Job chapter 23 in your Bible, Job chapter 23, it's good to see a few folks that we've got to meet down through the years of serving the Lord. I'll tell you what, when I was unsaved and lost, thought I had the tiger by the tail. Wasn't saved till I was 18, thought I had all kind of friends. Then I got saved and realized what, found out what true friends are, amen. And certainly appreciate the folks that we've been privileged to meet over through the years. Job chapter 23, And I think that the message tonight really kind of goes along with the theme of the evening, and so I don't want to do anything to disrupt what the Lord's already doing in our hearts here tonight. Verse number 8, follow along, we'll read the passage here. The Bible says, Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. We'll speak to you for a few moments tonight out of this passage on the subject, navigating through the zone of silence. Navigating through the zone of silence, let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the work it's already had in my heart tonight. I've been encouraged and helped. Thank you for the spirit of the music and the good message and the songs that we've heard. Thank you for the spirit of the service altogether, the congregational singing. It's been exalting the Lord and lifting up God. And I praise you for that. And I just thank you for this place. The freedom and the liberty we have tonight to come and worship you here. God, would you please use the message. Would you please anoint both speaker and listener how we need your spirit to open our eyes and help us see something wonderful out of your book tonight. So God, fill us and use us all tonight in these moments. We'll give you the glory and praise for it in Jesus' name and amen. There's something mighty precious about being God's child and enjoying his presence as we navigate through this life. The songwriter wrote, he speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing. And the melody that He gave to me within my heart is ringing and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. I'm sure about everybody in this room has experienced those wonderful times in your life since you've been saved where you just did sweet fellowship with the Lord and it's obvious His presence is with you and around you. As you're driving in the car, it's almost as if you could reach over in the passenger seat and just touch the presence of the Lord. I remember hearing Tom Malone years ago tell the story about He flew out of Detroit to go preach for somebody. And when he got there, the pastor picked him up and was taking him back to the motel room. And as they were driving along, Brother Malone in the passenger seat, the pastor looked out the window like this as he was driving, looked up and just waved. And Brother Malone said, he looked through the glass, you know, in the windshield and he didn't see any helicopters or airplanes or anything up there. So he didn't pay much attention to it. And throughout the week as he was there driving around with the pastor in the car, the pastor occasionally would Just wave and look out the window. Look up and wave. And so finally, you know, curiosity got the cat. Brother Malone asked him, he said, Pastor, he said, can I ask you a question? He said, what are you doing? Who are you waving at? He said, oh, I'm just waving at Jesus. I'm just waving at Jesus. Brother Malone said he thought to himself, man, what kind of a nut have I come to preach for? And throughout the week, he'd just keep waving like that. He finished the meeting, he got back on the plane, flew back to Detroit, got in his car, was driving back to Pontiac. He was just reveling in the presence of the Lord. Pretty soon he found himself looking out the window. Waving at Jesus out the window. We've all had times like that in our lives. There's something mighty precious about being God's child and enjoying His presence. How wonderful that guidance, how wonderful that assurance, how wonderful that blessing, how wonderful that direction. But as I read my Bible, it becomes clear to me that sometimes God's people go through the zone of silence where it seems like God's voice is not and His presence is not faint. I believe some in the Bible entered into the zone of silence because of personal sin. When I think of that, I think of Eli and his two sons. The Bible says there that the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. In other words, there were very few messages. In fact, there were no messages from God to Eli. His word was not flowing openly and freely to Eli and the boys because of their personal sin. In fact, at the time that Eli was laying in his bed in the temple in the zone of silence, just down the hall a few feet, God was speaking freely to a little boy named Samuel. Eli was in that zone of silence because of personal sin. But that is not what my message is about tonight. Others in the Bible entered the zone of silence, I believe, according to God's plan. And one such man was Job. I don't think I have to familiarize you with the story of Job. You know it well. After losing everything, his sheep, his camels, his oxen, his donkeys, his 10 children, his health, Job made that famous statement. The Bible says in all this, Job sinned nor charged God foolishly. Then after that, it seems that Job entered into that awful place where God doesn't speak to the heart, where God doesn't make an impression upon the heart. It seems like God was not listening, it seemed like God was not speaking, and that's not what Job was used to. Turn in your Bible, hold your finger there in chapter 23, and turn over to chapter 29, and look with me at what Job was used to by his own testimony. In chapter 29 and verse number 2, Job says, Oh that I were as in months past. I wish it was like it used to be. As in the days when God preserved me. Now notice the wording here. When his candle shined upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness. As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle, where the Almighty was yet with me. That's what Job was used to. Job was used to God's presence. Job was used to God's direction. Job was used to God's assurance. Job was used to all of that. But that's not where he is as he's writing in chapter 23. In fact, look back at chapter 22 and verse number 21. Eliphaz is talking to Job here. And in verse number 21, he says to Job, Acquaint now thyself with him, with God. and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Eliphaz said, Job, what you need to do is get back to God. What you need to do is find God. What you need to do is get God's assurance. What you need to do is get God's leadership. What you need to do is get God's direction. Look what Job said in chapter 23 in verse 3. He said, oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. You tell me to go find God? Brother, if I could find God, I would. You told me to go to where God's seat is. If I could find his seat, I'd go there. If I could get direction, if I could get assurance, if I could get leadership, if I could get some presence of God in my life, I'd get it. But Job could not find God anywhere in his life. There was no candle shining upon his head. Look what he said in verse number eight again. He said, I go forward, but he's not there. and backward, but I cannot perceive. On the left hand where he doth work, I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. You see what he's saying, people? Job says, everywhere I turn in my life, I go front, I can't find God. I go in the back, I can't find God. I go on the left hand, I can't find God. I go on the right hand, I can't find God. In the 306 degree circle in my life, I can't find God anywhere. There's no candle shining upon my head. There's no light so I can walk through the darkness. There's no secret of God with me. I can't find the Almighty anywhere. This is Job's testimony. He's not used to it. Now friends, I mean, I'm preachers and anybody in the room, it is incredibly dangerous when we enter into those days, those weeks, those months that could be called the zone of silence. I believe David understood this because he said in Psalm 28 and verse number 1, Be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me I become like them that go down into the pit. God, please speak to me. God, please give me some direction. God, please give me some assurance. God, please give me some guidance. In Psalm 83, 1, the psalmist wrote, keep not thou silent. Oh God, has anybody ever been on the receiving end of the silent treatment? Maybe I should rephrase the question, are you married? All right, put it that way. Truth of the matter is, friends, Job searched for a place. where he could hear God's voice, where he could get God's message, a message of explanation, a message of comfort, a message of understanding, a message of encouragement, a message of direction, a message of assurance, some kind of message, but none came. No visible or audible sign or message from God. I love the times. where the presence of God is so real you can reach across the car seat and touch it. But I must confess that in these almost 40 years of serving him in ministry, I have found myself occasionally in this place where it's difficult, if not impossible, to get a message from God. The zone of silence. And I want to talk to us a little bit tonight about what we need to do according to what Job did when we hit the zone of silence. First of all, I want to show you tonight out of the passage here what Job remembered. What Job remembered. Look at verse number 10. He just got through saying in verses 8 and 9, I turn everywhere in my life and I can't find any, I can't find any message from God. Then he says in verse 10, but he knoweth the way that I take. The first thing that Job remembered is God is watching. You know what Job's testimony was here? I may not be able to see him, but he can see me and because he can see me, everything is all right. And when you and I hit the zone of silence, we need to remember that God is watching. We may not be able to see Him, but He sees us. I remember being a 15-year-old boy and going to work in a grocery store there out in Cliftondale, out by Fairburn and College Park, Georgia, that part of southwest Atlanta. And when I was working in that grocery store one afternoon, we were stocking shelves and working with a gal by the name of Daryl there. And I looked up against the wall and I saw this dark glass. I never had noticed before. I hadn't been working there very long. And I said to Daryl, I said, what is that? They said, you don't know what that is. And I said, no, I don't know what it is. He said, that's a one-way glass. He said, on the other side of that dark glass is Mr. Ramsey's office. Mr. Ramsey owned the store. He said, sometimes Mr. Ramsey will go up there during the day. He'll look through that glass. Nobody can see him, but he can see everything going on in the store. He'll look for shoplifters. And I've seen Mr. Ramsey personally run after shoplifters and stop them in the parking lot. I mean, back in the days when you could do that without getting in trouble. So, I've seen him do that. But he said, Darrell also said, he's not only looking for shoplifters, he's watching his employees. He's seeing how we work. And I remember the impression that it made on me then as a 15-year-old boy, that even though I could not see him, he could see me. And when we hit the zone of silence, brethren, we need to remember that even though we may not be able to see God, He sees us. He is watching. He is watching us carefully. I believe Hezekiah hit the zone of silence. The Bible says about Hezekiah, God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart. There was a time where Hezekiah evidently couldn't find God. He couldn't see God, but God could see him. So we gotta remember when we hit the zone of silence, that God is watching. Second thing we need to remember is that God is waiting. God is waiting. Look at chapter 23, verse number 10. Again, not only did Job say, he knoweth the way that I take. I love this. He said, when he hath tried me. Now I love that word when because that tells me that the zone of silence is not indefinite. It has a starting point and it has an ending point. God is patient. God is waiting. His zone of silence has a starting point and it has an ending point. I remember reading in Psalm 105 verse 19 where the word of God says until the time They're talking about Joseph in prison down there. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. Now you remember when Job entered into that trial, Joseph entered into that trial down in the land of Egypt. You remember when he went to the pit and then he went to Potiphar's house and then he went to Pharaoh's prison. And then the butler and the baker had the dreams. And they came down into prison down there. And they told Joseph about their dreams. And Joseph interpreted their dreams. He told the baker, he said, in three days, they're gonna come and they're gonna take you out of here and chop your head off. You're gonna lose everything. And he told the butler, he said, in three days, they're gonna come and restore you to your position there under Pharaoh. And sure enough, in three days, here they came. They took the baker out, they killed him. They took the butler out and they're going to restore him to his position. And I can see Joseph in that dungeon. And I can see the butler as he's getting ready to leave. And Joseph says to the butler, he says, hey sir, when you get restored to your position there at Pharaoh's palace, don't forget me. Remember me. Talk about me to Pharaoh. Tell him about me. And preacher, I think it must have been in Joseph's mind that he thought his trial was over. He thought his days in that dungeon were done. His days in that prison were over. But you remember the story, friend. It was too full. Years later, you know what the problem is folks the butler didn't start Joseph's trial and the butler couldn't end Joseph's trial God Started Joseph's trial and only God can end Joseph's trial and we need to remember that we hit the zone of silence as difficult as frustrating as it may and it is frustrating and We gotta remember when we hit that, that God is not only watching, God is waiting. You know, I'd like to think that after, you know, turning 62 years of age, you kind of learn a few things over the years and grow up a little bit. And I remember when I first started traveling a little bit, going to places and flying out of airports, and I'd much rather drive on the ground than fly in a plane. It just has no appeal to me, really. But I mean, man, you get to the airport and there'd be all kind of things going on, weather delays. And I don't know if any of you are this way, it used to fret me. And I used to just, I mean, I just used to fret and get aggravated and frustrated and all kind of been out of shape there. And finally, you know, it dawned on me one day, there is a man out there in that control tower. who not only knows what the weather is like where I am, he knows what the weather is like where I'm going, and he knows what the weather is like in between where I am and where I'm going. Now you can fuss and fume and get all aggravated and frustrated, or you can just sit and relax and be patient. And the truth of the matter is, brother, when we hit the zone of silence and we can't find God anywhere in anything we're doing, we have to remember that God is waiting he starts it and he ends it and he's not going to end it until he gets ready to end it you're not going to push it No, you're not gonna change it. He's gonna end it when he chooses to end it. So Job was remembering some things here. He said, I'm going 360 degrees in my life and I can't find God anywhere. But he's remembering that even though he can't see God, God can see him. And he's remembering that God is waiting. So God is watching, God is waiting. But there's a third thing that Job remembers in this time of silence. It's at the end of verse number 10. He says, when he had tried me, I shall come forth as gold. He remembered thirdly that God is working. God is working. I shall come forth as gold. The truth of the matter is, brethren, the length of the wait is determined by how extensive the work is. The length of the weight is determined by how extensive the work is. You know, my son that works with me there part-time at the church, he had an appendectomy. And I was called to the hospital and it was there. I'm not kidding. They had him in and out of surgery in 20 minutes, taking that appendix out. We have a man in our church, Scott Kirchner, who had a total heart replacement. They didn't do a balloon, a catheterization. They didn't put stents in. They opened his chest cavity, took his heart out and put, threw it away, I guess, I don't know what they did with it, and put another one in his body and sewed him up. And I'm gonna tell you something, that didn't take 20 minutes. That took 14 hours. 14 hours of surgery. But I would say tonight that a total heart replacement is a little bit more difficult than an appendectomy. And I'm saying tonight, dear friend, listen, if you're in the zone of silence, hey, God does not sit around the marketplace idle. God is working. And it may not seem like He is working to you. It may not seem like He is working to me. But God is not idle. The zone of silence is a construction zone. And can I remind you what Job said? God is not making nickel. And God is not making silver. And God is not making brass. God is making gold. Preachers, can I say to us tonight, those of us pastors and evangelists, missionaries, sometimes God has to grow us before he grows the ministry. We get so fretted and frustrated sometimes when the ministry isn't going like we think it should. And we're in this zone of silence. We can't find God anywhere. And we're frustrated a little bit and a little bit put out because God's presence just doesn't seem to be near. Look, I'm in this service tonight, and I don't mean just because of the shouting. I felt the presence of God in here from the opening song. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. The song before that. I've enjoyed the presence of God, but it hasn't always been like this. There are times when it's silent. And I can't find God's leadership. I can't find His direction. I can't find His encouragement. can't find his assurance. But that does not mean that he is sitting idle. God is at work. And what he is fashioning, Job said, is gold. When we hit the zone of silence, we need to remember what Job remembered. God is watching, God is waiting, and God is working. There might be somebody here tonight, in ministry or just servant of God. Maybe you're a mother, maybe a grandmother, maybe a young adult man or a young adult woman, maybe a preacher here tonight, an evangelist. I don't know. But boy, I'm telling you, it's like you can't find God. You read, you pray, you go to church, you sing the songs, you do everything that you should do. But there's just no, there's no, There's no assurance, no leadership, no direction, no guidance. It's the zone of silence. And friend, when we hit the zone of silence, we need to take a lesson from this wonderful man in the Bible called Job. Job remembered God is watching, God is waiting, God is working. That's what Job remembered. Now, I want to show you how Job responded, how Job responded when he was in this zone of silence. Look at verse number 11. This was his testimony. He's just talked about the fact that I remember now that God is watching, God is waiting, and God is working. And then he responds in verse number 11 by saying, boy, I love this, my foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips. You know how Job responded in the zone of silence? First of all, he determined to keep God's way. He determined to keep God's way. My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept. I think we just heard something about that in one of the songs that the family sang. Not to go to the left or the right. Stay in the right path. This is my burden. Boy, this is a burden that I'm carrying now for younger preachers and ministry. I'm afraid this is what's leading, Brother Jason, this is what's causing some of our younger preachers in ministry to change direction, deviate from the right path, the old path. The church is just not growing like they think it should. People aren't getting saved as often as they think they should. And here's what they say, preacher, they call an older pastor like you, preacher, it's not working. It's not working. And usually what they mean by it's is old-fashioned confrontational Bible preaching, soul winning, and separation, and holy living, and it's just not working. Can I tell you, church, it never has been an it. It's always been a who. And I believe in praying for the power of God. And I believe in begging him to fill us with his spirit. But I wanna tell you something, brother. We gotta remember that the work of God is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, the work of the Holy Ghost. And just because on the mission field or at the church house or even in your own family, you don't feel like it's going as it should, it's no cause for you or me or any of us to change direction. Stay in the old paths. I know, I know, I know, Brother Flora, I know you talk to them. And brother, the pressure is on. Because of all these, all these whatever they are, they're not churches. They're not churches. They're entertainment centers. That's all they are, soft soap and everything. Everything, anything goes. Always used to be, you know, used to be that they didn't like the dress. They didn't like this. But brother, how come when they leave to go for the lack of standards in dress and the lack of standards in music, not long it's sipping wine? That's not just good preaching. That's reality. Some of us have seen it in our own families, extended family. I had a missionary who came home from the field because he went to this non-denom, rock and roll, no standards. Well, you guys always say it's a slippery road. I said, that's because, son, it is. And it is. It's a slippery slope. Brother, I'm going to tell you something. These young men, they call. And across town, there's some old boy with no standards, no Bible. He don't have a Bible. He has a book been tampered with by men. And he's building a crowd. I worked for Brother Larry Brown out there for 10 years in Washington, Iowa. And little by little and bit by bit and here a little and there a little, God used him to build a wonderful church out there. And I don't know what we were running. I don't remember even what we were running when we went there. But now there's a fly-by-night organization in that town running 900 and 1,000 every Sunday, singing on Father's Day. Here's to you, Dad. Born to be wild. 900 and 1,000 people. in a little town of 6,500 in Iowa, out in the middle of the cornfields. An independent, fundamental Baptist preacher with a King James Bible and some convictions in his heart, looks across town and sees that crowd and sees that building and sees the money pouring in and you start to feel like, I gotta do something. I gotta, yeah, you do gotta do something. Do what Job did. Respond the same way Job did. Just stick to the way. Don't deviate. To the right or to the left. It's so dangerous. Can I use you, brother, up here? Can you help me just a minute? What's your first name, sir? Tyler, good to meet you, Tyler, amen. All right, so let's say Tyler and I, we're serving the Lord full-time servants or whatever. Doesn't matter if you're a parent, full-time servant, doesn't matter. You're a child of God. We're serving the Lord. We are perpendicular on the line of truth. Here is the line of truth right here. We're standing on it perpendicular, straight as can be on the line of truth. Now, I can deviate from my stance two degrees, and at this point, you may not even be able to tell. But if Tyler stays straight on the 90 degree angle on truth, and I've deviated a couple of three degrees to the right or the left, we go down the road a few years, walk with me a little bit here, Tyler. The longer we walk, the more apparent that's gonna become. The further and further off course I'm gonna get. Thank you, Tyler. And young preachers, I don't know you folks. This is my first time here. I know just a handful of you, but I don't know what burdens and battles you might be facing in your ministry. But I will tell you, the pressure is on young men, especially, not just young men, the preachers in them, middle-aged men, old men too, to just change a little something. Because it's not working. It's not working. But I will tell you something, you, sometimes brethren, it's just more perspiration than it is inspiration. You get in that path and stick to it. I've got to do it with a good spirit. There's no merit being mean and ugly, treating people wrong. But you don't have to change. You don't have to alter. By the way, I found out through the years, it's not just fundamentalists that can have a bad spirit. The evangelicals can have a pretty bad spirit too once in a while. This was years ago. Remember when promise keepers was a big thing? And we had these billboards all around town. And I didn't know what it was. It was this multicultural person up there with long black hair. And this thing was, come home for Christmas. Christmas, come home for Christ. Christmas, the Christ part of Christmas was highlighted. So I get it, okay, that's supposed to be Jesus and come home for Christmas. I just remember seeing it all over town. After the first of the year, we had our visitation, soul winning meeting on Saturday. I went back to the office to get ready to go out and a fellow was standing there, had a jacket on and had some material in his arms. Are you the pastor here? I said, yes, sir. He said, my name is so-and-so. And he said, I am with, and he opened up his jacket and there was the logo that was on those billboards. I said, yeah, I've seen that. He said, I'm with promise keepers. You know what promise keepers is? I said, no sir, I don't. He said, well, it's an organization of men. And we're going to be over here at Olivet Nazarene University. And we're trying to break down the barriers between race and gender and doctrine. I said, and that's my problem with what you're doing. How are you going to break down doctrine between a person who believes you pray to Mary and one who believes you go to the mediator, Jesus Christ? God is my witness. This is no lie. You Baptists are all alike. I said, amen, amen. Not all of us, but a lot of us, amen. You Baptists are all alike. You and John Marvin over town, you're all just alike. And it stunned me. I mean, he's jawed. He's turning red in the face. I said, he's in my office now. I said, stop. I said, us fundamentalists are supposed to have the bad spirit? Here you are, an evangelical, standing in my office, screaming at me. Get out of here. Now look, you don't have to have a bad spirit, but just stay on course. Oh, look at what he said. I have not, my foot hath held his steps. I am not, he's taking my donkeys. my camels, everything, and now I can't find him anywhere, but I trust him enough to keep his way. Keep his way. I am weary. I hope we've seen the last young independent Baptist preacher, evangelist, deviate. from the way to stay in it. Not only did he say that he determined to keep God's way, he also said he determined to esteem God's word. Look at verse number 12 again, the last phrase. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Brethren, can I say something tonight? I don't mean to, look. I'm treading lightly here because this, y'all got a great printing ministry and I've ordered some materials from your printing ministry. There never has been a book written by man that is infallible. And what do we always hear? Read the book, eat the fish, Spit out the bone. OK, I get it. But can I suggest something tonight? When you're in the zone of silence, there's a book with no bone in it. And there's only one book with no bone in it. And it's this one right here. It's the one you've got. And I'm for reading good books. They're a great help. We're doing it in our church. This year we're giving out a book a month. And our church family are reading that book every month together, one book a month. Because Timothy, Paul did tell Timothy, give attendance to reading. And Paul did tell Timothy, bring the books and especially the parchments. So he differentiated between books written by men and the book written by God. So they're helpful. I'm not saying they're not helpful. Not saying that at all, but I am saying that when we are in the zone of silence, we better have enough sense to get our nose in this book. And here's why, brethren. We're vulnerable. When you're in the zone of silence, you're vulnerable. And something written by this fella can get us off course, can get us out of the way. And it's not just the books in print. It's the internet and the blogs. You gotta get your nose in the book. Not something written by somebody who's in the same shape you're in. You know, I think one of the saddest things in the world, those two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, and they communed with each other. That's the worst thing they could do. They're both in the same shape. Well, we thought it was the Messiah. Yeah, we sure, we made a mistake there, didn't we? Yeah, we blew that one. I mean, what good are they to each other? There is a book without an error in it. A book of truth. And when we hit the zone of silence, this is the book we need. And Job said, his words gonna be more important to me than my breakfast. John Rice said that he lived by a little saying, no Bible, no breakfast. No Bible, no breakfast. I don't know where you are tonight, But I can testify that I've been in those places of fellowship with the Lord. You've been there. And I'm thinking now of those times where it was so holy. You really don't like to talk about it. I don't mean spooky. I don't mean spooky. But I mean... You don't go turning 360 degrees looking for God. He's there. but I've also hit these seasons. And maybe you haven't, but my guess is you have. You hit these seasons. God, where are you? And one of your good friends says, well, just go to prayer. If I could go to prayer and find God, I would. If I could go to his seat and find him, I'd be there. I'm at a loss. Remember he is watching. Remember he is waiting. Remember he is working. And respond by determining to keep his way and esteem his word. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to get out of bed, get your cup of coffee, sit down in your chair with your open Bible. In all those weeks or days where you haven't heard anything from God, You're gonna start reading, and God's gonna say, see that? See that? God. Yes, son. You're back. I haven't been anywhere. I haven't moved anywhere. I'm in the same place I've always been. You just hit the zone of silence, son. God help us. I wonder how many ministries have crashed in the zone of silence. I wonder how many of God's men got off course in the zone of silence. If we live like Job, do what he did, we'll navigate successfully through the zone of silence. Father, bless the message to our hearts tonight. I pray that you'll help somebody Lord, I thank you that you are not only the God of the fire and the God of the lion, you're the God of the fall. And Lord, you're God when we sense your presence and feel it and know it and when we can almost touch you, it seems. Lord, you're there in that silence as well. And I pray that you'll help us to remember that you are watching. waiting and working. And God, that we will respond by keeping your way and esteeming your word. I pray tonight, Lord, for some person in ministry who's a little bit discouraged because it's not going like they think it should. I pray that you'll help them tonight. I pray for a mother, a grandfather, a young adult man or woman who's in the zone of silence and just wondering what's happened, what's happened. What's happened to my assurance? What's happened to my fellowship? What's happened to my direction? God, please help them tonight to navigate successfully through the zone of silence.