comfort. They began to withdraw, away from the placing that God had given them.
So one of the things that people do, when they feel God isn't speaking to them, or coming through, is they pull back from church and fellowship, that's what people do. They don't know why, they just do it. It's actually because, to come into fellowship, or to come into where people are, they're reminded of this conflict or pain or grief that they have, and don't want to be reminded of it; and rather than resolve it, withdraw from where they can be reminded of it. So the disciples went that path, and here's the thing that happened to them. When Jesus began to talk to them, they couldn't even recognise Him; so I have observed over many years, when people have faced disappointments and struggles and pain, that they withdraw from their connection to the body of Christ, or from relationship with people. When you do that, when you withdraw, you make a serious mistake, because now your problems will increase and get greater. The voice that'll be stronger will be the voice of the world, and your own feelings, not the voice of God.