When God is Silent

The lesson of the talents in Matthew 25. If He only gives ONE talent we are to use it wisely. God's seeming silence is like that. Perhaps our ONE talent is to be called upon and patience is required to wait for HIS time when that talent will come into play. Suffering can also be a talent, and who knows that others may need that experience too.

Je comprehend; I understand. God bless.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Sometimes the thing God most wants us to learn, to grow us, to lead us to greater spiritual maturity happen right in the middle of our suffering. He isn't ignoring us, He is growing us. And growth can sometimes be painful. God always has something He wants to accomplish in us when He allows us to suffer. In Jesus we can know we never suffer for no reason at all. God has purposes greater then our suffering. I don't think He takes our suffering lightly, it hurts His heart just as much or more to see His children suffering as it does us to see our own children suffer. But sometimes it's necessary.

 

I think most of us would say we understand God better because of the tough times. As for myself I have seen the truth of scripture better when I have been at the bottom.

2 Cor 1:3-5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ."

 

Good topic, Dr. Bob! Really makes one think.

 

It was when my husband was gravely ill that I felt God's hand in everything, when God felt least silent. I saw God's hand and heard God's voice in every small grace received--in every small detail that was taken care of when I had no extra energy for those things, in every person who reached out to us in love. Every hymn sung and every scripture read seemed to speak to our situation. It was a sad time, but also a wonderful time, because the eternal realm seemed to reach through and touch us every day.

Now I'm in the silent stage--trapped once again in this temporal realm....learning to go on. I feel sort of like one of the Israelites, miraculously brought across the Red Sea out of Egypt, only to find myself wandering the wilderness for 40 years!

I find my joy and strength right now in remembering the times in the past when God reached through with His care. It gives me hope in His continued care and His continued purpose for me even when I don't see them.

 

Matthew Henry said:

When the voice of God spoke quietly to Elijah, He sent him right back into danger but with a promise of protection and victory.

 

i recently found this site, it maybe useful to you for edification. alot of different authors and short articles, which i like. check out the one on trust.

http://www.sovereign-grace.com/previous.htm

 

Sometimes, when it seems God is not responding, He is saying, in effect, "Be still, and know that I am God."

The time is His; the silence is also His. He knows exactly what He is doing. He hears your prayers and He has already answered, even before you prayed. It's just that you don't know the answer yet, for it is still being worked out.

But in the end, we will all be astonished at just how completely He knew the desires of our hearts and responded accordingly.

He is utterly faithful and totally loving.

When the pain doesn't stop, turn your eyes inward to the island of peace He has given you. Rest in Him. He knows your pain. He is not wasting it. It is not useless. Trust Him.

 

God has His own timetable and reasons for doing things. He didn't have to grant Satan's request to sift the disciples. He didn't have to allow the affliction of Job. How about Mary and Martha? Jesus could have gotten there in time to heal their beloved brother, and His beloved friend, Lazarus. But He didn't. He didn't have to allow my path to pass through the valley of pain...But He did.

God doesn't even have to reveal His reasons for things, and my conviction is that if He ever does, it is very unusual. We can know the larger truths, and we can see the bigger picture of how He accomplishes His redemptive work in the world, even how He wants to do so through our pain. But as to "Why this?" "Why now?" and "What did I do to deserve this?" it may take awhile.

The simple truth about our pain is that we may never know, or understand the "Whys" this side of glory. A deeper truth is that God can redeem our pain into power, anyway. Perhaps even more profound may be the conclusion that your faith will be stronger if you can't understand than it will be if you do. In other words, while we struggle to make it clear, or travel the world over to find someone who can, it may be the Father's plan, instead, that we learn to live with the ambiguity.....

 

The times that I feel closest to God are the times when He seems to speak the loudest. It is in the times of His silence That my faith grows thin.

Although I know that "dry seasons" must come, I do so dread them. Life is so much easier when God's voice rings out with the rustle of the leaves, the song of the birds, the music of a child's laughter. But when the echoes die away without His gentle whisper, then begins "the dark night of the soul."

I can endure many hardships, intense pain, and great loss when I feel God's prescence at my side. But when I feel that I am alone...every minor difficulty becomes a major catastrophe, capable of shattering my will into a million fragments.

But I know that these dark times are not permanent, that the sun (Son) will rise once again in my heart. I have found that prayer helps to shorten those times, but it is in the midst of these seasons that prayer becomes all but impossible. Praise God that He never fails us, else we have no hope whatsoever!

In Christ,
Trotter