What do you do when, on the journey of life, God falls silent like a navigation system that has lost its signal, and the road ahead is dark and uncertain? A reflection on Psalms 123 and 124 shows a prayer that consists of simply gazing toward heaven, and reminds us that God’s silence is not indifference. The speaker also tells his own story from years ago: a plea of “take me out of here” spoken in a carpentry workshop, and an answer that came in a way he had never planned. Listen if you need a direction for the stretch of road that leads through fog.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Psalm 123 the psalmist compares his eyes to the eyes of servants looking to their master's hand. According to the sermon, what did watching the master's hand mean for a servant, and what does it teach us about prayer?
- Why does the psalmist, wounded by the contempt and mockery of the proud, not ask God for fire and punishment but cry out: have mercy on us? Who needs that mercy?
- When God is silent, we can withdraw and try to manage on our own, or we can choose faith. Which of these paths do you tend toward in hard times, and what draws you there?
- The sermon asks whether hope during God's silence is naivety or courage. How do you understand the difference between the two in what you are facing right now?
- Psalm 124 says: if the Lord had not been on our side. What moment from your past do you now see as a stone that stopped you from falling, even though at the time it looked like failure?
- In what specific situation this week do you want to practice the prayer of fixing your eyes on God instead of clenching your fists and taking matters into your own hands?
