I have this uncanny ability of listening and remaining silent. To be honest, I don't know why that's a skill, but it always takes people off guard, most especially my wife.
This is how it works: You'll usually talk to me for a certain period of time. At one moment you may notice I'm not paying attention. And then you'll call my attention for not listening, but I'll argue that I am. And then I'll tell you everything that you just told me in the last 10 minutes or so.
We tend to correlate silence with ignorance. But the two aren't always one and the same thing. It's true that some people may remain silent because they're just not present. But it doesn't mean that they ignore you when they're silent. I guess the best example would be God Himself.
When God seems silent, we automatically think He's not hearing our prayers and that He's probably ignoring us altogether. But there are so many scriptures that tell us that God is listening and listening intently to all of us. Here are just a few:
1 John 5:14. "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us."
Psalm 116:1. "I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy."
Hebrews 4:16. "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Isaiah 59:1. "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear."
God hears us when we call out, even when He doesn't answer. In His silence, He speaks more volumes than most men would shouting. At times when He is silent, when we have a relationship with Him, we will know that He means to tell us to wait or to trust that He has something better.
There may also be instances where God speaks, but we're just not listening. Just as God spoke to Elijah in a still small whisper, He longs to speak to us softly so that we will be given the chance to quiet our souls and be still before His presence. In the busyness that we face day to day we can miss out on God's instruction and promise. We need to be still and listen.
If you feel like God is being silent and you feel like He's ignoring you, He's not. Know that He is listening to you intently and that He still holds you in mind. God loves and cares for us all and will never leave us nor forsake us. No matter how silent He may seem to be, He is there. He is there.
