When God Is Silent
"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me." — Psalm 28:1
The Silence That Comes in Crisis
There are times when we most desperately need to hear from God, and He seems to stop speaking altogether.
This frequently happens in the middle of a crisis — which feels like the cruelest possible timing, and which is precisely when it is most likely to occur.
Two reasons emerge, and both are worth knowing before you need them.
The First Reason: He Is Drawing You
Often the Lord remains silent because He wants to stimulate us to seek Him more diligently.
The Psalms are full of this. Over and over David cries out in desperation and has to wait for an answer.
"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." (Psalm 28:1)
"How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" (Psalm 13:1)
The Lord is always drawing us into a closer relationship with Him. Many times He holds back an answer because He wants us to seek Him more earnestly.
That is not manipulation. It is a father who could answer from the next room and instead waits at the door, so that the child comes all the way to him.
The Second Reason: Your Own Emotions
The second reason is less often taught and enormously freeing.
One believer went through a situation that caused her great grief. She sought the Lord earnestly and heard nothing at all until the whole thing was resolved. She was not in rebellion — her prayer throughout was "Father, thy will be done, I accept it whatever it is."
Afterward, the Lord showed her what had happened: her emotions were so intense that they blocked her from hearing Him.
She asked what she could do to prevent it happening again.
His answer: "You cannot do anything. You cannot control your emotions. I just want you to ask Me, and I will take care of them for you."
How simple that is — and how few of us have ever thought to ask.
What This Means Practically
If you are in an intensely emotional situation and cannot seem to hear the Lord, it may well be one of these two reasons rather than sin, distance, or divine indifference.
And notice the remedy offered for the second: ask Him to handle your emotions. Not suppress them, not manufacture calm, not pretend you are fine. Ask Him to take care of them for you.
Most of us have spent years trying to manage our emotions ourselves in order to hear God, when the instruction was simply to hand them over.
Point to Ponder
A father who could answer from the next room sometimes waits at the door, so the child comes all the way to him.
Verse to Remember
"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me." — Psalm 28:1
Question to Consider
Is God silent because He is drawing me closer, or because my own emotions are in the way?
Today's Practice
If you are in a season of silence, work through it deliberately rather than despairing.
First, check for sin. The earlier lessons dealt with this — a quenched Spirit does go quiet. Ask God to search you, and deal with whatever He shows. But do not assume this is the cause simply because it is the first thing that occurs to you.
Second, consider whether He is drawing you. If nothing is exposed, take the silence as an invitation rather than a verdict. Seek Him harder, not less. Read the Psalms of complaint — 13, 22, 28, 42, 88 — and pray them as your own.
Third, hand over your emotions. Pray this specifically:
"Father, my emotions in this situation are so intense that I think they are blocking me. I cannot control them and I have stopped trying. I am asking You to take care of them for me."
Then wait. Do not force anything, and do not manufacture a word you did not receive.
Keep seeking Him daily through the silence. It ends.
Prayer
Father, I need to hear from You and I am hearing nothing, and it has been a long time.
Search me first. If I have quenched You by ignoring what You already said, show me, and I will deal with it today.
But if there is nothing there — then I will take Your silence as You drawing me rather than leaving me. I will seek You harder rather than give up.
And Father, my emotions in this are overwhelming. I have tried to manage them in order to hear You and I cannot. You said I could not, and that I should simply ask.
So I am asking. Take care of my emotions for me. Quiet what I cannot quiet.
Be not silent to me, O Lord my rock. And until You speak, I will keep coming. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"You cannot control your emotions. Just ask Me, and I will take care of them for you."