Psalm 35:17: “LORD, how long will You look on? / Rescue me from their destructions, / My precious life from the lions.”

February 10th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

When we find ourselves in the midst of struggles, it often feels as though help is far away, that our enemies are winning, and that our prayers are going unheard and unanswered. And it is this seeming silence of God that feels the most confusing. It is normal for believers in times like this to go through a period of self-examination, to see if the silence is a result of anything on their part. It is never a bad thing to reflect and wait on the Holy Spirit to show us if there is anything standing between God and us. Repentance and confession are the sure antidotes for silence caused by our personal sins.

However, there are also times when God is not silent because of our sins, but because He has simply pulled quietly back. This means we are experiencing God’s silence while He is still very much WITH us. When His voice seems far off, how will we respond? Will we continue to pray, fellowship, read the Word, and witness? The silence of God is not the same as the absence of God; we must remember that He has already promised to never leave us or forsake us. Perhaps through His silence He is calling us to sit patiently before Him, quietly waiting on Him. This is of course the beauty of silence BEFORE God. How often do we allow ourselves to simply be silent before Him and listen? Leonardo Da Vinci said it this way:

Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.

“LORD, we wait on You to speak through the things we see and do, while doing our best to serve You this day.”