Ryan Swanson: Hello and welcome back to the Satisfied program here at Thee Generation podcast. This is Ryan Swanson and we’re going to jump into another lesson in moral integrity. Today we’re going to be in Lamentations chapter three, so you can turn there. This is our fourth lesson in our series on relationship with the Lord. I believe it’s number four.

Feels like it’s more than that, but I think that’s what it is. So we looked at the desperation that motivates us for the relationship with the Lord. We looked at the aspect of having a intimate relationship with Jesus and what that means the idea of complete vulnerability on the deepest level and trust a two-way trust relationship then we spoke of the search last time and the idea that a search has no time limit. And Today I thought I would wrap up this series on the race relationship with the Lord but there is a passage that I was reading in my time with the Lord yesterday and There’s just some principles from this that I can’t get past. It’s like we have to hit this before we move on to the final segment.

So we’re going to be in Lamentations chapter three and what I want to do quickly is move through what are the terms of meeting with God? What are God’s terms? Last week was the search. Today we’ve entitled this the terms and there’s going to be three of them and they’re all in Lamentations chapter three. So let’s begin reading in verse number 21.

Jeremiah says this I recall to my mind therefore have I hope now this is a big deal for Jeremiah to say at this point because Clearly just the title of the book Lamentations. It is not one that’s filled with hope at least up to this point he’s looking back over the destruction of Jerusalem and Just grieving over what has happened, but look at how he describes the hope that he has in Verse 22 it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him.

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him.” That’s the idea of that search that we discussed last time. To the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Now in there are three different terms. Meeting with God.

How do we meet on God’s terms? Because here Jeremiah is crying out in desperation for that presence and power of God to restore what has been destroyed both within him and around him in his nation, ultimately a desperation for God’s deliverance. So what are the terms that he comes to God with? Well first of all look in verse 22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion’s failed on. He is not coming to God saying, God, look, I deserve an audience.

I deserve to hear from you. This is, I’ve done what I’m supposed to. You’re supposed to show up. We’re supposed to meet here. You’re supposed to give me your power.

He’s not coming to God trying to prove who he is or prove what God owes him. And he would have every right to. I he could be saying, God, what are you thinking destroying your people here, destroying Jerusalem, putting us into bondage. This is not consistent with who you are. Don’t you love us?

And know, kind of play the children of Israel and everything that happened in the Old Testament. Have you let us out here in the wilderness to perish? We were better off in Egypt. So, he does not come to God with a finger in God’s face saying, look, I deserve better than this. He comes with incredible humility and respect.

So first of all, when you come to God, come with humility. He’s not saying, I want to get what I deserve. He said, if I had what I deserved, I’d be a dead man. He said, I would be consumed. It is of the Lord’s mercies that I’m not consumed.

And he says, these mercies in verse 23, they are new every morning. It’s the idea of every time he sits down before the Lord to meet with him, to get desperate before him, he needs to remind himself of those mercies because every time he’s stepping into God’s presence, he is aware of the fact that he’s not supposed to be there. He’s aware of the fact that he does not deserve this audience. I think this is really important because if we’re coming to God day after day and getting almost frustrated and just saying, what’s the point? I thought God cared for me.

I thought he’s going to meet with me and we’re trying to lay out the terms God… This is a formula that I’m supposed to follow and then you’re supposed to show up and that’s not how it works. And I want you to know that on this podcast, that’s not the point of me leading you through this, is to give you a formula that you do A, B, and C and God’s gonna show up. God is going to meet with you on his terms. When he is ready, he will show up.

And until then, you better be diligently waiting. Diligently seeking him with humility first of all Secondly, let’s read on Verse 24, the Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Again, there’s that hope that’s there. And how does this play out in verse 25? The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. That idea of quietly waiting, waiting in silence, and this is an aspect that we see several other places in Scripture as well. David in Psalm 62 verse 5 says, soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from Him. When he says my soul wait thou only upon God, the idea there behind that word is there’s no competition. He is only listening for God.

He can only hear the voice of God. The idea is silence. He’s waiting in silence. My expectation is from him he says so back in in Jeremiah’s words and limitations He said it is good that a man should both hope and quietly Wait for the salvation of the Lord if you’re going to hear from God You better wait in silence. You better come with humility and wait in silence Now why silence you might say I thought the idea was prayer was let your petitions be made known unto God and Yes, truly with prayer that’s the case, but we’re not this is not a series on just prayer Otherwise we would call it that this is a series on meeting with Jesus.

There is a difference You know, there are times with with a relationship say with my wife when I just have a question for her So I’ll text her or I’ll even call her up because I have a question or I need to let her know something but I tell you Thursday nights date night and Next Thursday night when we go out It is not going to be a virtual date. I’m sorry. Ain’t happening. Because there comes a point when I just need to be with her. I just need to be in her presence for that relationship to build.

And how can we expect a relationship with God to be vibrant and to grow if it’s just based on information that we’re passing to him? Just like a text message here and there. Now this is about getting in God’s presence in desperation, meeting with Him, knowing His manifest power in our lives. Knowing his deliverance in our lives, wrestling with him. That’s the idea of what this is.

So while your prayer time may be more of just communicating things to God, there’s an idea of waiting in silence that is necessary. And it is one of the terms that we see here in Lamentations chapter 3 for ushering in God’s presence. So why silence? What is the idea of silence? You know, I feel like a couple of weeks ago I came to grip with the idea of silence and the significance of it in a whole new level.

And I’ll share with you why that is. My wife and I were just about to sleep, just about there when we were awoken by this odd sound. It like a vibrating buzzing sound. And so we kind of sat up and like, that was strange, but we had a sound machine on. So I reached over and just shut that sound machine off so I could hear, you know, if this happened.

If the thing did it again. And so then we just waited and almost immediately there was a crash that came from like down the hallway in the living room area. And so we were just like stiff. What in the world was that? You know, we’re the only ones living in here as far as we know.

And we’ve only been in this house that we’re living in now, the church parsonage for probably just over a month. So it’s still a little bit unfamiliar territory. And we heard that crash come through. It was just, I was wide awake and wired. Like what in the world was that?

And then right after that crash, we start hearing this chhh. Like footsteps coming consistently right from the hallway. And it came up, it was like it was then right outside her door and then it was just silence. And you can imagine I’m laying there after hearing these three things and I’m thinking, okay, the next thing that’s going to happen is someone’s going to bust in our door and we’re dead people, you know, or we’re Kidnapped or whatever. I don’t know but I was already playing out all these scenarios in my mind and I’m just I’m frozen there I’m stiff like what do I do?

Whatever I try to do. It’s gonna be too late. Like all this happened so fast and it’s like my life’s flashing before my eyes and my my wife’s just like Okay, I’ve got my phone. I can call 9-1-1. What should we do?

And she was much more calm and collected than I was I thought I was pretty even keeled when it came to crisis moments, but man I was just something about that silence when it just stopped and and there’s no more noise and the complete expectation that something is going to happen next and and I was riveted and paralyzed at the same time and that’s the idea of silence Silence proves expectation. If there is dead silence, there is also an expectation that something is going to break the silence. Now I can’t really leave you there. I have to finish the story. I thought about waiting till the end of the podcast to finish the story, but that’d be cruel.

So I’ll just go ahead and tell you, my wife and I rolled out of bed, opened up the safe, pulled out both of our nine millimeters and we commando style. I mean like a SWAT team, clear to every room in the house. Checked the windows, checked the locks, everything was secure. And then not knowing what it was, we finally just went back to bed. Well, it turns out someone had text bombed me that night.

So that flurry of that initial vibrating that we thought might’ve been a lock being cut or something. Yeah, alas, it was coming from my nightstand. So that’s what that was. The crash turns out when the heat unit turns on here, can occasionally, the fan that kicks on can occasionally make a pretty loud crashing noise. And then when it comes on and the air intake causes some air movement over by the door, which there’s some long door blinds that are hanging there, this plastic type, and they just start hitting against each other slowly like shh.

So all that to say, we’re fine, we’re safe, there was no one in our house, and we cleared out commando style the entire house because of a text bomb and the heat kicking on. So I wish there was a better end and a cooler story than that, but that’s where it’s at. But all that to prove the point, what is so eerie about silence is that there’s an expectation that something is going to break the silence. When you’re coming to the Lord, and you’re just speaking the whole time, God, where are you? God, what are you trying to tell me?

What about this? What about that? What’s the answer here? What do I do? Aren’t you going to deliver me?

And you’re just talking like a busybody to the Lord. It’s like he can’t get a word in edgewise. But it’s not just that. It’s that you don’t expect him to. Because if you expected, then you’d be quiet, sit down and allow him to speak to you.

Jeremiah is saying he comes not only with humility, understanding that he has no right to be there, But he is coming in silence, waiting for the Lord to break the silence. Now our next podcast is going to be entitled, When God Breaks the Silence. And that’s going to be what to do when God shows up. What do we expect? Like what is this even going to look like?

What are we waiting for? That’s going to be the next podcast next month. But before we get there, we’ve got one more term from this passage of how to come into God’s presence. So to get that real quickly, our last point. It’s in that last verse, verse 26.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for what? The salvation of the Lord. Now this might seem obvious, but what are you coming to God for? Because this is a big deal. If you’re coming in humility, understanding who you are, that you have no right to be there, you’re coming in silence with the full expectation that that silence is going to be broken.

Well, why are you coming to God? Do you find yourself at times unmotivated to meet with him. Like maybe you don’t feel like you need him as much today as you did yesterday. Or you needed him a couple weeks ago when you started on this journey, or a couple months ago, or maybe last year, but now it’s just like, I don’t know God. I mean, what’s the point?

You know, what’s the point in going back out there and waiting for God again, and time after time after time? What’s the point of this search? Well, this salvation It’s is the idea of just being delivered. This is this isn’t just salvation as we would think of it from The the penalty that your your sin has on you I understand that the vast majority of our audiences is saved from that penalty and and Has a home in heaven waiting your eternity is secured. But what about tomorrow?

Like if you can trust Jesus with your eternity to save you from that can’t you trust him to save you right now? From today, from tomorrow, from this week. So I’ve got to ask you, if you would say that you’re saved, then what are you saved from? Are you saved from lying? Are you saved from cheating?

Are you saved from swearing, from dishonoring, disobeying your parents? Are you saved from your lust? Are you saved from masturbation? Are you saved from pornography? Are you free from these things?

Because if you’re not, then God has a whole lot more to offer you than what you’ve taken. And we question why we would need to meet with Him. And we ask ourselves, what’s the point? We find ourselves unmotivated to meet with God. Let’s not forget the offense that we have made towards God.

The years of our life that have been given up in our own lust, in trying to gratify ourselves, and not able to accomplish the task that He had for us. He has purchased us with His blood, only for us to be paralyzed by our own lust and useless to his work. And we can’t find a reason to meet with him. Men, let’s not forget the trajectory that we’re on, the path that you are on to destruction. If you are still struggling with your lust, if this is still a stronghold that the devil has in your heart, you are on the way to being the most pitiful father focused only on yourself, the most pitiful husband.

Unable to see the needs of your wife because you are blinded by your own selfishness. Ladies, your ministry someday is going to be completing and loving your husband, supporting him and loving and raising and nurturing your kids in a way in which God has gifted you and only you to be able to do. But as long as you are still bound by your own lust and still falling in these areas of purity, you will be absolutely paralyzed and unable to be the mother that your kids need. Unable to support your husband because your focus will only be on yourself. Men and ladies both, we are on a trajectory to destruction in our families, let alone the purpose that God has for you to accomplish in your lifetime.

And do you think that this issue with purity is just going to disappear? Do you think it’s just gonna stop? No. The reason that we’re taking several of these four now podcasts to go through a relationship with the Lord is because we need this. It’s not because we deserve it.

No, come with humility. Come in silence, waiting, expecting. But we need this. Come to Jesus for salvation. Come to him to be delivered, to be saved.

What? Has Jesus saved you from, well, he saved me from hell. Well, he wants to save you from something today. He wants to save you from your lust. He wants to deliver you now.

And I’m sorry, but if some of us don’t get desperate to meet with Jesus, then we’re going to miss our, we’re going to miss the train. If some of you don’t decide that you are not going to give up this search until you meet with him, if you don’t meet with him now, you may never meet with him. In your entire life. You say, how can you say that? That’s, I don’t know about that.

Well, I can say that because Isaiah 55, 6 says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. I don’t know what that time frame is. Neither do you. I wouldn’t fool around with it.

I wouldn’t take that chance. God is willing to meet with you. Will you search for him? Because you will find him. If you search for Him with all your heart.

Do we not have enough reason to be desperate for God’s presence and power in our lives, for His deliverance? Do we really not have the motivation that we need? I’m telling you young person, now is the time to get desperate. Don’t wait till later. Don’t wait till your marriage depends on it, your family depends on it, your ministry depends on it.

After talking with husbands and wives and pastors and youth pastors, who are just now, finally, getting desperate about this, I tell you, they would give anything to go back and get desperate about this in their teenage years because the longer you wait to get desperate, mark my words, the longer you wait to get desperate, the greater the consequences will be. Don’t miss the train. Meet with Jesus now. Come to Him with humility. Come to Him in silence and expect Him to speak to you, and then come in that desperation for salvation.

What has he saved you from today? It’s time that we meet with God on his terms. And so when you go out tomorrow to wait for him, keep in mind who you are and what you need and wait in silence. As I mentioned, next month the podcast will be when God breaks the silence. What is that going to look like?

What should I expect? What am I waiting for exactly? Hopefully by then many of you will have already experienced God’s presence and some of you have already contacted me and explained that you have and that is great. But we will be focusing on what to do when God shows up, when God breaks the silence. That podcast will likely be our last one in this series on meeting with Jesus and then we will begin another series and I won’t give it away totally but I’ll just tell you it’s going to be on a topic that parallels our sexual addiction.

But it’s one that in the last few weeks at least has been the number one thing that I’ve been contacted about. Many men and ladies looking for help in this area. We’ll discuss that more next time, but until then, be encouraged. Jeremiah here could have hope because he was coming to God on God’s terms. So when you go out to meet with the Lord tomorrow, when you sit down with him, come to him with humility.

Wait for him in silence, and get desperate for salvation. It’s time to get serious and trust the Lord for the next step as we seek to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ. We’ll talk to you next time.