Sorry I’m a little late with the last post in our 4 part series about those times in our lives when God is silent.
Sometimes He’s silent because our lives are loud. Sometimes He silent because He is testing us. Sometimes God is silent because He is getting ready to reveal a deeper more intimate knowledge of Himself or bless us in a way that is exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think.
But sometimes God is silent and we have NO IDEA WHY. That’s what happened to Job.
He was just going about his business, being a righteous man, loving the Lord praying for his kids…when all of a sudden his world caved in on him. In one day, he lost his camels, his sheep, his donkeys, his oxen and his kids…ALL OF THEM. And then Job’s friends came around wondering what kind of secret sin Job had going on because things like that NEVER happen to someone who is living for the Lord. Right?
But Job wasn’t going through all of that because he was unrighteous…in fact, the opposite is true…it was because of his righteousness that he was suffering such tragedy.
As he sat is dust and ashes with boils covering his body he began crying out to God, wondering where He was. Listen to his heart’s cry…
Job 9:16-18, “And even if I summoned him and he responded, I’m not sure he would listen to me. 17 For he attacks me with a storm and repeatedly wounds me without cause. He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.?”
Job 23:3-4, “If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his court. 4 I would lay out my case and present my arguments.”
Job 23:8-10, “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. 9 I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed. 10 “But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.”
Job 30:20, “I cry to You, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before You, but You don’t even look.”
Job was experiencing a serious season of silence from God and he was having a really hard time dealing with it. I think we would too! Job started blaming God for what he was going through…feeling like God was far from Him…crying out to God, but God was silent.
Did God even see him? Did God care?
But in all of Job’s questioning, crying and complaining, the Bible say, he maintained his integrity.
Job 27:3-5, “Job said, ‘As long as I live, while I have my breath from God, my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies…til I die I will not put away my integrity from me.’”
Remember, it was Job who even said, “Though He slay me, yet shall I praise Him.”
Job is the ultimate example of a serious season of silence. He suffered unimaginable loss and unbearable pain…and He cried out to God to show up and intervene, yet God was silent.
He didn’t know why. To Job, it didn’t make sense. He was a righteous man. Why would God allow him to go through such terrible things?!
He kept crying out, but nothing!
Then, suddenly from Job 38-41 we see God breaking the silence with a reminder that God is in heaven and He does what He chooses. Even when we don’t understand.
Job finally dealt with some issues and God restored to Job double what he had lost.
Although Job was never told why he went through all that he did…or why he had to suffer through an excruciating season of silence from God, he went through that trial broken but holding onto his integrity…trusting God to be good even through his circumstances were bad.
Ladies, we don’t always get to know why we go through what we do. We don’t always understand the seasons of silence we experience, but we assured by the Word of God and the character of God that His silence never equals His absence…neither does it equal His inactivity.
You see, you are the apple of His eye, inscribed upon the palm of His hand, He knows the number of hairs on your head and the thoughts of your heart, He will never leave you, He will never forsake you, you are forever His and He is forever your God.
Don’t you dare give up! God’s silence does not mean He is inactive or absent. Keep trusting God even when you He is silent…He is working behind the scenes of your life, making something beautiful out of the broken pieces of your life.
Are you going through a season of silence?
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