Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? — Isaiah 64:12
My wife and I often laugh because it seems like our son never closes his mouth. Since he had his cochlear implants and started to hear, he has fallen in love with talking. He wants to talk to anyone and everyone. He can walk by a stranger and it’s almost guaranteed he will say hello. People often chuckle seeing this kid who has never met a stranger.
The issue is when he is silent. My wife and I often get worried when he stops talking. Most times, it’s short-lived. He will be silent while he is reading something or watching something. But sometimes, he gets quiet, and it’s odd. We get worried something might be wrong, or if he is not near us, we start looking for him.
That’s often how it goes for us in life in our relationship with God. There are times God will be silent. There are times He won’t feel as close to us as He did at other points in our walk of life. Usually, we react the same way my wife and I do with our son. We immediately start wondering if something is wrong.
We start asking God questions like “why” or “where are you?” We say things like, “how long can this go on?” Or perhaps we ask the question, God, how long are you going to be silent?! That’s certainly the place Isaiah writes from here. The question was, in essence, “God, are you going to do something?”
But sometimes God is silent. It is not that He doesn’t care. It’s not that He doesn’t love us. It’s that He is testing us, strengthening us, and preparing us. The times that God is silent in our lives can be some of the most challenging. But don’t doubt for one second that God cares, God loves, and He knows exactly where you are and what you are going through. There is a purpose to His silence.
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