By Kimberly Davidson
In times of distress or loss, do you feel closer to God? Might you feel He has abandoned you? Perhaps you get so depressed you don’t even think about God or church? It’s human nature to walk by feelings versus faith. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said” (1 Kings 19:4). “He” is the great prophet Elijah—the one who performed miracles. Yet even Elijah experienced profound sorrow and darkness in his soul.
Termed “the dark night of the soul,” great believers have experienced bouts of agonizing doubt in God. It is a phrase that describes a time when God seems distant, when our soul seems lost, and when we’re convinced God has abandoned us. Our Christian forefathers called it “spiritual desertion.” O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble (Psalm 10:1)?
Brennan Manning once said, “Most of the time my prayer consists in experiencing the absence of God.” Most people agree, God’s silence can be far worse than getting a no answer. In Matthew 15 we meet a Canaanite woman who came to Jesus, crying out, “’Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.’ Jesus did not answer a word …” (22-23). Despite Jesus’s silence, the woman persisted. In the end, Jesus granted her prayer request (v. 28).
Job wept, “I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before you, but you don’t even look” (Job 30:20). What did we learn from Job? Silence from God does not mean “no.” Sometimes the silences are God’s way of preparing us for a deeper blessing. Psalm 10:17 says, “You hear, O Lord … and you listen to their cry.”
God’s silence is a matter of perspective. And it just may be us! Let’s not overlook that God speaks to us through not just through His Word, but also the church and, yes, the world. We could be missing His voice. Randy Alcorn wrote in an article titled “When God Seems Silent,”
“Trusting God when we don’t hear Him ultimately strengthens and purifies us. If our faith is based on lack of struggle and affliction, and lack of doubt and questions, that’s a foundation of sand. Token faith will not survive the dark night of the soul. When we think God is silent or absent, He may show us that our faith is superficial. Upon its ruin, we can learn to rebuild on God our Rock, the only foundation that can bear the weight of our trust.”
Consider that when God feels silent, we can learn to love and trust Him regardless. God’s Word promises, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13; NASB) … “he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
