Job CXXVII

 Job 10:13-17, “And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You: If I sin, then You mark me, and will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, and again You show Yourself awesome against me. You renew Your witness against me, and increase Your indignation toward me; changes and war are ever with me.”

Job wasn’t trying to have a one-man pity party for himself. He was trying to make sense of his present condition and reconcile the God he knew and served all his life with this seemingly new iteration of Him that Job viewed as a fierce lion on the hunt for him.

He knew he couldn’t find the answers he was seeking from his friends, but he did know the one place where the answers might be found. To that end, Job petitioned God repeatedly, hoping for an answer, yet no answer came. Sometimes, the toughest part of going through a trial isn’t the trial itself but God’s silence in the midst of it. It’s not wondering whether or not we’ve been forsaken because He promises He will neither leave us nor forsake us, but wondering why the silence stretches on and there is no answer to our supplications.

Anyone who says it’s an easy thing to contend with has never been in such a predicament. You know God is there, you feel His presence, you know that He hears, but He chooses to remain silent. You begin to wonder if you’re not praying hard enough, long enough, or eloquently enough; you consider laying prostrate rather than kneeling because the silence is deafening and jarring and something you are not accustomed to.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to what we should do when God is silent, but there are a handful of general truths that have been tried and tested throughout mankind’s existence.

The first thing we must do when God is silent is acknowledge that He is still God. His silence toward me does not imply that His power has diminished or that His sovereignty has waned. His silence does not give me license to come up with my own answers or plot my own course. In His time, He will speak just as He did to Job, but while He is silent, rest in the knowledge that He is still present and aware of every hurt, every pain, every hardship, and every tear.

He has not suddenly become cold or calloused. He has not suddenly changed His nature wherein He no longer cares or loves. Just because God is silent, it doesn’t mean you should be. Continue to pray, to seek His face, to verbalize the pain of your heart just as Job did, because His silence does not mean He isn’t listening.

The second thing we must do when God is silent is to resist the urge to equate His silence with His displeasure or punishment. A wise man searches his heart daily, and if perchance there is something requiring repentance, he is quick to repent. If having searched your heart, you conclude there is nothing displeasing to God therein, do not conflate His silence with His reproof.  

The third thing we must do when God is silent is understand that there is a purpose to the silence, just as there is a purpose in hearing His voice. I may not understand the purpose; I may prefer that He speak clearly and resoundingly rather than opt for silence, but in the end, I must defer to Him and submit to His purposes. 

The fourth thing we must do when God is silent is be still and know. Know that He is God, know that He is on the throne, and know that He has your situation well in hand. Knowledge goes beyond hope or presumption. When we know something, it is an established reality that cannot be shaken or altered. Know that He is the God of your life. Know that He will make a way. Know that He will speak in His time and bind up your wounds and broken heart.

Just as there are things we should be doing when God is silent, there are things we shouldn’t be doing when this occurs because they tend to be detrimental to faith, resolve, and the endurance of our spiritual man.

By far, the worst thing we can do when God is silent is to grow exceedingly anxious, nervous, and restless. The escalation in emotional responses to God’s silence can only lead to despondency, and that’s the chink in your armor the enemy will use to try and sow fear and doubt in your heart.

He will invade your mind with thoughts of abandonment if you allow him to, attempting to weaken your faith and resolve, hoping to get you to do what he tried and failed to get Job to do, which is to find fault with God.

Coming in a close second is trying to force God’s hand to speak to us when He has chosen to be silent. This is a futile endeavor that can lead to further spiritual confusion.

After the death of Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, the Philistines gathered their armies and brought them to a place called Shunem. Seeing this and being afraid, Saul inquired of the Lord, yet the Lord did not answer him. Whether by dreams, by Urim, one of two stones in the high priest's breastplate, which was used as a means of revelation, or by the prophets, God chose to remain silent.

Saul could not abide God’s silence, so he took it upon himself to seek out a medium of whom he might inquire. The rest of the story is long and sordid, a meaty topic of discussion for another time as to the power evil forces possess, going so far as to call Samuel’s spirit up, but the point for this particular topic is that Saul tried to circumvent God’s silence by seeking out a voice, any voice, even if that voice was what amounted to a witch, well known in those part and during those times.

It did not end well for Saul. God didn’t view his actions as being a go-getter or give him praise for trying to make things happen on his own; on the contrary, Samuel’s spirit informed him that not only had the Lord departed from him, but had become his enemy.

You’re not smarter than God, and He will not be mocked. If He chooses to be silent, trust that there is a purpose to His silence, and continue to come before the throne of grace with your prayers and supplications.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.