| The Sound of Silence - article by Joel Hempel There have been times in my life when the silence has been deafening. What am I talking about? God’s silence! I can’t imagine there is a person reading this article who has not had their faith challenged by God’s silence and his apparent lack of response to our prayers. A friend once told me, “I pray a lot. But it is a one-sided conversation.” One of the reasons I think it can be so frustrating to hear nothing from God is because, in Old and New Testament times, he communicated directly or indirectly to Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, the prophets, and to his people through the prophets. He spoke to Mary, Elizabeth, and Joseph. And, of course, through Jesus, God spoke face-to-face to the multitudes. And then, after his encounter with Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and however he inspired the authors of Scripture, silence! I know that someone will remind me that God surely inspired Martin Luther and other reformers in some Spirit-guided way. And, of course, there are those select times when God decides to grace a person or a people with a nudge, an insight, or a vision. And lest we forget, there is His Word in print, in song, and embedded in the hearts and minds of believers. Hmm! Alright, God has not given up speaking to us. But it still doesn’t feel good. No, it’s stronger than that; it is pain reaching the depth of one’s soul when God chooses not to answer when we need it the most. Silence! Agonizing spiritual silence! If you research this topic, you will find multiple reasons why God does not or does not seem to answer: - God may be responding, but we are not listening. God’s Word is rich in wisdom. We would be wise to search the Scriptures for guidance and understanding.
- We may not be hearing from God because – like with St Paul’s thorn in the flesh1 -- it is God’s will that we bear the cross we are carrying. But with the cross, he promises the grace, strength, and courage to carry it.2
- God may be waiting for us to repent of some sin interfering with the Christian way of life and thus distracting us from hearing God.
- We can easily forget that God is omniscient and sovereign. He has no obligation to give us what we want. He wants us to trust what he knows and that he is attending to us, even though it may seem otherwise.
- God’s silence is considered part of his hiddenness. That is, There is much about God we don’t know. But what he has revealed through His Son tells us God is close to the brokenhearted.
Although these are all theologically sound explanations for why we may feel God’s silence, they don’t take away from the pain of not receiving what we need. So, we are left with this: God’s LOVE. He asks us to trust him – the God of our salvation, the God who gave his Son for us on the cross, the God who has repeatedly promised not to abandon us.3 He appeals to us not to give up on him. He wants us to trust him and his desire for our well-being. The bottom line, keep talking to God. And more importantly, listen, be open, and seek His will. 1. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 2. Matthew 11:28-30; Psalm 46:1-3,7; Philippians 4:13 3. Matthew 28:20b; Hebrews 13:5; John 14:15-17 | 
