When God is Silent...
The silence of God is a topic it'd be easier to remain silent in front of. Who can give counsel to God? Who can explain his ways and give an explanation about his silence? Especially to someone who is hurting and crying out, whose desperate tones only ring back hollow to them. Yet, it was a question that has been posed, both by me and others in my life. What to say? Do we remain silent as well? What do I tell my friend or myself when God does not respond?
First of all, it is helpful to know we are not alone in asking it.
"To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not DEAF to me, lest, if you be SILENT to me, I become like those who go down to the pit" (Ps. 28:1).
"You have seen, O Lord; be not SILENT! O Lord, be not FAR from me!" (Ps. 35:22).
"You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you IDLY look at traitors and remain SILENT when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?" (Hab. 1:13).
We identify with the cruciality--"If you don't respond, I'm going to die." Now, Lord. Now. I have no other hope.
We identify with the mix of accusatory and hopeful tones--"You have seen! You are holy! You know what is going on. So don't be silent." The confusion of feelings, of faith, doubt all mixed in. We know the character of our God--a seeing God, a holy God, an answering God... yet, yet where is he?
There are times when the triumphant promises sound fake. But we still cling to those, because who else has the words of life? Where else can we go? We trust there is a reality greater than what we feel.
We stand on the objective historical fact of the cross. He, too, was silent.
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isa. 53:7).
"But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, 'I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God" (Mat. 26:63, Mark 14:61).
And he knew the forsakenness of the Father on the cross.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mat. 27:46).
For us. He knows the silence. He knows the silence and forsakenness far greater than any of us. Not to minimize our pain. It is a real pain when God is silent to us. But his pain was real too, and far deeper than ours. So he stands with us.
And he speaks for us (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5) before the throne of God. He is the servant who Isaiah speaks of:
"For Zion's sake [my people's sake] I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch" (Isa. 62:1).
He is the one who has sent his Spirit to testify to our spirits (Gal. 4:5-6; Rom. 8:15-16). He has given us his written Word. He is the one who has placed us in a family, who can speak the word to us.
"On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent" (Isa. 62:2).
In the face of the silence of God, we look into his face on the cross, we look into his glorious face interceding for us before the throne, we look into his face in others. There are times for other answers--how God may be using his silence to discipline us, teach us, stir faith in us; there are times for diagnosis and seeing if we are not silent before him or not right for him. But the first answer is to be stand in silence before the face of Christ.
First of all, it is helpful to know we are not alone in asking it.
"To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not DEAF to me, lest, if you be SILENT to me, I become like those who go down to the pit" (Ps. 28:1).
"You have seen, O Lord; be not SILENT! O Lord, be not FAR from me!" (Ps. 35:22).
"You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you IDLY look at traitors and remain SILENT when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?" (Hab. 1:13).
We identify with the cruciality--"If you don't respond, I'm going to die." Now, Lord. Now. I have no other hope.
We identify with the mix of accusatory and hopeful tones--"You have seen! You are holy! You know what is going on. So don't be silent." The confusion of feelings, of faith, doubt all mixed in. We know the character of our God--a seeing God, a holy God, an answering God... yet, yet where is he?
There are times when the triumphant promises sound fake. But we still cling to those, because who else has the words of life? Where else can we go? We trust there is a reality greater than what we feel.
We stand on the objective historical fact of the cross. He, too, was silent.
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isa. 53:7).
"But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, 'I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God" (Mat. 26:63, Mark 14:61).
And he knew the forsakenness of the Father on the cross.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mat. 27:46).
For us. He knows the silence. He knows the silence and forsakenness far greater than any of us. Not to minimize our pain. It is a real pain when God is silent to us. But his pain was real too, and far deeper than ours. So he stands with us.
And he speaks for us (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5) before the throne of God. He is the servant who Isaiah speaks of:
"For Zion's sake [my people's sake] I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch" (Isa. 62:1).
He is the one who has sent his Spirit to testify to our spirits (Gal. 4:5-6; Rom. 8:15-16). He has given us his written Word. He is the one who has placed us in a family, who can speak the word to us.
"On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent" (Isa. 62:2).
In the face of the silence of God, we look into his face on the cross, we look into his glorious face interceding for us before the throne, we look into his face in others. There are times for other answers--how God may be using his silence to discipline us, teach us, stir faith in us; there are times for diagnosis and seeing if we are not silent before him or not right for him. But the first answer is to be stand in silence before the face of Christ.
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