Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 15:21-28
During this Lenten season, we have been exploring what it means to wrestle with God. We've referred to it as a crucible, a melting pot, a place where precious metals go to be melted down and purged and bonded and formed into something that is more precious. To enter the chambers of the crucible is to enter the ring with God and spar with Him. This morning we look at another dimension of that crucible, another arena where we wrestle with God… the crucible of silence. Helmut Thielicke calls the silence of God “the greatest test of our faith.” It’s in this test, this crucible, this cross really, where two competing and conflict ideas intersect. On the one hand God is good and is my friend. He listens and speaks. And on the other hand, God fights with me. He is my enemy. He slams the door of heaven in my face. He never speaks. And both are true at the same time. And we have to somehow reconcile both of them… This is the crucible of silence. What do you do when God is silent?
