God Hears Your Cry

When God is silent, He is not still. Dr. Tony Evans says just because we don't see anything obvious happening doesn't mean God isn't up to something good. God sometimes allows us to go through the bondaged period because He's taking us somewhere new.

This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. It's been said time and time again that God works in mysterious ways, and although that's a well-worn cliché, there happens to be a biblical basis for its truth. Dr. Evans says when we're in the midst of ongoing turmoil, it's pretty easy to become upset with God and forget that He's still at work on our behalf.

Let's join him as he explains. I want to carry you to a little book in the Bible, the book of Habakkuk, three chapters of a man who's frustrated at God. In fact, when he opens up verse 2 of chapter 1, "'How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and you will not hear?'"

Anybody ever felt like that? Biblical writers have felt that, that God was nowhere to be found in a crisis, that He—here's what He felt. He felt abandoned by God, abandoned by God. And He's a prophet. He's one of the ones who God was going to use to inscript part of the Bible, and yet He felt abandoned by God.

How long have I gotta wait for you to hear what I'm saying? Notice God's response in verse 5, "'Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told.'" Habakkuk is in a crisis mode in the book. Now, there are a number of options for you when God is nowhere to be found, you're confused about what God is doing, and you seem to be coming apart or unglued. You have a couple of options.

Let's name three. First of all is resignation. You have the option to resign. That is, to assume you're destined to be miserable, life is never gonna get better, you're always gonna be tore up from the floor up, and this is your lot in life, and you just resigned to that. Another option is you can detach yourself. That is, try to find things that take your mind off of how miserable you really are and create distractions from your trouble. The problem is that that's camouflage, because you're coding it over, but you haven't addressed it, solved it, or fixed it.

The problem is still there, but what you've done is you've turned on the television, or you've gone to entertainment, or you've gone to sporting events, or you've done other things to kind of distract you or camouflage the reality of the situation. So that's another thing people do. They resign to it, they detach from it, and then there's, of course, the man thing. There's this bravado, take it like a man. This is pep talk.

You can do it, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. I want to call your attention to Habakkuk's response to his confusion. You know it well. So last three verses of the book, chapter three. Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places. He makes the decision, I will exalt in the Lord. I will, he says, exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

So here's the challenge I want to give to us, me and you and us. Worship Him anyway. He doesn't feel like it. He's confused. It's been a long time. Why is it taking so long?

And why are things getting worse than better? He says, let me tell you what I'm going to decide to do. I will. Sometimes you have to worship by choice. You don't feel like singing. You don't feel like reading. You don't feel like praying, praising.

I don't feel like it. He says, I will. That is a decision. God will empower a decision, but what He won't do is make it. He will empower a decision, but He won't make it.

He will respond to a decision, but He won't make it. When you look at our lives, we do a lot of things because we decide to, that we don't necessarily feel like doing, but we make a decision. This is what I will do in this situation. We do it all the time.

Most of us do it every morning. I will go to work. You know? I will. He says, I will. And what am I going to do? I am going to rejoice.

I'm going to exalt the Lord, and I'm going to rejoice in the God of my salvation. Look, let me tell you what He doesn't say. He doesn't say, I'm going to get excited about my circumstances. He's not happy with his circumstances.

He's discouraged about his circumstances. What He's going to get excited about is the Lord is in His holy temple. I'm getting excited about God is in control of my out-of-control situation. I'm getting excited about a person, not a circumstance.

It's a focus issue. He focuses on God, not a situation. Listen, He doesn't deny a situation because He just told us in verse 16, I'm coming apart. I'm dying here. I can't make it. You're taking too long.

I don't know what you're doing. He's being very honest about his situation, but He comes up with another I will. I want to challenge all of us, in whatever the circumstance is where God is—you feel like He has forsaken you, to be honest with God, He knows what you're thinking anyway. It's inconceivable to me that you think you're keeping a secret. Well, I'm not going to say it because God might be upset.

He knows what you're not going to say, okay? But having said it, having expressed it, as Habakkuk freely does throughout the book, he says, I will rejoice. I'm going to get my praise on. He is not talking about just a religious service.

He's talking about how He's going to function. I'll rejoice in the God of my salvation, he says. Here's the secret. Here's the secret. The secret of getting joy is rejoicing. See, the way you get joy is by—see, the Word is in the work. Joy is in rejoicing, okay? To get joy, you've got to have the re and the ing.

Joy is in the middle. If you want the joy, have the re and the ing. People want joy who aren't rejoicing. Joy comes from rejoicing. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is circumstantially driven. He doesn't have any circumstances that are good.

They're all negative. But He is rejoicing in who God is, what God is, not where He is and what He's going through. He's complaining about that, and He doesn't keep it a secret from God. He says, I'm going to rejoice in the God of my salvation. So before you resign, before you detach, or before you come up with false bravado, have you rejoiced? Have you started your day rejoicing, not for the situation, but for the God who's in His holy temple? What did God do?

Oh, I love this phrase. The Lord God is my strength. Why is the Lord God his strength?

He doesn't have any of His own. He's unraveling. He has made my feet like hinds' feet and makes me walk on my high places. Hinds' feet are mountain deer. That's why He talks about high places, because they're climbing mountains. So these are mountain deers and they are hinds' feet. When a mountain deer has to climb up a high place, a mountain, he has to do so strategically, he has to do so carefully, he's got to sidestep things, he's got to jump over things, and he is climbing up a steep hill. But the reason that they can do it is because of their feet. Mountain deer have feet that can adjust to the terrain. Hinds' feet have feet that can maneuver the high place that they're trying to get over. We are usually praying for God to change the high place and make it a valley.

We want Him to get rid of this thing. But sometimes the way God wants us to address it is by climbing it, which means you've got to get a foot issue straight. But you say, I don't have hinds' feet. I got man feet. I don't have hinds' feet. Well, then you ain't read the verse, because the verse says He made my feet like hinds' feet. In other words, He gave me maneuverability so that I could sidestep some things and skip over some things and climb up some things. He said, when I got my rejoicing on, something happened to my feet.

God became a podiatrist, and something happened to my feet when I rejoiced. Now, nothing happened to the high place. The high place was still high. But something happened to me, and I was able to climb the thing that would not move. I don't know when God's going to move it.

I know He'll give you the ability to climb it. Either way, you're on top of the situation. Dr. Evans will explore how God works behind the scenes to move us to a better place when he returns after these words. Life is full of challenges and disappointments. The billows of circumstances sometimes get thick and heavy and overwhelming. Whether it's a pandemic that you're facing, a health crisis, a financial crisis, maybe a family and relationship crisis, sometimes life can become so challenging, so difficult, so painful, that your get-up-and-go has gotten up and gone, and you want to throw in the towel. There's help, and there's hope.

So we're not going to let the realities of life, no matter how negative they are, define how things are going to work out in the end. We're going to find hope, even in the midst of our hurting. Go to tonyevans.org to find out more and request your copy of Hope for the Hurting. Hope for the Hurting goes hand in hand with the lesson we've been listening to today, the culmination of the 20-message Coming to the Comforter audio collection. We've bundled this powerful book and series together and are making them available to you in a single package for one final day.

This set of resources will help you understand that when you approach God, the comfort and hope you need to carry on is attainable. Don't miss out on your final chance to receive this special bundle as our way of saying thanks in return for your contribution to help support the ministry of Dr. Evans and the Urban Alternative. To get the details and make the arrangements, just go to tonyevans.org. Or if you prefer, give us a call at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist with your resource request. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or by phone at 1-800-800-3222 to request the Hope for the Hurting and Coming to the Comforter special offer.

I'll have that contact information for you again after Part 2 of today's lesson. Let's join Dr. Evans now as he takes us back to a story from the book of Exodus. Israel is in Egypt, and things get bad.

Things get really bad. In chapter 1, verse 11, taskmasters were put over them to afflict them with hard labor. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied. So they, verse 11, compelled the sons of Israel to labor vigorously. Verse 14, and made their lives better.

You ever have anybody in your life that makes your life better? Makes your life lemon? God allows things to get bad for purposes designed as we function in His will to accomplish something better.

James puts it this way, count it all joy, my brethren, when you come into various trials, James 1 says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces. Our tendency, and it's a natural tendency, is to see bad and only see bad, because bad is there to be seen. And you can't call bad good and call that the power of positive thinking.

That's just a lie. If it's bad, it's bad. If I don't like it, I don't like it. If it feels bad, it feels bad. If I'm hurting, I'm hurting.

All I'm saying is while that is true, that's not all there is from a spiritual perspective. They're in pain. They're struggling. They're in anguish. Now, chapter 2, verse 23. Now, it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed.

You ever sighed because it just wasn't working? Because of the bondage. In other words, they saw no way out. They sighed because of their bondage, and they cried out. And they cried for help, so we now know what they're crying for—divine assistance. Bondage forced them to cry out.

Implication. Until it got this bad, they weren't crying out. So, God heard their groanings, and God remembered the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them. Now, when you first read that, it seems like, God, where have you been? Are you on vacation?

Are you asleep? Can't you see what I am going through? Well, the words here, he saw and he took notice, cannot be disconnected from verse 24. He heard their groanings, remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, took notice of them.

It means he got involved with their situation. He took notice of them. He paid attention. That's the summary concept. He paid attention.

They are deadly serious. But this whole section here hinges on one word—his covenant. God made an agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it says. So, he made an agreement many years ago that he would make of Abraham a mighty nation, a mighty name, and take him to a mighty land. His covenant was what he promised to do. That was his word about what he was going to do with this situation. Why does God hear them now? What is it about now? We're told he remembers his covenant, what he has already agreed to.

A bunch of things get ready to happen here. The reason he let them get miserable—watch this now—is he needed them to become uncomfortable. See, until things started going downhill, Egypt wasn't a bad place to live.

See, as long as Joseph was alive, Egypt had it going on, because Joseph knew what was going on and Joseph was, you know, making sure that, you know, people ate and his family ate and all that. But then there rose a king who didn't know Joseph and things started sliding downhill. So, it got bad, but they're still not crying out yet. It got worse, they're still not crying out yet. Then it got unbearable. When the king died, it just got unbearable. When it got unbearable, why did he let it get unbearable? He let it get unbearable because it was time to fulfill his covenant. And his covenant meant you got to leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land. So, he made them miserable to make them uncomfortable so they wouldn't want to stay there anymore.

Why? Because it tells us to fulfill his covenant, to keep his word. So, what am I saying? God is so committed to himself and God is so committed to his word that if making you miserable can help him fulfill his word to you, his purpose for you. Say, how long have I got to be miserable?

Until you're willing to adjust. See, I'm suggesting before now they're not ready to leave. Now they're ready to leave because they're crying out. And that's why I love the first word of the next verse. The next verse begins, remember the Bible was not written with chapter divisions. So, when you read the Bible, chapter divisions were added so we could find places quickly. When the Bible was written, it wasn't written with chapter divisions.

It was just an ongoing script. Take number three out, beginning chapter three, and let's read verse 25 of chapter two. God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them now. Now. A lot of people think chapter three is not related to chapter two.

No. Moses is taking care of flocks. All of a sudden the tree shows up that won't burn.

He goes over to see what's going on. Take off your shoes, you're on holy ground. Go taro Pharaoh, set my people free. When they were crying out over here, God was working with Moses over here to connect them to fulfill his covenant. When God remembered his covenant, when they cried out, God started doing something they knew absolutely nothing about right now. See, when they're crying out, oh God, get us out of here, God, there's bondage here.

God, I'm miserable here. As far as they were concerned, God was doing nothing because they don't know that Moses is over here tending sheep and, you know. God is silent. Remember, when God is silent, he is not still. He may be silent.

In other words, you don't hear anything or see anything, but that doesn't mean he's passive doing nothing. Now Moses is tending his flock, God is leading Moses to prepare him to fulfill the cry of people who are desperate. Dr. Tony Evans will come back in just a moment to wrap up today's lesson, the last in his 20-part Coming to the Comforter audio compilation. Now, before he returns, let me quickly encourage you to take advantage of that special package of resources I mentioned earlier. When you make a contribution to help keep Tony's messages coming to you and others here on this station, we'll say thanks by sending you all 20 full-length messages in the Coming to the Comforter collection.

You'll get 10 lessons on CD and 10 as downloadable MP3s. And as an added bonus, we'll also send you Tony's valuable book, Hope for the Hurting. And if you want to explore this topic even further, consider the optional companion Bible study guide and DVD. Now this is the final day for this special offer, so reach out right away, make a donation, and request this resource bundle. You can make the arrangements online at TonyEvans.org or by phone 24-7 at 1-800-800-3222.

Once again, that's TonyEvans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. When wedded bliss falls short of happily ever after, the results can range from disappointment to divorce. Well, tomorrow, Dr. Evans takes a look at marriage vows from a biblical perspective as he kicks off a series called Marriage Matters. Right now though, he's back with his final thought for today as he encourages us to take hold of God's comfort.

So here's my question. Is God leaving you in a situation that you can't legitimately get out of because He's trying to take you someplace that you are not ready to go yet? Is He trying to move you to a new place? And it's miserable being in this place, but He's got to make it even worse to get you where He wants you to wind up. This scripture, I mean, we read it, we quote it, but it's staggering in its practical implication. My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as the heaven is above the earth, my ways are not your ways point, they're not even close.

God sometimes allows us to go through the bondage period to force us to cry out, to connect us with His word and His covenant because He's taking us somewhere new. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.