You may be in a moment in your life where silence has fallen; heavy and empty. You feel like God is distant; like He has forsaken you. You can’t hear His voice telling you which way to go and you can’t feel His presence surrounding you. In this time it is so easy to sink into despair and distress. It is so easy for your soul to be cast down, and for this question to constantly rise in your mind- Is God there?
But no matter what you feel, the truth is that God is there. He hears you and He sees you, and He has not forsaken you.
God Has Not Forsaken You
At a time like this the most important thing to remember is that God has not forsaken you. In His Word he promises that He never will. He will be with us always, until the end of the ages. (Matthew 28: 20) That means that even in this moment of apparent silence; He is there. In this moment of darkness; He is there. But I can’t feel Him, I can’t hear Him. That may be, but that is not because God has moved away or isn’t speaking. It may be because you have moved and have stopped listening.
You Have Moved
God does not lie. All that He says is true. That means when He said He would never leave nor forsake us, He meant it. And it is true. But then what about this silent time? The reason there may be silence and it feels like God has left is that you are no longer sitting at His feet, and listening to His voice.
It is so easy to get carried away by the pleasures and lusts of this life, especially because they seem so attractive. You would rather spend hours and hours watching a series, or reading an exciting novel, or doing anything really but sitting with God and soaking in His Word. But spending hours on these other things shifts your focus and it shifts your spiritual position. It draws your mind and heart away from God and toward worldly things that do not edify and build you up.
When this happens it becomes harder and harder to be sensitive and aware of God and the things of God. Dwelling solely on these other things will choke the Word that has been rooted in you, (Mark 4:19) and when that happens the farther God will feel.
But your position in relation to God may not be the only thing contributing to God’s silence and
You Aren’t Listening
In Psalm 32:6 we are told that the Lord cannot be found in rushing waters. Our busy and hectic lives are like those rushing waters. In the rush of noise and traffic and news and conversation and work there is no space for God to be heard. God speaks to our hearts. But if we can’t even hear our heartbeats above the noise, how can we expect to hear God?
We need to pause and seek more still waters so that we can hear the Lord, because He is speaking and He is with us. He has never stopped speaking and He has not moved.
What Now?
So, what now? You ask. What do you I do about the silence? You turn back to God. Move back into His presence, and keep yourself in His love. (Jude 20-21) Hear that? Keep yourself in His love.
God has already poured out His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) and He won’t take it away. But we can stop perceiving His love. We can stop feeling it when we let other things drown it out. That is why we are admonished to keep ourselves in God’s love. How do you do that? By delving back into the Word. The Word is where all God’s good promises are. That is where His directions for where you should go are. (Isaiah 30:21) That is where He declares His love for you. (John 3:16)
God is an awesome God, and what’s more He cares for your heart; He cares for you. He wants nothing but the best for you. (Jeremiah 29:11). He is rejoicing over You. (Isaiah 62:5) He never wants to be parted from you. (Romans 8:38-39) If that is so, why would He leave you? Why would He stop speaking with you? Why would He keep distant and silent? God wants nothing more than to fellowship and love you and to show you all the abundant and wonderful things He has in store for you. But you need to be willing to sit with Him and hear what He has to say.
So when silence falls, don’t fall with it. Don’t sink into negativity and fear and doubt. Recognize it for what it is, a shift in focus and a shift in position. God is still near; it just may be that you aren’t near Him. So instead of being daunted and discouraged by the silence, plough through it until you reach the fields of God’s grace and goodness. Remember how much He loves you and all that He wants for you. Remember that He is with you, always, and He is never going to leave, and then pick up the Word and go sit at His feet.
