God of Silence
Psa
22:2 O
my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer
In
the 15th meditation we considered ‘The God who hides' and the idea
and effect is very similar to this verse, but it is sufficiently important
that it needs looking at again. The truth is that there are times
when we cry out to the Lord and He seems to remain silent, He seems
to ignore our cries. Why would a God of love do this? This psalm is
considered a prophetic psalm reflecting Jesus' anguish on the Cross.
This psalm is the cry of the Saviour heard as “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mt 27:46)
Probably
the classic example of silence from God is Rev 8:1,
“When
he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about
half an hour.” Again there, there
is given no explanation for the silence and so we are left wondering.
So what does a silence indicate? Is it an indication that God doesn't
care? No, everything else in Scripture challenges that wrong assertion!
Is it an indication that God is having to think through an issue before
He comes up with an answer? Definitely not! Everything in Scripture
tells us that God has perfect knowledge and wisdom and, even more
importantly, that what is happening today is a working out of His
perfect plan devised before the very foundation of the world. Oh no,
it is nothing like that! So what are we left with?
Probably
it is because God is waiting for the right moment to speak and move.
Indeed there can be no other satisfactory answer. There are clear
indications in Scripture that God is concerned with timing and moves
at exactly the right time (e.g. Mk 1:15, Jn 2:4, 7:6,8, 7:30, 8:20,
13:1, Acts 3:21, Rom 5:6, Gal 4:4, Eph 1:9,10). It seems it is as
if God moves in ‘seasons'. There have been times in church history
when He has come in revival power; suddenly He has turned up and amazing
things have happened and thousands of people have been saved. Compared
with such times, most of church history seems slow and relatively
uneventful. In those ‘slower times' it is natural to cry out to the
Lord, with the feeling, “Why Lord, don't you answer?”
So
why does God seem to wait? Why doesn't He come with power all the
time? Possibly it is that He knows that if He did we would take it
all for granted and it wouldn't, in fact, bring good into us. The
reality is that we change more into the likeness of Jesus in the hard
times, not the times of great blessing. The times of God appearing
to remain silent are, in truth, times of testing for us, times that
reveal what we're really like. One day Jesus told a parable,
“to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
(Lk 18:1) It was about a widow who pleaded with a judge who apparently
wouldn't reply. Eventually he did, just because she went on and on.
Listen to how Jesus concluded it: “And will
not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him
day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will
see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Lk 18:6-8).
Look at what he's saying. Yes God will eventually deal with the issue,
but in the meantime, if I should return, will I find you in a position
of faithfulness?
When
God appears silent, will we still remain true to our faith and to
Him? Yes, God is waiting for something to happen before He replies,
but that something may just be your right response in the situation,
your affirmation of love for Him, your declaration of trust in Him.
For such reasons the Lord remains silent. If the Lord remains silent,
He has a good reason. You can keep asking, but you may have to wait
a while for the answer.