How Long?
How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? Psalm 119:84
How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD's praise, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13
Insight
Sometimes silence can be deafening. While everything and everyone around you is quiet, content, and fast asleep, you sometimes toss and turn at night, wondering why God seems distant. You struggle to remember the last time you heard His voice. You wrestle with the distance while at the same time yearning for that lost connection.
Numerous questions roll through your mind, but the one you can't seem to answer is what God is doing by remaining silent. If you're not careful, you can easily mistake silence with inactivity. Even amid those quiet moments, God is still at work. When there is noise all around us, it can be challenging to hear the still voice of God. We've got mixed messages coming at us from all different directions, while the message that truly matters gets lost in all the commotion.
However, other times the silence can be self-imposed. Riddled with guilt and shame, we avoid God at all costs and use that as an excuse to allow the distance to continue. We feel like we should do more before we ask Him to reconnect with us. We've got to earn our forgiveness and even the scales. We come up with a religious checklist that we need to mark off to even the score and be "right" with Him.
Then there are those sin patterns we refuse to give up. If not dealt with, sin breaks our connection with God. Sin always pushes us into hiding and causes us to avoid exposure to light. On the other hand, maybe you keep apologizing for your wrongdoing and telling Him you're sorry, failing to hear Him say, "It's finished! You're forgiven!"
If sin isn't causing the silence, then it might be a disobedience issue. You remember vividly the last thing God asked you to do, but you blatantly refused to obey or step out in faith. Until we act in obedience, silence will remain. From God's perspective, there is nothing left to be said. If you want to know God's will, it's to do the last thing He asked you to do.
The problem is we tend to filibuster God by talking too much. We go on and on with our requests, pleading, and bargaining. Our prayers are 99.9% talking and about 0.1% listening. Conversations aren't conversations when they are only one-sided. The time has come for us to be silent and reflect.
Don't panic if you can't hear God's voice. Panic causes us to rush through reflection. God's silence is not arbitrary but designed to awaken us to Him. In our sin, God is calling us to repent and receive His forgiveness. Amid our suffering, God is calling us to trust and lean on Him. During our success, God is calling us to praise.
When God seems silent to you, it is time for you to be silent before Him. Faith requires both expectancy and contentment. Don't be surprised when God breaks His silence for the sake of His purposes. God is always working to form us into His image and shape us in holiness.
Reflection
How tuned in do you feel to God's voice?
If there is silence or perceived silence, what do you believe is the cause of it?
Prayer
God, I pray that I wouldn't panic during those moments of silence. May I trust that You are still active when I might not be able to hear Your voice. Help me to examine my heart and seek Your face. Help me to tune my ears to Your voice. Amen.
