When God Goes Silent
When God goes silent, it can be incredibly frustrating.
WHERE ON EARTH OR HEAVEN OR THE UNIVERSE DID HE GO?
I have had seasons where I’ve felt closer to God than others, certainly. But I’m learning that even in God’s silence, He’s still speaking.
We can never and will never fully understand God (cause then, uh, we’d kinda be God), but there have been a few reasons why God’s voice has seemingly gone dark on me.
Sometimes God stops speaking because He’s already spoken.
I tend to ask the same question over and over and over again, as if the answer will come a different way. He’s just waiting for me to listen.
Sometimes God stops speaking when we get in the way.
Anytime my wants / desires / actions come between me and God, it creates a separation.
Not only is God Holy, but He is also unchanging. Holiness and sin do not collide. They cannot not share the same space.
When I’ve been unwilling to follow Him, digging my heels in or refusing to acknowledge what’s at hand, He’ll stop leading.
God is gracious enough to give us space when we choose not to step forward, but He won’t drag us. I have to willingly go where He goes.
It’s amazing when I’ve finally released my grip on whatever I was holding onto, how He floods the room as if He was waiting on the sideline waiting to be called into the game. Here I am thinking I’m waiting on God, when really He’s waiting on me.
The truth is, God wants us to hear His voice. Always.
There are over 40 verses where God refers to Himself as our shepherd, and a good shepherd not only provides protection, but direction. A shepherd is immersed in the lives of His sheep. He knows each one of them, and never leaves their side.
This is the picture that God gives us for our relationship with Him. He desires to lead us, and for us to follow. Because all that He offers is good.
In your own life, what has kept you from hearing God?