God is a consuming fire. An entity whose presence can be felt tangibly and at moments elusively. God’s mysterious nature is part of what drew me to building a relationship with Him. The mystery of His kingdom is what I’ve sought to discover and what encouraged me to share my experiences here.
I’ve been in awe of the juxtaposition of God’s traits. I’ve been in awe of how God is a consuming fire and living water (Hebrews 12:29, John 7:38), a great teacher and great listener (John 13:14, Psalm 102:17, Psalm 34:17), a parent and friend (Luke 11:2, John 15:13-14), and more. I’ve been in awe at how His traits intertwine. I’ve been in awe of how we view God’s traits in particular seasons of our lives. In this season, I’ve contemplated how God has felt so near one season and distant the next. I’ve contemplated how I could hear his voice so loud one season yet it’s barely been a whisper during this current season of my life.
Maybe you’re like me. You’ve in a season where your relationship with God no longer feels like He’s nearby and you’ve thought, why is God silent with me?
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27 (ESV)
We’ve not grown so distant from God that He’s decided to stop speaking to us altogether. God indeed is always speaking (Job 33:14), and as God’s children, we can always hear Him. One thing God’s shown me during this season is that I haven’t been actively listening. God has felt silent because of this and as His juxtaposition of a teacher and a friend come into play, He’s used this to also grow my faith. If God seems silent to you now, He may be using it to grow your faith. Apostle Paul puts it this way:
“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready, for you are still of the flesh.”
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (ESV)
First, God may seem silent because He’s convicting you of the things standing in the way of hearing Him.
How do you spend your day? On my better days, I read or study God’s word when I first wake up in the morning or before bed in the evening. On those days, I’ll then spend time scrolling through my phone. The day picks up when my professional priorities garner almost all of my attention. By the time evening rolls around, I may or may not have squeezed in a prayer or two. That is, on my better days, I’ve barely spent time with God. On my not-so-good days, I go about them almost forgetting that He’s right alongside me (Psalm 16:18). How can I hear Him when He calls and I don’t answer, when He texts and I have Him muted, when He shows up and I ignore? My distractions have drowned out the voice of God. He’s grown my faith in this space by teaching me that He won’t look, sound, or show up a certain way each season or each day. This is part of His mystery.
But, He wants our relationship to always be growing instead of remaining stagnant (2 Corinthians 3:18). He’s teaching me that my responsibilities, circumstances, and priorities will vary throughout my life, but my number one priority is to keep Him at the center of them. God is everywhere (Proverbs 15:3), and with the ever changing seasons of our lives, we can miss Him if we don’t actively listen. How? We prioritize Him over all.
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Matthew 22:37 (NKJV)
Second, God may seem silent because an idol has taken His place. The greatest commandment is to love God with all of our hearts but as for me, a new idol crept in. I love technology and at any second of the day, you could find me on my phone or computer. I can scroll for hours instead of wanting to read God’s word which is the number one way to hear from Him. God is seemingly silent in this season, because I’m too busy hearing what everyone else has to say. I haven’t prioritized hearing directly from Him so I’ve been missing the various ways He’s chosen to reveal Himself through His word and throughout my day. I haven’t had the posture to receive Him communicating to me. It’s partly because of the distractions, partly because of what I’ve placed over Him, and partly because of the strain in my relationship with Him.
Third, God may seem silent because there’s a hindrance to your relationship with Him.
The start of this year was extremely tough as you know. I grew distant from God because of the resentment, disappointment, and anger harboring in my heart towards Him. God seems silent, because at moments, I find myself not wanting to hear from Him because of the negative feelings I’ve felt towards Him. I also found myself not wanting to communicate that to Him. Thankfully, I serve a God whose not shy to call me out for those things I’m hiding from Him, who can handle every emotion I feel towards Him, who is loving enough to cover me and embrace me even when I don’t feel like being in His presence, who is thoughtful enough to have an entire book of examples of other individuals who have felt the same way I do and can assist me in how to move forward, who is thoughtful enough to answer my prayer for a community whether big or small, and who meets me where I’m at and doesn’t expect me to be strong enough to receive Him or put on a show to have a relationship with Him. Thankfully, I serve a God who is my Heavenly Father, and in His parenting, He’s softly guided me back towards Him through prayer, fasting, and reading His word.
If this is you, I encourage you to address your pain to God. In this space, God has grown my faith by showing me that He loves me no matter what. He loves me fully even when I feel like I’ve fallen short of His love or grace.
Why is God silent with me? God isn’t silent and He loves to communicate with His children (Matthew 28:20, John 8:47). He seems silent when the distractions get in the way, when we prioritize things or people above Him, when we have a lack of willingness to communicate our pain or frustrations to Him, when we harden our hearts to Him by not seeking Him or following His word. He’s grown my faith by showing me that He’s not silent, but He’s patient. He patiently waits for us to acknowledge those things that separate us from Him. He patiently loves us as we wrestle out what it means to follow Him. He patiently guides us in our faith. He patiently develops us to become mature Christians and expand our understanding of Him.
God uses every moment of our lives to perfect our faith and work out His good plan for us. He patiently waits for us to come to Him, to hear Him, and to seek Him. Remove the distractions, pray and fast against the idol(s), and tell Him this week, I’m listening.
Sincerely,
Anne
I’d love to hear your thoughts:
What are other reasons you think God may seem silent in a believer’s life?
Scripture to meditate on this week:
Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
1 Samuel 3:9 (ESV)
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Hebrews 5:12-14 (ESV)
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
Other posts about God speaking and listening that you might find interest in:
Daughter in Waiting Ministry 
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