“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
Many people don’t believe in a Supreme Being (God) because they cannot see or touch him physically. Even though we see the universal intelligence of nature all around us, people choose to ignore contemplation of God as the Creator of all. At best, humanity is good at coming up with their own religions and theories of our origins, yet few will truly believe and accept God’s revelation of Himself through the 5000+-year-old books and histories we call the Bible. Though we have seen solid evidence of God’s miracles throughout history, we peon humans insist on “new revelations” or “signs and wonders” before WE will believe.
The Bible as a history book is very consistent regarding the character of the One God. It is obvious to objective believers that God has been very consistent with his instructions, judgment, mercy, and forgiving love throughout human history. Many of us would question God’s decision to give man “free will”, yet as we see throughout the Bible, while He knew we would decide wrongly because of our sinful natures, He provided a plan and way of escape for the wages of our sins. Even though His universe is created as one of “cause and effect” based on our decisions and actions…He, fortunately, knows the end from the beginning as only God can and always offers a way of escape from the punishment and results we deserve.
Scriptures reveal to us in many places how God’s ways are so much higher than man’s. They have also told us that until He reveals Himself again in this physical realm with the second coming of Jesus Christ, we must rely on FAITH if we want to begin to understand and know Him. As Christians, we are instructed to be filled with His Spirit at which point we can have the mind of Christ controlling our everyday lives. This is a huge promise and fact of God’s nature. He wants to reveal Himself, but cannot do so until we are holy enough…which is never in this life. Little by little we are being conformed to His nature through faith and obedience until that promised day when ALL who believe IN Him will be transformed into His likeness. On that day of fulfillment, we will see and know as we are known.
Yet, for now, we walk by faith. We can see and feel God’s spirit much like we see and feel the effects of wind and gravity, but we have no clue of the specific things laying ahead of us in this life. This is what the walk of faith is based on…blindly following the proven paths He has placed before us. Though we cannot see or hear Him verbally or physically, we are to follow and obey his instructions regardless.
The testing of our faith comes when we are in the midst of conflict, pain, or confusion regarding all things around us and we feel all alone in dealing with those things. While it is always wonderful when God reveals some miraculous, supernatural experience or truth for us…the norm that He wants from us is to trust Him even when He is silent! He tests us sometimes with His silence. He doesn’t always answer our prayers in the ways or timeframes WE want Him to. It is this waiting in silence and trust that truly build our spiritual characters. If we automatically knew in advance what happens to us, well, it wouldn’t take much faith to believe and trust Him.
Just like respectable parents or leaders in this life, our lives are affected by knowing them even when they are not with us physically. When we have been instructed well, we don’t need a parent or “boss” to be constantly with us physically in order to obey their leadership or “rules”. If we love and respect our parents, we will obey them regardless of whether they are right there with us every moment. While God IS with us every moment, we are to obey and do His will whether we feel his presence at that moment or not. I am convinced this is how He tests us. Do we love Him even when we feel distance from Him?
At various times in history, God has been silent and withdrawn from humans because of our disobedience as fallen men. He has allowed us to wallow in our sin and darkness, sometimes for generations, in order that we might understand the price and results of our wrongful thinking and actions.
Between the Old and New Testaments, there was a period of over 400 years God stopped communicating to His chosen people the Jews through the prophets He had used for much of the Old Testament times. He was silent as far as any new revelations to man. Why? I think it can be assumed that He had foretold us via Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others of the promised Messiah, His Son, who was to come and be the ultimate sacrifice for all time to bridge that presence barrier between God and mankind. He knew humans could never obey His laws or be righteous on our own merit or ability, so, His plan was in motion from the beginning and He had already told His people what it was. For hundreds of years, the Jews had to wait for the promised Messiah with no further clues, and then when He came, as predicted in Isaiah 53, “His own received Him not”. In the silence, the Jewish people had slunk back into their self-religions and alternate approaches to a God they didn’t really want to listen to or obey. Finally, God broke through the silence with the life and words spoken by His Son, Jesus Christ. It was a long wait because of their disobedience and humanistic ways before and after the promise of a savior.
Unfortunately, many of us still wallow in our selfish, disobedient ways. We have seen the signs and know the history of God’s plan, yet we refuse to believe or wait on Him to continue doing what He has promised to do. Our natures continue to take us down the divergent path of doubt, sin, and unbelief. Like Thomas, His disciple, we say in words or action, “I will believe when I can see or touch the nail scars in His hands”. While God chooses sometimes to reveal Himself miraculously to some people today (as He did Thomas), I would argue that is the exception more than the rule. He expects us to seek, know, and trust Him even when He is silent or has yet to reveal the answers to our prayers. THAT is faith…and He always rewards true faith.
I am amazed at how vivid are the prophecies of the end times as God has revealed in the Bible. We are seeing signs everywhere of what He said would happen “in the last days” before His return to this world. Jesus spoke a lot about what these times would look like and I believe the “fig leaves” are pointing to His soon return (Matthew 24:32). It is the ONLY hope we truly have to turn this evil, pagan world around. He said it would be so, so why are we doubting or wondering about so many things as believers? He said “fear not”…so why are we fearful? He said to “be His witnesses until His return”, so why have so many of us stopped witnessing to those around us? Are we embarrassed by our faith? Are we unsure? Are we simply lazy and slovenly “semi-believers”? I’m afraid way too many “Christians” are.
So if God is being silent with you right now, what does that mean? Have you let sin take over your life again to where you no longer sense His Spirit in your life? Have you gotten so focused on “this world” that you have forgotten that true believers live for the world that is to come? Or perhaps, just like the case of Job, God is allowing you to be tested and to suffer so as to ultimately overcome the trials and tribulations He promised we would have in this life to God’s glory. Job had many questions for God during his years of suffering and the demise of everything he held dear in this life…yet he remained faithful even when God was silent and allowing him to suffer. Job’s friends and wife ridiculed him for his suffering and accused him of sins he did not commit…yet Job remained steadfast in his faith even in the midst of God’s silence.
The Bible is full of examples of men waiting for God when He is silent. Elijah waited in a cave totally dejected with little faith remaining just after God had sent down fire per his prayer on the prophets of Baal. How could he forget so soon? Moses and the Jews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years upon leaving Egypt miraculously before God allowed them to enter His promised land. Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying in the desert before starting His three-year ministry campaign. It would seem evident that was to discipline his flesh and submit it to the spiritual call and purpose of his earthly life. Maybe some of us are in that waiting pattern or being prepared for whatever God has ahead for us to do. Ultimately, we live to die gloriously in faith and after that, we are promised the same resurrection Jesus experienced.
All of us have those days when it is harder to believe than other days. He has promised not to let us suffer or have trials we cannot overcome. He is always on His way with a plan of escape and healing. If we suffer for righteousness’ sake, He will always be readying our reward as overcomers. His love is there even in the silence. We are always to remember his many blessings in the past, especially when we go through times of not feeling so blessed. Even in His silence, God is always faithful and always on His way to deliver us and meet our needs.
So, I close with His words of encouragement and instruction:
(Psalm 66:18) “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened”
(Job 13:15) “Though He slay me,” says Job, “I will hope in Him”
(Isaiah 40:31) “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
(Romans 8:35-39) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”