When God is Silent

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.  “A time to born and a time to die.  A time to plant and a time to pluck that which is planted.  A time to heal and a time to kill.  A time to break down  and a time to build up.  A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.  A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace” So does the bible tell us in the book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

Can we for a second be patient and pay attention when God is silent? This time around he has chosen to remain quiet and i know you are beginning to feel the silent treatment. It appears he is distant and the communication link is broken. It feels like you are no longer connecting to your source and here you are, desperate for answers. His ways are not our ways and in his time, he will make all things beautiful. Many of us have experienced the silence of God. We cry out to God, and there seems to be no answer. We pray, pouring out our hearts, only to hear the words echo back without a reply.

Now what’s next? That’s the BIG QUESTION....

• Doubt creeps in
• Anxiety takes over
• Your faith weakens
• Confusion sets in
• Anger stimulates
• Then comes disappointment and discouragement
• Who knows?  You may turn away.  

Hmm!!! Yet God sees all these and still chooses to remain silent. Of all times, your trying period. God why me? Not this hour, minute or second. I need to hear from you. Psalm 22:1-2 becomes your anthem...  

1 "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

2  My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest."

 It feels like a door has just been slammed in your face and you hear a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. Meanwhile, where was God when you were happy... so happy that you had no sense of needing him?

I want you to pause for a moment and take a chill pill.

Have you ever noticed the teacher is always silent during exams? He never talks during your test. It’s your time of scrutiny, your moment of critical evaluation. God is conducting quality checks on your faith level to ascertain if you are fully equipped for what lies ahead.

                                                                      

His silence towards you doesn’t mean separation neither does it mean he's inactive. It's in this period that he develops your trust in him. To avoid a very lengthy article, I'll just use one example in the bible and that's the story of Sarah. Sarah was a woman in the bible who was childless for years. 

At 75 years of age there was little optimism in Sarah’s mind that she was going to have a child. I think the even more frustrating thing for Sarah was that 10 years before this God had come to her husband Abraham and promised him that they would have son. The Bible says that God took Abraham outside and had him look at the heavens and told him that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:5).

The problem was that God had made this promise some 10 years earlier and Sarah was yet to conceive a child. She was growing older and it was looking like an impossibility she would get pregnant. God had been silent for 10 years and you can imagine how impatient Sarah and Abraham must have been. God we want a child so bad! Where are you? When is your promise going to come to fruition God? At long last, God's word was fulfilled and she bore forth a son and named him Isaac.

One of the toughest things to do in life is to wait on God like Sarah had to. God is never in a hurry, but yet he is never late. Dealing with God’s timing takes a certain knowledge of who God is. God’s view of time is quite different than ours. His ways are not our ways. The Bible says that for God a thousand years is like a day. In other words, for an eternal God a thousand years is really not that long of time. Where as 10 years must have seemed like an eternity to Sarah, it was just a few seconds to God. 

Like i aforementioned, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I want you to quench your thirst and let God do what he does best. We all must have come across the parable that says "What an elder sees lying down, a young child who climbs an iroko tree might not see it". God sees and plans ahead of us. He is still in the business of doing good. 

Many of us will still do what Sarah did out of desperation and stigmatization of being called a barren woman. Before the birth of Isaac, she gave Abraham permission to sleep with her maid servant. She tried to forgo God's way and do it her own way. Little did she realize the consequences as soon as she finds out the foolishness of her mistake. Some men on the other hand, will marry a second wife to bear him children.What if she doesn't? Will you keep marrying and having a house full of women?

Patience is a virtue. It's not costly yet not cheap. The combination of patience and faith will pour down God's abundant supply of blessings upon our lives. Alongside, fast and pray. Meditate upon his word day and night. Let us be sensitive to know when he speaks and when he's silent. They both mean a great deal. "His thoughts for us are thoughts of good and not of evil to give us an expected end". (Jeremiah 29:11)

When your season comes, you shall shine bright like the rising star that can never go dim.

Stay blessed and always wait patiently upon HIM.

Lots of love,

Ada...xoxo

Photo credit: Stephanieshott.com