July 2018

is there. God is here. His silence
may be a test of our faith in Him.
Will we still have faith in Him in
the silence times or will be turn
to the world for comfort and answers?
This is a decision each
of us will have to make at some
point in our lives. This could be
today or tomorrow. We can ask
the why’s and dwell in our own
misery or we can hold fast to the
promises of the Lord in both the
Old and New Testaments.
When feeling like there is a dryspell
in our lives with God, this
is when we need to rely on our
discipline we have to trust in the
Lord. Don’t focus on the here
and now but remember and recall
and rejoice in the moments
past when God answered your
prayers. Dust of the Bible and
open it up and read it. Use the
time of silence to strengthen
your own resolve to grow closer
to God, not to walk away from
Him.
It is easy to walk away from
something when life gets hard.
It takes discipline and tenacity to
hold on to your beliefs and faith.
It takes strength to maintain the
hope and faith in God to help us
and guide us. If we walk away,
we have given up on our faith
and hope in God.
James 5:11 says, “Behold, we
consider those blessed who
remained steadfast. You have
heard of the steadfastness of
Job, and you have seen the purpose
of the Lord, how the Lord
is compassionate and merciful.”
Just because we may not hear
from God and feel far from Him,
much like Job, we can still trust
that God is there with us. God
let Satan test Job and maybe,
just maybe, God is allowing the
distance to test our faith in times
of silence.
We may feel abandoned and
punished by God, but this is not
true. God does not abandon or
punish us. In the times of dryness,
we need to remember
what Job went through and yet,
he was steadfast in His faith in
God. Job suffered greatly over a
period of time, yet he persevered
with the right attitude of faith and
trust. We too need to have the
same attitude.
We may not face the calamities
that Job did, but we can learn
the lesson of the Job -- to have
unwavering faith in God. Yes,
Satan will attack us. Yes, we will
face trouble and yes, we will face
lose and pain, but this doesn’t
mean God is not with us. Having
the fight attitude of faith, trust,
and hope will get us through
those desolate times in live.
With our attitudes, we have a
choice of which one to have.
There is no in between. It is either
an attitude of hopeful faith
or not. Our attitudes towards
feeling far from God are our
choice, not anyone else’s. We
must make a conscious decision
of which attitude to have during
the times of distant feelings. I
hope you choose the one that
builds strength and hope in our
Lord.
We all face the times of feeling
distant from God. Of feeling He
is so far away that He has forgotten
about us or doesn’t care.
It is important to realize that God
is not that way and He is with
us. It may be a test in our faith
to help us grow in faith and patience.
Regardless of, we have
a choice to make in these times.
The choice is to choose God or
turn from Him. Job stayed faithful
to God. We can too. It is up
to us and us alone. No one can
make up our minds for us. It is
our decision to hold fast to our
faith or to let it go. God is not
far from us. He is always there. If
we listen, we can hear Him even
in the silent times.
John Lysaught hails from El
Paso, Texas. He attends Hope
City Community Church. He is
married with four children with a
grandchild on the way.
www.faithfilledfamily.com 55