TD Jakes - Getting Past The Silence of God
Jesus had some kind of effervescent power influence that when he walked in the room, even this idolatrous woman knew he was a king, he was the son of David. And there the conversation begins when she calls his name and then expresses the condition. My daughter, my daughter, my daughter, the one I carried in my body, the one I nursed of my breast, the one that I potty trained and taught her to take her first steps. The one that is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, the one that I am invested in, is in trouble. Somebody, I'm teaching tonight, something you're invested in is in trouble, but God is getting ready to fix that thing tonight.
God is getting ready to... you got too much invested in it. You carried it, you labored over, you worked on it, you built it up, and now the devil is trying to take your investment. But the devil is a lie, you're gonna see a dividend and a harvest coming in off of your investment. I don't know who I'm talking to, but you sowed some seed and the devil will always try to hurt you through your seed, trying to mess you up through your investment. He wants you to be bankrupt, he wants you to fall apart, but the devil is a lie... my daughter! Is grievous...she's not just vexed, she's grievously vexed with the devil.
And here is where we first begin to learn a principle about God that even though she calls him by his messianic name, by his political name, acknowledges him as king, and even though she describes the distraught feeling of her problem, the atrocity of her dilemma, the magnitude of her heartbreak, the desperation that drove her over the mount to meet Jesus halfway, he answers her with not a word. What do you do when your crisis does not provoke God's movement? See, we would think about God that the worse the crisis, the quicker the move. But Jesus remains unmoved by the magnitude of her situation.
So you can get up off of your knees talking to God about how bad it is, because God does not move because it's bad. How hurt you are, how long you had to deal with it, what you went through, how unjust it is, how unfair it is. You're pleading your case like a lawyer as if you are throwing yourself before God as if God was going to do it because of the magnitude of your discomfort. Your discomfort does not move a God whose emblem is a cross. Oh y'all don't wanna hear what I'm saying today. You can't tell him about somebody took your parking space and move God, when his emblem is a cross.
So your suffering doesn't necessarily move the suffering savior because he told you when he called you take up your cross and follow me, so don't come to me hollering about nails and stuff because I was open about the fact that if you suffer with me, you're gonna reign with me. Oh I was open about the fact that he that sows in tears shall reap in joy. So you're not gonna cry your way into getting a miracle from the Lord. If crisis would have moved the Christ, then she would have got her miracle on first blush, but she comes to him describing the circumstance and he answers her not a word.
Sometimes we come to God with our circumstance because we're trying to move him to pity, but God is not into pity, God is into power. I don't blame the devil for trying to shut up my voice, but I'm pulling myself loose, glory to God because I got something to say that's gonna make hell nervous, that's gonna make demons tremble, that's gonna make Satan, have to back up and run out of an exit. God is not moved by the magnitude of your discomfort. So you can stop getting down on your knees, telling God how bad it hurts because you're talking to a bleeding savior. So when you talk to a bleeding savior, don't be shocked that somebody who was beat on a whipping post almost to death until their guts was hanging out is not overwhelmed because you lost your job.
Oh, it's quiet in here tonight. What do we do when we have a crisis and God says nothing at all? God has a habit of being silent in moments of our stress and we preachers have ruined the church because, like, movies, we have given quick answers to complicated situations. Have you ever noticed how no matter what the movie is, it always works out by the end of the hour. So you walk out of the movie expecting life to work out in an hour. And then when you get married and it don't work out in an hour, you throw in the towel because what they showed in an hour and a half might take you 10 years. God answered her not a word and he was silent. He was silent because what she was asking him to do was not on his itinerary. He wasn't coming to deliver her.
When he finally does speak, he says I am not sent to you. I am not sent to you. That's painful, that's rejection. I just told you how bad it was, and you told me I am not sent to you. You're having a seizure on the side of the road and the ambulance is looking for another address and it will drive right past you having a seizure because they're not looking for you. He said I am not looking for you, I am looking for the lost sheep of Israel. This negotiation is one of the most powerful negotiations in the scriptures because this is a woman who has no appointment, has no religious pedigree, has no claim to fame, no righteous recommendation, no promise from God, no word from God, no covenant with God, no history of serving God. She's just a relentless, radical woman who has come to God and said I'm not leaving until you do something about my child.
Call me what you wanna call me, cuss me out if you want to. I didn't come here worried about my feelings. I'm emotionally mature enough that I can handle being called a dog, but I can't handle walking away without getting what I need from God. All you people who get your feelings hurt, hashtag Church hurt, and leave the church, you didn't want it bad enough. When you really want it bad enough, I don't care who don't speak to you, who don't like you, who don't appreciate you, I don't care about none of that. I wanna touch from God, I want a touch from God, I want a touch from God. I wanna touch, I wanna touch!
She is selfless in her request because she is not coming to God on her own behalf. She ask him not for rubies, diamond, silver, or gold, she doesn't ask him for a bigger house, she doesn't ask him for a swimming pool, she doesn't ask him for a sauna, she does not ask him for a jacuzzi. She comes to Jesus, not about her, but about someone else. She is a woman filled with a kind of humility and compassion that somebody else's crisis has become hers.
When was the last time you bled for somebody other than you? When was the last time that you cried for somebody other than you? When was the last time that you moaned for somebody else other than you? When was the last time that you interceded for somebody other than you? When was the last time that you empathized with somebody else other than yourself? This woman said it ain't about me. You ain't got to do nothing for me, but if you... I feel like preaching. You ain't gotta do nothing for me, but if you do something for my baby, I'm gonna be good with you. If you fix my child, I will be good. I don't need meat, I don't need groceries, I don't need an oven, I don't need a house, I don't need a job, I don't need a promotion, I don't need a bag of gold, I don't need a bowl of dust, all I need for you to do is help somebody I care about.
The power of compassion is not to be underestimated. When you have great compassion, you cannot be stopped, the ability to care. And that's why the enemy wants to numb us down until we can't feel anything because we don't like some of the feelings we have, we shut down walls till we can't feel anything. This woman is driven to a silent Jesus, who says nothing, because she starts a conversation in a place of crisis and crisis does not move God. But faith does. You can come to God with the masses of crisis that does not guarantee the moving of God. God does not move because you hurt. God does not move because you cry. God does not move because you've been traumatized. God moves because you believe.
From the book of Malachi to the book of Matthew is, guess what? Yeah, 400 years. There's that number again, 400. 400 years, the children of Israel were in Egypt, 400 years from Malachi to Matthew. They are called the 400 years of silence. During the 400 years of silence, Alexander the Great, the conqueror, had come in and delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of the Persians. And then a gentleman named Maccabees began to rise up and restore religious order. They didn't get to restore the kingdom, but they restored religious order and begin to bring back the priesthood. So worship comes before kingdoms.
So God restores worship. And this is why we hear about John the Baptist before we hear about Jesus. Because in the life of John the Baptist, Israel had no king, but they still had preached because worship always comes before kingdoms. And John the Baptist receives an anointing from God that broke 400 years of silence. It is typified by his father, Zachariah, whose tongue was cleaved to the roof of his mouth because God was silent. I got to quit because I feel like preaching now. And then they asked Zachariah, what is his name? And...he couldn't say nothing. And finally, finally, finally, God said he loosed his tongue and all of a sudden Zachariah said, his name shall be called John. The moment he said, John, the word of God begin to flow and the word of God begin to flow out of his mouth. His name shall be called John, and six months later, Mary went into labor and birthed Jesus.
Do you see the...oh, y'all don't hear the pattern. You don't see how God is working through the silence to work out his word in your life. And the woman, he answered her not a word. I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And because he had not said anything to her, the disciples said, send her away for she cried after us and Jesus continues to talk to her. She has not prevailed but she has provoked. Ooh, did y'all feel that? That was a word for somebody, you haven't prevailed but you have provoked. She still hasn't got a miracle yet, but she has provoked a conversation. She has broken the silence and now at least she's got him talking about it.
Heaven is talking about you. Heaven is talking about you right now. Heaven is talking about you, whether you're in this room or watching online, the Lord sent you here to get this word. Heaven is talking about your situation right now. Heaven is having a discussion about your situation right now. And God ain't said nothing to you, but that doesn't mean that God isn't having a conversation in heaven. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Glory to God, God needs to create some things that's about to drop that, you get ready to download, press download in your spirit. You get ready to download stuff that's been laid up, your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, neither have entered in your heart, the things that God has in store for them that love him. Watch this, you gotta pass this test. I have not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, if you got a rejection complex, you just left. Because the master, the Lord of glory has told you, I'm not thinking about you, and you would just get mad and say I'm out of here. I'm leaving. I'm through with it, call me a dog. I'm done with it. I'm...
I can't leave, I can't leave. Leaving is not an option for me. Whether shall I go, for in your hands are the words of eternal life. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. She fell down at his feet. Go ahead and call me a dog. The word dog there is normally used in the sense like a rat, the dogs or wild dogs that ran around. But Jesus uses the type of dog that is a house dog, often called a lap dog. Lap dogs are dogs that sit in the laps of their masters and when he called her a dog, it wasn't so much an insult, as much as it was a sign. You're getting close, you're getting close, you're getting close....
Who am I preaching to, I'm talking to somebody. I don't even know who it is, but you're getting close. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You haven't prevailed but you provoked him and you're getting real close. You're closer now than you've ever been. That's why all hell is breaking loose because you're closer than you've ever been in your life. You're closer, you're closer, you're closer. Somebody shout: I'm closer. So since, since he called her a lap dog, she said, truth, Lord.
Yeah, I'll sit in your lap. You know why I will sit in your lap. I will sit in your lap because your children waste enough to heal my child. Yeah, I will take the anointing that your children are wasting. I will take the glory that they are not using. I will take the power that they're not paying attention to. I will take the presence of God that they let slip past them because they're in a bad mood and they got a attitude and they won't receive it. But the...my mouth is open, my mouth is open. I'm a lap dog. All I need is a crumb. I don't need the whole loaf.
If I get a crumb, a crumb of your glory, a crumb of your glory is greater than every devil that's on my child. A crumb of your glory is greater than the hell of my job. A crumb of your glory is greater than the pain. Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. And this nameless, nameless Canaanite, idolatrous woman who had no covenant with Yahweh at all has stunned the omniscient Jesus. Not with the magnitude of her pain, but the strength of her faith. Jesus says, oh woman. Oh woman, oh woman, oh woman. I know you're not even one of my people but, oh woman, I have not found so great a faith in all of Israel.
Be careful who you rule out of the kingdom because God has people you know not of and while you are judging people by what you see, her conversation has grown to the point that she goes from calling him son of David to calling him Lord because the longer they talked, the closer she came and she went from seeing him as a king and a magician and a political figure, to seeing him as a savior and a Messiah. And by the time she gets right up on the miracle, she's calling him Lord. Truth, Lord. Truth, yeah, I'm a dog. Look at her humility. Yeah, I'm a dog. There's very few of you that can handle me calling you a dog. She fell down and said, yeah, truth, Lord, I'm a dog.
My disadvantage is my advantage. You know why? I ain't got no shame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have done enough mess that I ain't got no shame. So if it means getting down here and licking these crumbs off of your lap, I ain't got no, ain't no shame in my game. I'm gonna get this. Let her go over there and be the cutie pie. You get the cutie pie award, I'm getting these crumbs. Are there any crumb snatchers in here? I need some crumb snatches in here. I need a generation of crumb snatchers. Are there any crumb snatchers online? Write it online, I'm a crumb snatcher. Don't sit beside me because I'm a crumb snatcher. If you drop something, I'm gonna catch it. If you don't want that healing, I'm gonna catch it. If you don't want that deliverance, I'm gonna catch it. If you don't want that breakthrough, I'm gonna catch it, I am a...
And the Bible says immediately. Wait, wait, she's about 25 miles from home... immediately. That means before she got home. I wonder if God is saying to somebody before you even get back home. I don't care how long I've been silent, once I break my silence, it's gonna be immediately. Her daughter got healed without a drop of oil falling, without Jesus laying hands, without him even speaking a word to her daughter. The Bible said immediately her daughter was healed. Not because of what Jesus said, but because of what her mama believed.
I have not found so great a faith. I found great suffering, but I'm not moved by great suffering, I'm moved by great faith. Is there anybody in here that's got great faith? This is the correction I wanna make in this room. Stop coming to God just to exploit your suffering because you have a suffering savior. You can't out suffer the sufferer.
The way to move God is by faith. He said I have not found, which means he's looking for. He's looking for, so great of faith in all of Israel. Your daughter is made whole because you believe, getting past the silence of God. Lord, hey Jesus, you don't have to tell me what you're doing, just do it. You don't have to call my name. I can be nameless in the scriptures. I can not be mentioned in the articles of faith, just do it. I don't even have to be there when you do it, just do it. Somebody holler: just do it.