Haven’t we all felt that? Times when we’ve clearly asked God something and we hear nothing in response. Sometimes for years. I often find myself bemoaning why God can’t be more intentional about telling us what he wants us to know.
I’ll address why my thinking is way off base in a moment, but first the petty background for this post.
I’m writing this on the Monday before it goes live on Facebook and through my email list. Nearly 100% of the time, I have the post written 4-5 days before it’s due.
You’ve also heard me talk about how faithful God has been for years, giving me topics stretching all the way back to my personal blog in February 2018. That’s nearly FOUR years ago. Every week of this ministry blog, God has consistently and clearly given me topic ideas, titles, content, scripture texts and even images.
I’ve been in awe of that every single week and even wrote about it nearly three years ago. Check out “My Writing ‘Partner’” post here if you want more details.
Last week I sat down in this same office chair with not one, but two topic ideas It’s not the first time God has given me multiple ideas and he always helps me know which one to use. We’ve got a great little gig going here, God and me!
The first idea was similar to an earlier post a year or so ago, so I abandoned that idea. Wonderful. God just narrowed it down for me. I started writing on the second idea and got about two paragraphs into it and then…absolutely nothing. Even those paragraphs didn’t feel right. I prayed – again – that God would give me HIS words for this post and then got…absolutely nothing.
Okay, fine. I’ll take a break. Apparently, this isn’t the post, or this isn’t the right timing. I’ll just patiently, but expectantly wait for him to drop that magic idea into my head. It was only Wednesday. I had plenty of time. He hasn’t failed me yet. Never a writer’s block.
You probably know where I’m headed with this. Days passed and I started looking a little more desperately for a topic. Oh, is THIS a thought from God? What about this devotional? What about this statement in Sunday’s sermon? What about a dog story? Or a one-foot-snow-dump story? Anything there? Nope.
As I turned the corner from my Sunday night football viewing, I realized that God was likely NOT giving me an idea this week. What to do with that?
Here’s the petty part of this story background: It’s not really that big a deal if God doesn’t divinely provide a blog topic on my schedule. But it speaks into just how we handle those times when God seems so silent. That is the question I had to ask myself. Here’s what I learned during this silence:
- Unanswered prayers never mean God isn’t still actively engaged in our lives. Gratefully, I didn’t feel that God had left me high and dry, and had moved on to someone else’s needs. No, I know with complete certainty that he’s fully engaged in my life during this time of waiting.
- This time of “silence” doesn’t mean he’s forever shut down. I fully expect that God will continue to provide me with topics that speak directly to those who need that particular message. I’ve seen it too many times to give up on that with one quiet week.
- Waiting on God builds our faith and our character. Granted, this is NOT a major life event that I was waiting on for resolution. It’s one blog post. But the lesson is no less true. We can shake our fist at God and demand to know what he’s up to. Or we can humbly trust the God that created us and loves us deeply. And then look to see how he wants to grow us through this season.
- God has specific reasons for his silence. Perhaps it’s the character building I mentioned in the last bullet. But so often, in retrospect, we see that God had myriad reasons for remaining silent and changing the course WE wanted to take. Often it makes SO much sense now! Although not always.
If I had to boil this all down into one statement, it would be this: I trust my sovereign and merciful God to bring exactly what I need into my life, when I need it, and to ultimately use it for my good or that of others. No, I don’t always nail this, but it is the desire of my heart.
So back to that angry fist at God. I’m not saying that we can never be angry at God. Of course, he can handle our anger and won’t punish us simply because we lose it every now and then.
But the deeper issue is how much do we trust this sovereign God? When the waiting feels endless. When the answer you eventually get isn’t what you wanted. Or even feels punitive. When nothing about God’s silence OR answers makes any sense to you. Where does that leave you?
It’s something we ALL must come to terms with. Can you let go of your dreams, your expectations, your control, your agenda, your schedule? The only times I’ve come remotely close to achieving that is when I’ve reached the utter end of myself. When it seems I have no other option but to humbly place every aspect of my life back into God’s hands.
I pray God helps us all to trust him more and more through our times of silent waiting and trials.
So, do you see what God just did here? He gave me a blog post.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
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