"When God Is Silent" 

Psalm 109:1 "Do not keep silent, O God of my praise!"

God's silence is one of the most powerful things you can ever experience. God's silence is deafening. God has been silent. For the 400 years leading up to the birth of Christ, God did not speak to man. That, in and of itself, screams at me.  Silence is powerful and often speaks volumes. Silence can be a spiritual discipline. God asks us to be quiet, to be still, and in doing so, to know Him.

There is a reason the words peace and quiet are used together. Abortion is graphically described as the "silent scream". At the end of the 31st chapter of Job, it says "The words of Job are ended"... and he had a lot to say. Let me share a story from one of my study bibles. "During World War II, a young Jewish girl in the Warsaw ghetto of Poland managed to escape and hide in a cave. Tragically, she died shortly before the Allied Army liberated the prisoners. But before she died, she scratched some very powerful words on the wall, "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. And I believe in God even when he is silent."

Her last statement comes very close to describing the kind of challenges Job faced and we sometimes face today. When hearing no word from God, Job, endured his most incredible suffering. Silence is a prominent theme in the book of Job. Job had nothing left to say. His three friends were finally silent too... and God was silent. Just like the Psalmist feared. Just like we should fear. Sometimes in the silence, we can learn so much.

Quietly,
Pastor Fred