God answers prayer. But sometimes, God is silent. This silence can be difficult, frustrating, and even excruciating. The Bible tells the story of a man named Job who was well-acquainted with God’s silence. In his pain and suffering, he cried out to God. He asked for answers and he kept asking. In the first 37 chapters of the Book of Job, he cries for God’s help and relief but is met only by God’s deafening silence. Job 13:15 “Though He slays me,” says Job, “I will hope in Him.” Nothing in Job’s life, or ours, happens apart from God’s knowledge and plan. As we learn at the beginning of the Book of Job, God was fully aware of all the things that were about to happen to Job. In fact, He gave Satan permission to do these things in Job’s life. At no point does God release His control.
When God is silent to our cries, we need to go deeper into the matter.
• We need to examine our lives. Introspection helps us to understand ourselves. We need to examine and see if there are any unconfessed sins. Pinpoints what is blocking the beautiful voice of God from reaching us. Psalms 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” Have we made God small in our lives? Forgiveness and repentance are the best ways to open blocked channels. Sin affects intimacy with the Lord.
• During periods of silence, we need to hold on to our faith and trust the Lord. David said in Psalms 22:2 “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent.” In verse 4 he further says “Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.”.
• We need to accept God’s authority. It is His pleasure to be silent or to speak. There is no obligation on the part of God to answer us, let us know or for that matter, inform us. It is His pleasure. God is always in control. Nothing can hinder Him or compel Him. He does in His own time and He does what pleases Him. We have to accept God’s authority. When Job’s wife accused him of his God, Job 2:9-10 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”
• Although God may seem silent regarding a specific request or petition, He is in a constant state of communication with us. In fact, it is possible that there is already an answer from God. The Bible is full of specific answers about what is right and wrong, as well as information about God’s character and His intention for us as His children and His followers. We need to go through the Word of God to find the right answer. If we are specifically looking for the answer of God in His Word, it would be in the fitness of things to pray to God to speak to us through the Holy Spirit, who lives inside us. Often, verses of Scripture can have new significance in light of current problems being faced.
• Silence can also be a sign of God’s trust in us. It could be for reasons best known to God. In the case of delay on the part of Christ to visit his ailing friend, Lazarus, we find it resulted in his death. When his sisters saw him, they cried and informed the Lord that He had been dead for four days. The sisters were wondering at the delay and silence of their Lord Jesus. Jesus got the stone rolled away from the burial tomb and raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus wanted to glorify the Father.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in