When Heaven is Silent
"After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath." (John 5:1-9).
Have you ever asked God, "Why?"
Out of the blue, with no sign of warning, my wife said those most painful words to me, "I want a divorce." She had met someone through the internet, and had also renounced her faith. Within 5 minutes, my world began crumbling all around me. Perhaps I received just a little taste of what Job must have felt when he too was hit suddenly with calamities from all sides.
I was devastated, and felt as if my guts had been ripped out (forgive my crudeness). The next few months were very difficult. I tried everything I knew to do to try and save our marriage, but every effort I made was rejected.
I often thought during this time that if my wife had died suddenly in an accident, I could have taken it much better. I would be able to see her laying in a coffin. I would see her body being lowered into the ground. It would be final - over - and I would have that sense of closure. When I would tell people this, they would not understand and would look at me as if I had become somewhat mad.
But as I talked with others who experienced similar situations in their divorces, I found out I was not alone. They too experienced these same feelings. I was experiencing the same feelings as if my wife had suddenly died. But yet she was not dead. It was as if a glass wall had suddenly been put up between us. I could see her on the other side - laughing, loving, living. And I would pound on the wall with my fists and scream out her name. I would kick against the wall. I would try everything I know to do to bring her back to my side of the wall, but all of my efforts would fail.
Some of you reading this may understand what I am feebly trying to express.
During these past few months, I've asked God a thousand times, "Why?" "Why did this have to happen? I pray and fast, but she seems to be growing more distant. Others are praying with me, but nothing is happening. Why?"
I watched as my oldest boy - 8 years old - would begin to cry and ask me why this has happened, and why things couldn't go back the way they were. Here my son was asking his father, "Why?" Was this what it was like as I prayed to my Heavenly Father and asked Him, "Why?" While there was no answer I could give my son, my Heavenly Father could save my marriage. He could heal this situation. Yet, nothing was happening. And again I would ask, "Why?" Other marriages have been healed and restored. But He did not save my marriage. "Why?"
You've probably asked the same questions many times in your life. "Why did my spouse leave me? Everything seemed so perfect!; Why did I lose my job? I'm a Christian and I trust God, but my unsaved co-workers didn't lose their jobs!; Why can't I find someone to love me? I'm so lonely?; Why did she have to get sick and die? She loved God, but God didn't heal her. She suffered so much. Why?; Why did God answer his prayer and heal him, but He won't heal me? Why?"
The Pool at Bethesda
By now, you may be asking what all this has to do with the scripture above. Look closely at this verse again. There was "a great multitude" of sick and hurting people gathered around this pool. Compound this with pilgrims flooding into Jerusalem for the Passover and you can just about guarantee that there were several hundred, perhaps thousands of people gathered around this pool. If you could picture in your mind a battlefield covered with wounded, this would describe the scene at the pool of Bethesda.
Here, Jesus healed a man which had been sick for thirty-eight years. This was a great miracle indeed. I've heard sermon after sermon about this man who was healed, sermons intended to build our faith and give us hope that God hears and will answer our prayers. But, I want to focus your attention on the thousands of people that left the poolside that day - left just as they came - with no answer, still sick, still suffering, still waiting.
I thank God for every prayer He has answered, for everything He has done for me. Yet, many prayers have gone unanswered. Many times Heaven is silent. My prayers bounce off the ceiling, it seems like, right back into my face. "Why are You silent, Lord? Why don't You answer? You said You will stick closer than a brother. But, You seem to be a million miles away. You said if an earthly father desires to provide for and please his children, how much more do You! Yet, I don't see You moving!"
I wish somewhere in this message I could give you the answer to "Why?" I wish I could open your eyes of understanding and answer every question troubling your heart. I know that sometimes we suffer because of bad decisions we have made along the way. But, sometimes, we're innocent, we've done nothing, and out of the blue, we're struck with calamity.
As Jesus and His disciples passed a blind man, they asked Him (John 9:1-3), "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" You see, your questions aren't new. The disciples see a blind man and in unison they question Christ, "Why did this happen to him?" Two thousand years ago, your questions were being asked. Jesus replied, "He didn't sin, his parents didn't sin. It's so that God's works can be manifested in him. He was born blind, but you're going to see My power today! I'm going to heal him!"
Again, this man was healed, and praise God! But what about you and your illness, your trouble, your situation? You want God to help you, but what if He never answers your prayers? What if you go to your grave never seeing God move in your trial?
Our God is Able, But If Not....
I found a good example in the old testament I hope will help you. It's the story you probably heard throughout your childhood of the three men thrown into the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Refusing to bow down before idols, they were bound and brought before King Nebuchadnezzar. It must have been an intimidating situation (think if you were brought before the president with all the pomp and ceremony). I want you to focus on what they said. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us" (Daniel 3:17). "But if not, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." In other words, "Our God is able to deliver us, but if He doesn't, we still will not worship your idols! We would rather die than turn against our God!"
Our God is able to deliver me and you from cancer, from the death of a loved one, from any sickness, from any injury, from financial troubles, from any situation! But if not.... will you bow or stand up? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire, stoked to be seven times hotter than normal (Daniel 3:19-25). It was so hot that the men who threw them into the fire were slain by its heat. But, in the midst of the fire, was a fourth man. He was there in the fire waiting on them! In the midst of your trial, your troubles, you may think you're alone, but Jesus was already there in the fire before it hit you!
John, the apostle, thought he was alone too. He was exiled to the island of Patmos for the word of God and his testimony of Jesus (Revelation 1:9). He called himself a "companion in tribulation." Church history tells us that John was boiled in oil for preaching Jesus. This usually killed the victim, but since he did not die, he was then exiled to the island of Patmos. He was alone now. The works that he done, the churches he started, someone else is doing it now. Nothing left but memories of what was, and what could have been. He's in tremendous pain from his burn wounds. He suffers. He is cast down, but he is not forsaken...
Listen to his words, " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day (John hasn't forgotten God; God won't forget him), and heard behind me a voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." John said Jesus' eyes were like fire, his hair like wool, his feet like brass and his voice like the sound of many waters. John once laid his head upon Jesus' chest during the Passover meal. Not now; he falls at His feet as if he were dead. "Fear not," Jesus said, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." In the midst of John's suffering came the promise that one day, there would be no more tears, no more crying, no more death, no more sorrow or pain, for all these things will have passed away (Revelation 21:4). "Write," Jesus said, "for these words are true and faithful."
Why?
Perhaps your answer to this question could be found in Jesus's statement to Peter, "Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Jesus didn't tell Peter that he would not be sifted. But Jesus did give him this precious promise, "I have prayed for thee, that your faith will not fail when the sifting comes."
This sifting will come. Your faith will be tried. It must happen. This same Peter would later write, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7). This sifting, Peter said, though it is very hard and difficult, though the process of dying to our self every day can be described as painful at best, is more precious than gold.
But at the appearing of Christ, you will be found unto praise and honor! For Christ must let His Church be sifted, that when He appears, "he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:27).
What will Your Response Be?
Great things can happen in the midst of suffering. For the three Hebrews thrown into the fire, for the blind man on the roadside, for the sick man by the pool, for John on the island of Patmos. Great things can happen to you in the midst of your suffering too. But if not... We can keep asking, "Why?", or we can look with all confidence as Job toward Heaven and proclaim, "Though He slay Me, yet will I trust Him!" (Job 13:15).
The prophet Habakkuk opened his book with the lament, "O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" But he closed his book with these words, "For though the fig tree shall not flourish, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 1:2; 3:17-18).
The question I have learned, and am still learning, is not "Why?", but "Who?". I don't always know why, but I know "who I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." (2 Timothy 1:12).
Me? I'm doing okay, and with God's help and grace I know I will make it. I am determined to see His purpose through to the end. More of John is gone. More of me has been nailed to the cross. More of the chaff has been blown away. More of the works I had built upon the Foundation are crumbling. Soon, all that will be left is that kernel of faith. All that will remain will be the Rock upon which my life is built. "And that Rock is Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4).
And that Rock, Jesus Christ, is praying for me, and for you, that our faith will never fail.
.