When God Is Silent

Is it just me or do we really never feel ‘free’ of the devil’s presence? I mean, even on good days, there remains an awareness of evil in the world that is inescapable and haunting. A real understanding that it wouldn’t take much for his wiles and schemes to exploit an opportunity to turn things contrary. This is really uncovering a desperate prayer that I need to pray because I can’t say the same thing about God. There are times when I don’t ‘feel’ His presence in the way I just described about our adversary. Sometimes, God seems distant, silent and altogether ‘far from me’.

Here’s The Word:

Mark 13:34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

So one verse explains in parable how Jesus is on a far journey and another says that the Lord is not far from every one of us. Is this a contradiction? I imagine that we each may give a different answer based on the circumstances we find ourselves in. That’s why this is an important idea to wrestle with: Truth is not circumstantial, it’s reliable, dependable and trustworthy no matter the situation.

As a father to my children, more appropriately my son (since he’s the only one still at home), I find myself frequently gauging his motivations: Not only will he do what I tell him, but where his heart is in the midst of all of his ‘doing’.
When we talk, I don’t withhold my ideas and expectations. I also encourage and welcome any input he has – it may not convince me to handle things differently but it gives me an opportunity to clarify things for him.
In these brief encounters with my son, I've become keenly aware of how much God does love us, His children. Psalms 7:9 says "For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins", and though He may not be a God of many words in the midst of trials, He’s said more than enough to give us a clear understanding of what His purposes are.

And at the end of the day, we can trust Him. We know that the isolation, desolation and desperation we feel is not empty and worthless. If we are truly His, then our prayers and our plight are not falling upon deaf ears or going unnoticed. Although Our Heavenly Father (and a great cloud of witnesses) don't come to our immediate rescue: He’s prepared rewards for us as our faithfulness is strengthened.

Here’s The Word;

2 Corinthians 4:9 - 11 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

These verses and all of 2 Corinthians 4 encourage us in the midst of trials when God seems silent. Lastly, we can look toward Christ – although we may 'feel' forsaken, cast down and dying. He WAS forsaken, cast down and died in a real separated way from the Father that NO trial on earth can ever compare to for us. Please don’t get me wrong, this message is not to discount our pain when ‘going through’, but to strengthen our hope that a great and valuable work is being worked in us in the midst of our trials.

I’ll close with this – When God is silent, it can become very easy for us to become stagnant: Scared or discouraged to move. However, this is not God’s intent. Just like the servants in the Matthew 25, there were instructions left for them to follow. We have the same instructions that don’t require constant input: Strive for righteousness. Let your light so shine. Build yourself up in faith. Distance yourself from the snares of this world. Cultivate in yourself Christ’s love for the loss. Keep doing the things He said last, knowing that He is coming again.


In Him,
Cros