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The Silence of God

by David A. DePra

     If you have walked with God for any length of time, you
will experience times when no matter how hard you pray,
God is silent. He just doesn't answer. And there is no
indication that He ever will.
     Why does God do this? Hasn't He promised to answer
prayer? Doesn't He know how much we need Him? Is
there something you ought to be doing to get God to respond
to you?
     The first thing it helps to realize is that the silence of God
in the life of a Christian is normal. Yep. It's the way God
works. That's because He wants us to walk by faith, and
not by sight.
     There is another, more important reason, however, for God's
silence. Often, when we seek God for answers, we are not
in the spiritual condition necessary to receive the answer. So
God waits until we BECOME, in order that we might
understand. Then He can answer us. We'll be ready to
receive it.
      We need to see that in the trials and problems of life,
our greatest need is usually NOT information. It will do us
little good if God merely gave us "the facts." We'd either
completely misunderstand the Truth, or it would actually do
us harm. Only if we abide in the silence of God by faith will
we develope the spiritual characteristics necessary to hear
God's answer. This may mean much suffering and conviction.
But by the time we pass through the silence of God, we will
have experienced a new birth.
     Jesus said that when a woman is in travail, her focus is
upon her pain. That's normal. But when the child is born,
she forgets her pain because of the wonderful little one
God has given her. He then said, "In that day, you will ask Me
no question." Jesus was not telling us that it is wrong to
seek God for answers and explanations. No. God wants us
to do this. But He is saying that when God's answer is His
silence, and He leaves you to suffer, then it is because there
is a birth taking place. And when the birth comes forth, you
will have no questions. That's because you will see
HIM. Every question is satisfied when we see Jesus Christ.
     God is never indifferent to our prayers or to our problems.
Neither is He sitting in heaven waiting for us to do something
before He'll hear us. If the silence of God comes as His
answer to us, then we can be sure that it is just as wonderful
an answer as would be a tremendous sign or wonder. To
BECOME God's answer is more eternal than merely hearing it.

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