What do you do when there’s nothing you can do? Marriage, children, financially, professionally, health, caring for elderly parents, academic. How do you solve loneliness? If you try to solve them, you make more problems. You can run, but you don’t want to run. You can give up.
I’ll never be happy again.
I’ll never be happy again. Nothing good can come from this.
I’ll never be happy again. Nothing good can come from this. There’s no point in continuing.
Does God hear my prayers? Does God know? Does God care? Does God hear my prayers?
The good news is that the New Testament speaks to this.
God is not absent, apathetic or angry
John the Baptist
Herod Philip married his niece Herodias Herodias then had an affair and married Herod Antipas
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist… Matthew 11:11 (NIV Bible)
John had been put in prison… When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison… Matthew 4:12 (NIV Bible)
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum… Matthew 4:12-13 (NIV Bible)
Capernaum Nazereth Mediterranean Sea Jerusalem Machaerus Israel Egypt
Capernaum Nazereth Mediterranean Sea Jerusalem Machaerus Israel Egypt
Capernaum Nazereth Mediterranean Sea Jerusalem Machaerus Israel Egypt
Don’t interpret God’s silence as absence.
who does not stumble on account of me”. “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me”. Matthew 11:6 (NIV Bible)
Lord, the one you love is sick… John 11:3 (NIV Bible)
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days… John 11:5-6 (NIV Bible)
Don’t confuse God’s apparent absence for apathy.
Your unanswered prayer does not mean that God is uninterested
who does not stumble on account of me”. “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me”. Matthew 11:6 (NIV Bible)
I’ll never be happy again. Nothing good can come from this. There’s no point in continuing.
Joy Hope Purpose I’ll never be happy again. Nothing good can come from this. There’s no point in continuing.
I can be happy again. Something good can come from this. There’s a purpose to this pain.