Hey sweet moms! I was thinking of you today and wondering how many of you are struggling to hear from God in some are of your life.
“WHEN GOD IS SILENT” is one of the messages I’m frequently asked to speak on because it’s an evergreen topic we have all had to walk through at some time or another. Maybe you’re there now.
We’ve all been there.
The place where we are desperate to hear from God or to see Him move in our circumstances, but it seems as though our prayers hit the ceiling and our hearts feel far from God – wondering if God is there – and if He is, does He really care.
My heart hurts for each of you who are feeling far from God, who are wondering where He is, who are praying with all the faith you can muster for that lost loved one – for that terminally ill family member, for that job, for your finances, for whatever it is that is heavy on your heart… yet you haven’t seen anything change and you can’t help but wonder if God is even there – and if He is, does He care.
SO, for the next 3 posts, I will be sharing a bit about what I speak on in hopes that it will encourage your heart and give you a better biblical understanding of the season of silence you might find yourself in.
We’ve all lived long enough to know that life isn’t always easy. We’ve all walked through some difficult places in our lives….those times when life is hard and you feel like God is far.
You pray for God to show up and do something, but you feel like He isn’t listening…times when God is silent.
Maybe you feel like you’re walking through a season of God’s silence in the area of…
YOUR FINANCES – you take one step forward & at least 2 back. One financial need after the other with no end in sight. You’re in debt up to your eyeballs, you don’t even know what a savings account is and you’re wondering where God is…why He isn’t doing anything…Does He care?
YOUR MARRIAGE – you’ve done all you can to be a good wife and make your marriage work, but nothing has changed. You still have the same problems you did a year ago…a decade ago and you’ve grown weary. You’re tired of being hurt, tired of trying and your heart for your husband is growing cold.
YOUR PARENTING – you’ve raised them the best you could, you’re doing everything you can as a parent. You’ve taken them to counselors, you’ve soaked your pillow with tears and worn holes in the carpet beside your bed where plant your knees night after night as you cry out to God for your kids, but they keep making one destructive decision after another.
I don’t know where you are or what you’re going through, but I believe the Lord has me sharing this for a reason and I believe many of you are feeling broken by God’s silence. You’re wondering where God is, why He doesn’t do something. Wondering if He sees what you’re going through and if He does, why doesn’t He do something?
You may feel like you are broken…you may feel like God is silent, but I want you to know…based on the WORD OF GOD and the CHARACTER of GOD…that – God’s silence does not equal God’s absence…nor does it equal His inactivity.
You may not see Him doing anything – you may not hear Him, but I assure you, He is with you and He is working behind the scenes of your life…and oh yes…He is very much at work in your present circumstances.
Most of us have experienced ‘the wait’ that takes place in a doctor’s office. It seems like forever between the time you sign up and the time they finally call you back. And then you have to wait some more.
It’s all so awkward. Even frustrating.
Maybe you feel like you’re in God’s waiting room. But be encouraged sweet friend, God’s waiting room is a place where you’re in good company. Abraham, Moses, Job, Joseph, David, Asaph, the Sons of Korah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, Mary, Martha and a host of others who have gone before us, have all experienced their own seasons.
Is it because of SIN?
If you’re like me, the first thing you tend to think when you’re feeling broken by God’s silence is that you’ve done something wrong…like there must be some sin you’ve committed, something you’re holding on to that has put a dividing wall up between you and God.
And to be honest, sometimes that’s true.
But when that happens, the Spirit of God makes us keenly aware of what it is we need to deal with, and it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance. So, we confess it, forsake it and move forward in our fellowship with the Living God. (1 John 1:9)
But if we choose to hold on to it, we are choosing to keep the dividing wall up and we can’t really expect to hear from God. (Isaiah 59:2)
BUT, sin is only ONE REASON that God may choose to be silent in our lives. God is God…and His ways are higher than ours – so to be honest, we may not always know all the reasons for the season’s of silence we go through. But threaded throughout the Word of God are many examples that can help us better understand our own seasons of silence and how to handle it when we feel like God is silent.
Sometimes God is silent…Because our lives are just too loud.
Let’s face it, we’re all busy…maybe too busy. We’ve got distractions coming at us from every direction. We’re constantly on the go. Playing taxi drivers, running errands and moving at warp speed trying to get it all done.
We’ve got laundry, cooking, cleaning, homework, shopping…oh, and let’s not forget the full time job. We’ve got a cell phone in one hand and a steering wheel in the other and we’re taking care of business on the fly.
We get SO wrapped up and distracted by our dailies that we leave God out and then wonder where He is.
Our lives have become so loud that we drown out the still small voice of God and at times, He may choose to be silent in order to get our attention.
He knows that His silence is deafening to our hearts. He knows that His silence will speak very loudly to our souls.
Today, if you’ve allowed your life to be so loud that you’ve drowned out the still small voice of God, I want to encourage you to take some time and just bask in the beauty of knowing Him.
Be STILL and KNOW that HE IS GOD. Press into Him. Delight in Him. Make Him the object of your affection.
When my hubby and I went to adopt our puppy, we plopped ourselves down in the middle of some precious pups and tried to figure out which one would become ours. One little guy managed to waddle his way up into my hubby’s lap and when he pulled him up to his chest, that cutie patootie tucked his head down and pressed his little puppy head against my husband’s chest as hard has he could.
Needless to say, he won our hearts and we took him home.
We named him Wilson (after the soccer ball on Castaway…yeah…we’re goofy like that) and even at 130 pounds, he pressed his gargantuan Dobbie head against us just like he did the day we sat sat among the litter looking for a the puppy we would take home and make ours.
We loved how he PRESSED IN! And how he never stopped pressing in until the day he died ten years later.
When our lives are loud and we long to hear from the Living God, we have to press in!
PRESS IN…be still and know that He is God. Don’t allow your life to be so loud that you drown out the still small voice of God.
Is YOUR life too loud?
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