When God Is Silent

Can it be enough for us, if when the fulfillment of our expectations, our hopes, and our desires seem to have been put on hold, to just wait for Him?

Abraham experienced 13 years of God’s silence. Oswald Chambers wrote that Abraham’s thirteen years of silence were a time of discipline – not displeasure. If we allow it, there can be great growth in the silence. For Abraham it meant that he needed to come to an end of his self-sufficiency. Remember he and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands. God had promised a child, but they interfered and produced a child in a way they thought fit. Big mistake! This was not the child of promise. It’s possible that Abraham used those years of silence as a time of reflection, realizing that he got in the way of what God wanted to do for him. It was only after that, when God did speak again, the promise was fulfilled.

Abraham and Sarah couldn’t wait it out. In their anxiousness, they made something happen rather than trust that God would come through for them. Do we really want to do things our way by giving God a helping hand? How much better it would be if we could learn to be at peace in the silence and embrace it as an opportunity to return to simply taking pleasure in our relationship with Him. Perhaps it’s time to return to that time when it was only He that mattered. Nothing else.

God is the God of faithfulness – the God of Abraham.  Many of us believe that there is a great work to be done. We are anxious because we seem to be in a holding pattern - waiting for our marching orders. They are coming! Whether you are waiting for that job offer, a place to serve Him, or direction for your life, embrace the silence and recognize it for the opportunity it is. And while you are there, remember His faithfulness and rekindle the love that you first had for Him. Let that be all that you require.

Post from Simply Emma Laree, a relatable, honest, practical, and encouraging blog for college students desiring to seek Jesus in the every day.