Chuck Pugh was a masterful negotiator. He was not articulate nor prescient. He was no maven of technology, but he wielded the one tool in his negotiation toolbox with devastating effect. Chuck knew the power of silence. He understood that prolonged silence would awaken profound uncertainty in the minds of vendors regarding their proposals. We witnessed this time and time again.

Vendors would make their pitch to our team – hardware, software, development environments, networking gear. As engineers we would sit like a silent chorus in a Greek tragedy as Chuck worked his magic. They offered and Chuck would sit, stare, and create a looming silence. He never spoke first. Like men on the anxious bench, the vendors would offer up concession after concession. All born out of the insecurity his silence conceived.

Salesmen are afraid of silence. It is the one objection they are not trained to overcome. But then most of us are afraid of silence. It unsettles us. It makes us insecure, uncertain, afraid. Nothing heightens tension and drama like silence. We declare, speak, express and the void says nothing back. Nothing is more invalidating than silence. We think more silence is to be desired. And then we spend the day alone.

But no silence is more unsettling than the silence of God. One of the most comforting truths of Scripture is that God is a not silent. He is a God is reveals Himself, who is knowable, who is known. One of the great fears of paganism is uncertainty about who a god is, how he feels about us, and what he requires. But the God of scripture is not like the false gods of the nations. He is the God who is not silent. He reveals himself in his works and in his word. Yet sometimes He seems silent. The words of Psalm 22 reflected this feeling.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 22:1-2

Even the Lord Jesus, in his human nature felt the weight of these words as he bore the wrath and curse of God for our sin. Has God every appeared silent in your life? Has you every felt he was far from saving you? So far from your cries of anguish? Like one who will not answer your cries, day and night? How does this square with the Scripture promises that He will never leave us or forsake us, that he is always at work, his ear attentive to the cry of his children?

Scripture invites us into the lives of many to whom God seemed silent. Mary and Martha at the graveside of Lazarus and the children of Israel in Egypt are examples. God seemed silent. Their adversity was not a consequence of sin or unfaithfulness. Yet, suffering increased and deliverance was withheld. Is God silent? Is he far from saving? Is he unconcerned? Is he not all that we believed him to be? What are we to think when God seems silent?

God’s people were oppressed in Egypt under the hand of a xenophobic, genocidal Pharaoh. God’s promises were unfolding as he blessed the people with children yet as their blessing increased, so did persecution and adversity. But God did not deliver them. Why does God allow times of adversity and suffering in the lives of his people? We all ask this and many experience this personally. Join us this week as we examine Exodus 1:8-14 and wrestle with the question of why God sometimes appears silent.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

Children’s stories are never just for children.   The good children’s author exposes the deep magic of the universe in vivid clarity and simplicity, illustrating profound, abstract truth through familiar experiences of children and animals.  C. S. Lewis, in his essay, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” muses “I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.”  Children’s stories are never just for children.  It is a critical and arrogant misstep to dismiss simple stories as simplistic.

This is a real danger for us when we read the stories of the Bible.  Our modern skepticism subtly tempts us to relegate the narratives of creation, of Joshua, Jonah, David, and Moses to the category of mythic moral allegory, best suited for children’s Bible storybooks.  We think we know what these stories are about.  But we often dismiss simple stories of men and women of faith as simplistic.

The story of the Exodus is a good example.  Often coopted in popular movies, Exodus is routinely distilled down to some predictable theme, missing the real point of the story.   The lavish 1960s epic, The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, cast the story as an ancient version of Romeo and Juliet set among the visually stunning background of Egyptian grandeur and sensational catastrophes.  

And Disney’s Prince of Egypt with its memorable soundtrack and beautiful animation, reduces the story to the stock Disney conflict between a noble, oppressed protagonist and his privileged, tyrannical antagonist.  Like every Disney classic, the Prince of Egypt uses the Exodus as the backdrop for its hero to overcome oppression and adversity.  Unfortunately, Disney failed to identify the real hero of the story.

While we probably would not expect expositional clarity from Hollywood or Disney, has the story fared much better in the hands of Christians? Have we reduced it to the heroic story of Moses, a narrative of liberation, or a birth epic for the nation of Israel? Is Exodus just a bridge to get us from the patriarchs to the monarchy?

But Exodus is much more than any of these.  It is in Exodus we are introduced to the language of redemption that prepares us for the ministry of Jesus.  It is in Exodus that we learn God’s name, his character, his purpose, his power, and his plan to dwell with his people.  It is Exodus that show us how God is different from the gods of our invention and imagination.   And it is Exodus that reveals a God who always keeps his promises.  His ways are not our ways and his timing not our timing, but his promises never fail, fall by the wayside, or get buried in the sands of time or adversity.   God sees, he hears, he knows what is going on in our lives. And he is at work.

Exodus introduces us to the mercy, grace and presence of God with his people.   Exodus prepares us to grasp what it means when John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And what John the Baptist means when he declares, “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”   And the Exodus prepares us to understand what it means to live in covenant with God as those delivered from the “house of bondage.”   It is a simple story, but it is not simplistic.  

Join us this Lord’s Day as we begin our examination of the Exodus and consider its powerful story of the God who keeps his promises through long ages and against all odds – a story that prepares us for an even greater story of grace in our own lives.  

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

A book’s conclusion often leaves a greater impression than its opening. We like our conclusions to resolve all tensions, restore what was broken, and answer all questions. Yet despite all the amazing things that happen in the short book of Jonah, we are left not with answers, but with a question. Jonah’s conclusion is a sad note after one of the greatest revivals in history.

In Jonah 1, Jonah fled on a boat enroute to Tarshish from the call of God to go to Nineveh, but the Lord sent a storm that eventually led the sailors on that boat to throw Jonah overboard. But the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. In chapter 2, in the belly of the fish, Jonah seeks the Lord and turns to Him for deliverance. The fish spits Jonah out, and in chapter 3, Jonah finally obeys the call of God as he is restored to his prophetic office. In that chapter, the Lord uses a message of judgment preached by Jonah to bring about the salvation of the people of Nineveh as they turn unto God.

We would expect a prophet to rejoice over such a revival! After all, the prophets were God’s prophets, and the desire of a prophet ought to be God’s honor and for the people to turn to Him. But Jonah does not respond with rejoicing. Jonah 4 details Jonah’s regret over the Lord’s saving the people of Nineveh. The Lord, however, is merciful with Jonah.

In one sense, the book ends on a sad note. But in another sense, it is a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger leaves the reader on the edge of their seat waiting for the next book, leaving the plot unresolved. As if to say, “To be continued…” In the final verse of Jonah 4, the Lord asks Jonah, “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Though we do not know how Jonah responds to this question, the cliffhanger actually involves all of the people of God. How do you respond to this question? Do you have compassion for the lost? What do you value more than the souls of your neighbors? Is it pride, that your sin is not like the sin of your neighbor? Is it your comfort? Perhaps your comfort zones?

Perhaps as you have read through the book of Jonah, you have been convicted. Maybe your life has been like that of the people of Nineveh, having no regard for God and living in opposition to His commands. Maybe you wonder how the Lord could ever receive you. But look at the grace and mercy shown to the people of Nineveh. If you run unto Jesus, you will find in Him a kind and merciful Savior.

Or, maybe you are a Christian who has been struggling with sins similar to that of Jonah. Perhaps pride has clouded your vision and you’ve lacked a zeal for the lost to come to faith. But dear friend, God was merciful to Jonah as well as He was to the people of Nineveh. Go to Jesus in repentance and faith, and you will find that He is faithful still. And if you have not desired the salvation of your neighbors, then pray to the Lord asking Him to change your desires. He is faithful to grow His people in conformity to His image and to keep them to the end.

Join us as we examine Jonah 4 and consider a sad conclusion and some hard and revealing questions. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.