Sitting in Silence

One of the most difficult times for a Christian can be the silence of God. Those seasons of life when there is no revelation, no inspiration, and no manifest presence of God. How we respond to these times will show the measure of both our understanding of God and the measure of our faith. Sometimes, the silence of God is because of sin in our lives, and the relationship must be restored by active repentance. However, the most troubling times are when there is no unconfessed sin, and yet God seems to have dropped us in a predicament and seems to be unaware or unconcerned about our present state of affairs. It is during these times that we are tempted to see Him as an unconcerned or uncaring Father. Yet we must understand something about the ways of God. One thing is that God's silence is one of His greatest forms of intimacy. It is a sign of His trust. He is saying "Just be still and trust." He trust us with His silence to see how we will react. We get into fits when we cannot discern God or understand what He is doing in a particular situation. So what do we do when God is silent or when we are waiting for Him to act? Psalm 37 gives us direction in this area. We must "Trust in the LORD and do good." (vs3). "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." (vs4). "Commit your way to the LORD (the Hebrew literally says "to roll" something onto the LORD- in other words, we must roll all of our anxieties, desires, and frustrations onto Him) . Trust also in Him and He will do it (He will take care of the situation) (vs5). "Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him." (vs 6). To sum it up, we must trust, do good, delight, commit, and rest. It is a call to throw ourselves onto the providence and sovereignty of God. Therefore, when God is silent or when you cannot discern His way or what He is up to, follow the advice of David- trust, do good, delight, commit, and rest.