if you've ever tried to hang something in your household, you understand that there are different levels of hanging stuff on the wall. So maybe at the first level there is the child version of taping the picture you just drew on the wall, Have you experienced that? I have kiddos, you understand what I'm talking about? I'll come home from a meeting or work and sometimes my my guess will have just pictures that she drew her color just taped randomly sporadically throughout the wall, to which I just tear down and say try again. No, just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Sometimes. Um you're judging my parenting, I can feel it and know, so there is that level of sticking to the wall, but that paper is not a lot of weight. And so if you want to hang something of more weight, something more heavy and and so you're gonna need something different. And so then you move to maybe you use a command strip and those command strips have different weight capacity on there and so on the hooks on the packaging, you can see the weight capacity that's meant for that particular command strip. And if you need a little more strength maybe you move to a nail, but once you have a nail into the wall again, it could hold a picture or hold something there. But as things get heavier, you need something stronger To hold it. So maybe you move them to a screw or you need a wall anchor, but the strongest thing you can do is there in the wall because the wall looks the same. The wall looks on the front side looks the same across and so then you have to find the studs in the wall and so it for 15 years of marriage now every time I have tried to hang something that required the use of a stud finder. I and some of you know where this is going because you've made the same joke that there is something in a with an all guys that you have to make. What joke with the stud finder beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. Hey babe They found it. Okay and in 15 years he has yet to laugh and so we will pray for her and her sense of humor. But another while we're on it there are just some things you guys we have to do right? For example if you're grilling, what's the first thing you have to do with tongs? You have to clap them together a couple of times. Right to test it. I don't know what it is, it's just innate within us. It's that nature nurture thing. I don't know but you just clap same thing stud finder. Anyway where was I? Right sermon. Okay so you have to find the stud finder and you need to use, you kind of tap, you listen, you use or a stud finder why? Because on the surface on the front side it all looks the same. But on the backside there are certain areas that can hold more weight than others. And why is that important? Well we are talking about some of life's toughest questions about times in our life when we ask why and today's question is another one of those difficult things that we find ourselves asking and the question is this why does God sometimes seem silent? Why is it that there are moments in our lives where we read scripture and we don't feel anything or we pray prayers and we don't feel like we're getting the response that we want or something happens to us and it doesn't seem like God is there? What do we do when God seems silent? Well the challenge for today is that what what are you hanging your worries on or what are you hanging your worries up with? Because some of us have tape faith and that worked when you were a kid. Maybe you prayed a prayer you you you followed a class, you took something and at the time it that was enough to hang up what you were going through in life. But at some point life gets real and life gets difficult and life gets hard. And now that tape that command strip that nail even that wall anchor is not holding because what you're walking through is heavy and so the encouragement to christians is that even though the surface of the wall looks the same is that as christians we have the ultimate would the ultimate stud the ultimate frame to hold the capacity of the weight of our worries in jesus christ himself. And we have that because it comes through the cross the most valuable piece of wood in world history because on it hung the savior and creator of the world. And so here's the thought if the cross more specifically if jesus christ himself God and savior, if God on the cross of jesus on the cross was able to bear the weight of all the sins of the world and all the wrath of God and it held if jesus can bear the weight of that then I promise you that whatever worries you whatever keeps you up at night whatever doubt anxious thought that you have. I promise you if you nail it to the cross if you put it into that if you give it to jesus I promise you it will hold because everyone in the world has worries and has questions. So it's not a question of will you struggle or will you battle or will you suffer or will you question it because everyone's wall looks the same and everyone has this weight that they gotta put somewhere but we don't have tape faith. We don't have command strip faith. We have an eternal anchor for our soul and jesus christ so if you're taking notes I want you to write this down, hang your worries on the weight of the cross, hang your worries on the weight of the cross and what's interesting. So you have weight E I G H T. But oftentimes, what is the weight weighing us down is a form of a wait. A I. T. Because that's really what we're talking about today, right? We're talking about when you don't hear back from God, when it seems radio silent because no one likes waiting. And we live in an age now where things come so fast that any type of buffering and we get so frustrated, right? Gone are the days of the A. O. L. It's like two kilobytes per second. Wow, it's the future. Mm hmm. Right. You know, parents are get mad at kids and they're saying, oh, hey look, it's the past call. And he's like, well, it's because you didn't have text, you know, and like now it's like we need instant like we are so focused on being fast that we don't even text whole words, We have abbreviations and we, and we just like everything is instant, instant, instant instant. And then we get to life and it feels like we're waiting if you've been stuck in traffic, if you've been on hold for insurance or customer service for a company. I was actually curious in between services. So I looked it up. Do you know what the record, someone waited on hold an Australian guy named Andrew Kahn Waited on hold for 15 hours and 40 minutes with an airline. At what point do you like? I guess you just committed right? Like you get Like what? You know 15 hours and hold and then I'm wondering like did they switch up the music or is it like one song? I don't know, we don't like being on hold, but sometimes we are. So what do we do with that? So sometimes we feel the weight of the weight and that's what leads us to what we call lament. A lament is a cry to God, A call out to God saying I don't understand but N. T Wright puts it this way from his ministry's there. I love this quote, he says lament is not our final prayer, it's a prayer in the meantime. And for those who believe in christ it's it's a temporary issue but it's a real one. And so we want to speak into the realness of the issue this morning. But just as the problem is real. So too is the reality of God. Now the ministries of N. T. Wright put it this way again, I'm gonna kind of go through this kind of fast for time's sake. But again you can download these at mission growth dot info but but really it's found here is that you say these things about lament, five things here Is that Lament # one is a form of praise lament is a form of praise that even just questioning God is an act of worship if you do so openly in humility and honestly, it's a form of praise? Number to lament is proof of relationship. My daughter just had a birthday party. It was unicorn theme. Thinking about stealing that theme somewhere from my own birthday party will be great. And okay, don't look at me like that. I can like unicorns too. All right. And uh but no, why? Like, you don't? Here's the thing Why are unicorns fun because they're they're fluffy. It's great. Right? You don't get mad at unicorns. Have you ever seen somebody mad at a unicorn? Like no, you can't like you know why? Because it's like this fun character, like, oh its magical, right? When you go through the hard times of life, like I can't believe this unicorns, like no one gets mad at that. What do we get mad at? What? Who do we yell at? We tend to yell at God and then we actually get frustrated and we express that frustration on the ones we love. And so here's what's weird is the fact that we lament. The fact that we get mad. The fact that we struggle is actually proof of our relationship because you don't get mad at things that don't exist or things that are just ideas. You get mad when you know someone so lament is praised, It's proof. Number three Lament is a pathway to intimacy with God it's a pathway to intimacy with God. How many times have you walked through something really difficult and on the other side, you felt closer to the ones you experienced that tragedy with because when you're vulnerable you get closer and that's what struggles to do. No four, Lament is a prayer for God to act. It's a pleading with him saying God, I can't do anything, please do something. So it's praise. It's proof. It's pathway. It's prayer. And the last thing here is a lament is participation in the pain of others. The people best equipped to comfort those who are struggling are those who have had a similar struggle to be able to lean into someone, looked them genuinely in their eyes and just say, I get it, I'm sorry. So there is benefits and there's strength to lament. And so we're gonna look at a cry for help here in psalms. and when I look at Psalm 42, it was really, the book of psalms is divided into several books and written by different people, different Portions, a lot of which were David, but in this particular case, there's a section here starting at Psalm 42, written by these guys called the sons of Cora. Sounds like an 80s band, Oh, you're gonna go see the Sons of Cora man. Yeah, okay, that was dumb, I'm sorry, I apologize. Stupid anyway, unless there actually is a band like that, in which case I would totally go see them? So they write this out, they write this song and and really psalm 42 and 43 are really seem to go together because they share the same thought process and the same refrain that goes throughout. And the context of this is that the authors were being oppressed and kept away from corporate worship from enemies who oppressed God. And so they are longing to be in a corporate worship setting with others who believe so most likely the temple and so they want to gather. But there are people oppressing them and so they are crying out God, why can't I be there? Why can't experience that? And at the same time, God, why are you allowing them to oppress? And why haven't you done something? Why am I so down why so downcast is my soul. But I want you to notice this like this cry and and it seems kind of artsy fartsy. If you don't like poetry like you know what, like if you're not a poetry person and he probably realized they probably wouldn't say artsy fartsy from states, but it's too late on that one. But but if you like poetry and art and things, there's like you love these very, you know, just like flowery language and extreme things and and you love that expression and I love that art. It expresses the human soul and the human condition and so there's a lot of expressions of that. But then there are, I recognize that there are also other people who don't relate to that. So here just put up the first verse on the screen as the deer pants for flowing stream so pants my soul for you. Oh God, that sounds more like sake Shakespeare or something, right? Like it sounds like flower. Like sometimes there are people who just admit like that's not me. I I wouldn't do that. Okay, but have you ever been so mad at God that you don't know what to say, that you go out into the garage and go, that's what he's saying there. That's what he's saying. Like if you've ever been upset and asked the question and shook your fist or hit a wall or mumbled under your breath, what was that? Oh, nothing. And like it or said a few words that may or may not have four letters in them. Whatever you find yourself this angst, this anxiety, this questioning of like, I can't believe it, this is the heart of the person crying out because then in verse two, it says my soul thirsts for God, so will being the innermost being for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? It says my tears have been my food day and night. This is not stubbing your toe. This is like a dark night of the soul and if you've ever walked through something so difficult or seen a loved one walk through something so difficult that you find yourself just question everything. This is what it's talking about. And it seems intense and it seems dark, it's because it is and it's real. But I want you to notice the turn that's coming. I want you to see the honesty and the realness of the tragedy. But I want you to also see the real ness of God and the turn that's gonna be made. So my tears have been my food day and night and while they say to me all day long, where is your God? These things? I remember as I pour out my soul, how could I go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God and with glad glad shouts and songs of praise a multitude keeping the festival it says why are you cast down o my soul and why are you in turmoil within me And now from complaint from lamenting from crying out, it's gonna turn and he's gonna speak to himself, have conversations with themselves. Their head maybe audibly, maybe not honorably but you like go back and forth. You have multiple sites he's doing here. He's he's preaching to himself. And so that's why so downcast. Are you my soul. And he turns to himself and preaches to himself in the mirror and he says hope and God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God what he's saying here is I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know why this is happening. But what I do know is that you are salvation, You are God. And so I'm gonna put my trust in that sometimes we're searching for answers when even if we knew the answer, that wouldn't solve the issue. Because more than answer, we need the actual presence of God, the prophet Isaiah and Isaiah 40 put it this way, he said, have you not known, have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, that he does not faint or grow weary and his understanding is unserviceable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might. He increases strength and pause there for a second. This is such an encouraging phrase and I've said this before in this room, but for some this might be your first time. So I say it again because I also say it to myself all the time. What did God use to create the world? Nothing at first think about this for a second. Nothing existed. God spoke and it became So if God spoke the universe as we know it out of nothing. And you feel like you have nothing less to give God guess what God can work with that when you feel like you've got nothing left to give him understand that out of nothingness. God created the entire universe as we know it. And so that is enough and you are enough. And God is real says to him, who has no might, he's got nothing left, he says he increases his strength, Verse 30. Even youths shall faint and be weary. I used to identify with the youth side of that equation. And after this last year when I got injured multiple times for doing nothing at all. I feel like I've crossed the other side. That combined with the fact that I walked into a room one time and my first thought was, oh that music's too loud, no no longer applies to me now. So even youths shall faint and be weary, even young men shall fall exhausted, notice it doesn't say toddlers um just go and go anyway. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings or mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint, that there is hope, there is strength, there is might for those who wait on the Lord now there is a waiting portion, but also consider this that that what do you call someone who brings you your food at a restaurant, It's a waiter, waitress. So there is a moment of being still. But there is things that you can do in the meantime and that you do that as you serve as you come alongside as you as you do. That, that there is something that you can do and while we struggle in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our question, we see even in the new testament, jesus himself says this, he says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I feel like I need to bring the word laden back into the mix, right, That would be a great word anyway. So all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, says take my yoke upon you and and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light now in this case yoke is not referring to eggs, but it is referring to the thing that is going across the auction or or animals or livestock that is doing the work and in relationships and other passage of scripture talks about not being unevenly yoked to to get in a relationship with someone who's gonna pull the weight the same as you. The the same belief, same values as you when it comes to salvation and walking through life, it says we get to share that yolk with God. And so he carries all the weight. Have you ever carried something in with a young kid and like you're carrying all the weight and they have their little hand on it and then there and then you're and you set it down like we did, it was like that this is with God like he carries the weight and you find rest. Maybe you've traveled and been gone for a long time maybe for work or really anywhere, maybe there's been lots of delays. Maybe there's been lots of question marks and you finally get back home and you walk through the doors and you have this sense of wow, oh that's the feeling you can have with God. You see, we have to be careful not to equate God's silence with God's absence. And we have to be careful not to equate God's delay with God's denial just because he hasn't dealt with something yet. Doesn't mean it's not being dealt with. You see in Psalm 27 14 it says wait for the Lord to be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. So there is a waiting portion. But then you also see this walk, you wait on the Lord. But then it also cause you to walk with him. And there are things that you can do because while you feel helpless, you are also not without hope. And so there are things that you can do to walk in that hope. First Timothy 6 12 Paul writes this has has to fight the good fight of faith. I love this imagery here take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you were made the about what you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses to fight to take hold of what God has called you to do and who God has called you to be to just embrace that to to run head on into the storm. There's some great stories right now actually of the Ukrainian President who said that right now in the midst of conflict, he says, what I need right now is not a ride but ammo. And he went and joined the battle with his people to run into the middle of that to take hold of what God has given you in place before you and sometimes you're not going to see it. Same writer of first timothy also wrote Corinthians and then the second letter, second Corinthians 57 paul says, for we walk by faith, not by sight, just because we can't see what the outcome is going to be doesn't stop us from taking that step and what God's called us to do. And Ephesians, same author again, paul writes to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians Chapter 5 15 to 17, he says, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. So we might not know where the journey finishes, but wherever you are, he says, okay, God, I don't know how this thing's gonna end. But I'm just going to take a step today and I'm gonna wait on you and I'm gonna walk with you and I can't carry the weight of this worry, I can't carry the weight of the unknown. But you can so do something. So what do we do then on a practical sense when God seems silent, right? Have you ever gotten a spout with a loved one or a friend and maybe that friend or somebody gave you the silent treatment? Right. Sometimes we feel like God is giving us the silent treatment but we can still act. The game's not over. There is still something to be done, something to be said. Let me just get real practical for a few minutes here. So when you don't know the plan. Trust God's promise. If you don't know the plan and I love plans. I love knowing what's coming. I love knowing what we're going to do. But sometimes you don't know the plan. And so when you don't know the plan instead of focusing on what you don't know you believe and embrace what you do know and what we have are the promises of God promises like he is for us and if he is for us who can be against us, promises that he is with us that we can be strong and courageous for he is with us always promises like he is in us that the holy Spirit will not leave us as orphans, but that he will be with us. The Spirit of truth. Spirit of love. Spirit of hope inside of us. We have promises like God will work through us that we are God's workmanship created on purpose and for a purpose. We have promises like God loves beyond us That if we confess our sins that he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all on righteousness first John 1 9 and so when we don't know the plan instead trust in the promise because what has a stronger foundation. Anyway, plans are like that tape faith or command strip faith and why do we like command stores? Because you can see it, you can see it. And so we put our plans up like this will be nice. But what's stronger than that are the very promises of God because those will last for all eternity. Number two When you don't see the picture, pray for God's presence, you don't see the picture, pray for God's presence. When you walk into the store and you see you see frames they put photos of families in the frames. Right? Yeah, that's not me. I don't I don't see myself in that. Sometimes when we see our situation we can't picture what the solution is. It seems like there's no hope there's a sense of overwhelming. Okay well let's say God did tell you why something happened. Would that actually make it easier? I think it would still hurt and there still might be struggles and so what's even better than knowing why is knowing who and that who The very presence of God is the one who can bring you comfort number three, when you don't hear God's voice, remember what he already said, God spoke the world into existence. Jesus came onto the scene, John one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God Jesus referred to as the word he dies on the cross for your sins and for mine and before he does so he says it is finished not because it is fully done working, but rather it is complete. And now we have the word of God telling us about the word of God, jesus christ himself. So sometimes I think we get so focused on trying to determine God's will, that we forget that he's already revealed much of his will to us Is your attention based on what you don't know or resting in what you do know. And thankfully our salvation is not based on our feeling of that day, but based on truth. He doesn't say in john jesus doesn't say that you shall know a feeling and the feeling will set you free. He says, you shall know the truth. And then he also says, I am the way the truth and the life and he says and for the sun sets you free, you are free. Indeed. So when everything around you feels shaky and unknown go back and rest in the fact of what he said, who he is and what he's done. And it might not change your immediate circumstance, but it can change your attitude and yourself as you approach that. And while things like illness and financial and relationship struggles are very real, anxiety, depression, that things are very real. What's also real is that we have a God who cares for us and that there are some things that we can do in the meantime. So what does that look like? What do we do while we wait? Because what we do with situations that we get real big and overwhelming, it'll never get better. It will never change, this will never end. And so what I want to encourage you to do is this right here, is to think small specific consistent actions, small specific consistent actions start giving yourself a rhythm, to breathe, a rhythm of rest, a rhythm of grace, just to pause. What does that look like? What are some of the small actions? Because these tend to be the first things that go when we struggle, we have issues. These tend to be the first things that go that we that we put off to the side and these are the very things that could lead us to health. A few examples. Read scripture, read scripture, just reading some of the words of God and you might not quote unquote feel it, you might not get a lightbulb moment, but if you routinely dive into what God has to say, that allows God's word to shape you versus what the world does, because we all read something, maybe it's news, sports, social media, movies, shopping, people. So why is it that we let everything else of the world tell us who we are, what to think when we have the God of the universe saying this is who you are, and more importantly this is who I am, because when you read scripture, that's how you get into the bible number two, when you pray, that's how you get the bible into you and you can have honest conversation with God and much of prayer is taking that weight off of your shoulders and putting it on the cross three, listen to worship music, find a song or a group or an artist that that speaks to you and put that in the motion to talk to someone if you need professional help, seek that out. That there are a lot of great options out there. I'm a believer in that, that sometimes we can't figure things out on our own, so speak to someone in that expertise or field that can help you, or sometimes it's just as simple as meeting up with a friend to share that so that you don't have to carry that weight alone, other things to do, to take a walk, to go outside, to experience nature, to work out to eat a healthy meal, to eat a series of healthy meals to serve, to meet the needs of other people better. Yet you take two or three of those things, I just listed off that list of 10 and you combine them so get together with a friend and then go serve someone or be in nature and pray to God or listen to worship music while working out. Or do you see when you start combining these things, you start to create that small specific, consistent rhythm and habits that will start to shape what you think, what you believe and then ultimately how you feel at the end of the day when we're struggling, we're called to remember this for believers in christ, we can hang our worries on the weight of the cross. Will you do that today? Will you pray with me? Dear Heavenly father, There are people right now that might be watching online or people here in the room who are walking through such difficult circumstances and God, we lean into that God we know in your word that when Lazarus was dead and that jesus was going to raise him from the dead, that before he did that action knowing the outcome, he stopped and he wept with those who were weeping and we know that you hurt when we hurt that you care about what we care about. Mhm. That even in our pain, you are present. And so God, if there is a situation or circumstance that seems too heavy for us to carry it is my prayer that you would act. It is my prayer that you would heal. It is my prayer that you can bring hope into this situation. And God, we do want to see you, he'll immediately we do want to see you change people immediately. But we know that even if that doesn't happen, that you have dealt with that in the past on the cross and we know that you will deal with it again in the future. That one day you will wipe away every tear one day there will be no more cancer, No more sickness. One day there will be no more financial struggles that ultimately we can be perfect and present with you. And so God, it's in that belief that we have hope. Mm hmm. And it's in that belief, God that you offer us help. And so we nail we give these the weight of waiting the weight of these issues and we put it to you. We put it to the cross because God, you carried the weight of the world and you will hold that we don't just have an anchor for our worries. We have an anchor for our souls. And so in the middle of our struggles and our issues and our suffering. God, I pray that we can draw close to you, May you comfort us? May you encourage us? May you strengthen us? May you give us peace and purpose today for those who are hurting God? I pray that we can turn to you and find our hope and our ultimate healing in you God. Right? Yeah. We love you and it's in your strength. We try to draw close.