When God is Silent

I know God speaks. I've heard His voice; not an audible voice, lest you think I'm crazy, but without a doubt, God's sweet voice. 

He has spoken to me in the still small voice. He has spoken to me in times of prayer. He has spoken to me through His precious Word, through messages and people. At times His voice seems to scream out from the heavens....times when His word is pouring out revelation and illuminating my path. Then there are the times of desperation, and silence. 

I don't understand His ways; they are lofty, and who can ever really know the ways of God? The Bible says God’s ways are not like ours. There is this mystery to the God of the universe and to the way he operates. 

I found myself in times of darkness when light is dim and I'm wandering, feeling the silence of heaven, moments that I long for a touch; a whisper; anything, to uplift my weary soul. I have lifted my voice to God, "Speak God, I'm listening”, but only silence.

Why does God seem to silence His voice at times when we need to hear from Him desperately? Sometimes the only thing I hear is the steady pace of my breath, and the inner dialogue of my weary soul. And God seems aloft, silent. 

Have you ever found yourself needing the sound of the divine, needing words to soothe the hurt inside? So desperate to hear anything, something.... but all you hear are the chatters of your own brain. 

A heavenly hush, is God muzzled.  So, why the refrain? 

In the book the Pursuit of God, Tozer describes God as one who speaks! In fact, the Bible describes the heavens declaring His glory, nature itself telling of its creator. Hebrews 11:3 describes the world being framed by the word of God. 

God has spoken in times past to prophets and to ordinary men, because God speaks! God by nature is a communicator, one who is articulate in speech. A.W. Tozer describes God’s voice as a present voice; one that is not confined to paper nor ink; one that is not locked in slumber within the covers of a book. Then, why the silence? 

If any man needed to hear from God, it was Job. In his pain, Job questioned God and heard nothing in response. In chapter thirteen Job says, "I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with God," but instead he only heard the accusing lips of his supposed comforters. When God finally did speak he spoke to Job from a whirlwind, as to declare that the time of darkness and silence had ended. God was no longer silent instead he began pouring forth his speech. Perhaps God waited just in time to revive His ailing servant. God knew Job's hope had run thin and he was on the brink of giving up, so He spoke, but when he did he asked questions to the questioning Job. He asked, “where were you when….” God the eternal one, in every question he asked Job, inserted his sovereignty, his rule and his reign. Reminding Job he knows what he is doing! And that his voice can be heard and felt because he was and is and always will be. 

We walk in this faith journey between the times of speech and silence, when God shouts and at times he seems to hold back his words. Yet, even when He appears silent I am assured that He speaks. There have been times that I needed to remind my questioning soul that God has something to say. In fact my future and yours depends upon us training our ears to hear. 

God in fact is insistent to communicate to us, his very word is his message to unravel the mystery of what is God. Also, he waits for those who would silence the noise to lean into the eternal voice and listen. Even the noise of our own mumblings, our distractions and our business have caused us to grow deaf. We need to learn the discipline of hearing.....waiting.....and attentiveness. 

In the book, My Upmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers describes the darkness as the time to listen.

"Don't talk to other people; don't read books to find out the reason for darkness, but listen....if you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light."

I believe that the problem is not on the side of God..... for God speaks. When God seems to be silent the question is, have you practiced the rhythms of stopping, tuning your ear and listening.  He often seemingly withholds his speaking voice so we can learn to listen in the silence. 

Here is a prayer from the Pursuit of God to help us tune our listening ears:

"Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, 'Speak for thy servant heareth.' Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice." 

I pray that God would speak volumes to the seemingly silent moments, until at last you realize, he never was really silent at all.