Published in: Christian Life

Understanding the silence of God

Author Hari Rao

Published on: November 10, 2014

I don’t think there is anything more trying than silence from God, especially when you really need His wisdom and guidance. Have you ever been in a place where you had to make important decisions or something unfortunate happened and you desperately wanted to hear God and all you got was cold dead-air? I have been there and I hate it. I’m not going to be saintly about it; it is annoying and it completely stresses me out.

2014 has been that kind of a year for me. I’m not going to bore you with the details but I will say this, I have had to rely on God more in the last few months, than my entire life. In this season, I have prayed, fasted (somewhat), cried, read books, stood in prayer lines and some more. I have had one request, “God, please say something. I really need to hear from you.”

I heard nothing!​

To say it was confusing and frustrating is an understatement. It still is, but I have learnt a thing or two and this post is about that.

Silence is Not Absence

This is the mistake I made, I thought God was no longer around. I assumed His silence in my life to be equivalent to absence. Nothing could be farther away from the truth. It took me a little while to understand this. In life you will have seasons when God will say absolutely nothing and Christ for some reason chooses to remain inconspicuous. But that does not mean He has left us. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Trust is Intangible

For me to trust Christ was to hear Christ. For the first time in my life, I have been called upon to wade the waters of life without having the luxury of hearing His voice. I’m expected to trust the person of Jesus and expect Him to follow through on His word, even if I haven’t heard Him personally. We believe in an invisible and sometimes an intangible God who expects us to walk independent of our physical senses. Trust does not need evidence or confirmations and signs. It just believes in the person of Christ and in who He is.

When doubt and fear crowded my mind, trust screamed louder, “He is good all the time and He will come through for you.”

I will stop here for now, I hope this post has helped you in some way. Don’t give up on God. He is nearer than you know.