Heart Tracks - The Silence

"When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence in heaven for about half and hour." Revelation 8:1

I write a great deal on how God speaks to us, and it's a wonderful blessing and honor He bestows that He does. Yet how do we look at things when He doesn't speak? What do we do, and how do we respond when God is silent?

So much in our lives turns out to be something much less than we expected, hoped and believed for. Marriage, or the lack of one. Our careers, our children, our ministries...our dreams. We were told that "God has a wonderful plan for your life," but where we're at isn't wonderful at all. We hear sermons telling us that God has given us a beautiful destiny, but how could where were at be it? We hear that in Christ there is abundant life, but our lives seem anything but abundant. Need is everywhere, but everywhere, God is silent. He doesn't answer. He doesn't speak. Has He left us alone....on our own? Satan will scream that He has. Yet in His silence, He isn't truly silent. He gives us the whisper of His grace.

Scripture tells us that we're to "come boldly before the throne of grace." The blood of Christ give us free access to the Father. Yet the Father doesn't seem to be in His throne room at all. The seat of His Majesty appears vacant. We are overwhelmed by our need, and have come to Him for help, for answers.....but He's not there. At least not in relation to our natural senses. The only response to our pain is....His silence. But is He really silent?

The mystics of earlier times, times when the Body of Christ didn't depend upon their own reasoning, understanding, and logical thought processes, spoke of "practicing His Presence." They meant that the believer had to cultivate His Presence, learn ever more of Him, go ever deeper into Him. In this, their discernment of Him would grow. They would become more and more in tune with the beat of His heart. They would know more of His mind as they took on, increasingly, the mind of Christ. The spiritual reaping in all of this would be immense, but perhaps the greatest blessing would be the steadfast assurance of His presence. A presence that didn't need a feeling to go along with it, or even words to be spoken in it. They had come to know He was there, with them, moving, working, despite the absence of all external "proof." He may seem silent, as we define it, but not as He does. Through His very promised presence with us, He speaks. And in that, we are assured.

I read somewhere the question, "Can He trust you with His silence?" That is a deep trust. He gives it only to those who have journeyed deeply into His Life, and have come to the place of trust, obedience, and restful peace. A peace that cannot be shattered by all the earthquakes of this world. He may withhold His words, but He will not withhold His presence. In His presence, the whisper of His grace speaks....and we hear.

Does He seem silent in your life today? Are you in the midst of the unexpected, the unwanted, the unknown? You seek answers, but there are none coming from Him. You ask that He talk, but He asks, through His silence, that you trust. Trust that He is who He says He is, and will work for your good and His glory as He said He would. In His lack of words, He gives you the abundance of Himself. And that which overwhelms you, is overwhelmed by Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O