We all go through a time in our lives when God appears to be silent. We pray, we seek, we receive no answer. It's like we've prayed hard, but our prayers hit a concrete ceiling, effectively barring God from hearing us. Have you ever felt that way?
If you have, I want you to know that you're not alone – and that those times happen for a purpose: For you to learn to trust Him.
Trusting God In Silence
When God seems silent, it's not because He's deaf or is simply unconcerned about us. Isaiah 59:1 tells us, "Certainly, the hand of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save, nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear."
He is able to hear us, and is also able to save us.
The problem is that we humans don't trust Him that much. Many of us say that we trust Him, but trusting Him goes beyond mere lip-speak: It has to be followed up with actions:
"So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." (James 2:17 MEV)
We have to let our lives follow through with our professed belief in Him. However, we simply cannot push ourselves to trust Him when He appears silent so that we can succeed. We need to have God-given faith that powers our actions. And to have that faith, we need this key ingredient: The Word of God.
Holding On To the Word Of God
Friends, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (see Romans 10:17).
If we want to know how to trust God and have faith in Him despite the moments in our lives when we can't hear Him, we need to hold on to what He said in His Word.
God's infallible Word, which will remain far longer than the heavens and the earth will (see Matthew 24:35), came from His own mouth (see 2 Timothy 3:16). Although it was written down by various men over the ages, all of God's words contain His very heart, describe His person, and tell us of His great plans for us.
And so, while God might appear "quiet" towards us, He actually isn't deaf or mute. He hears us, and has already spoken in His Word what He wants to say to us. The question now is thrown to us: "Will we read His Word, take it to heart, and obey it?"
He Speaks, We Trust
Friends, I will leave you with a short passage where we read God encouraging His people, and they respond to Him by trusting Him. I hope you respond to Him in trust as you hear or read His Word.
"[God:] Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
[God's people:] The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah" (see Psalm 46:10-11 MEV)
