When God is Silent
Psalms
10:1-18
The genius physicist Albert Einstein reportedly enjoyed explaining and summarizing all his students’ questions like scientific formulas.
One student asked him about success. He wrote the formula for success in life on the blackboard: S = X + Y + Z. He explained that S, of course, meant success in life, X meant work, and Y meant rest.
When asked, “What is Z?”, Einstein replied that Z was silence. He meant that to have a successful life, while working hard and resting are important, it’s also crucial to know when to be silent.
Even though silence might seem like nothing, the act of being silent itself signifies that something important is happening. When God is silent, we feel as if God is absent or ignoring us in our suffering.
David also expresses his frustration, saying, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1). Honestly, God’s silence is indeed difficult for us.
Normally, there are no major problems. However, when we face situations and events that are truly incomprehensible, and even after crying out to God in prayer, God remains silent, it is very difficult. Sometimes, it feels like God is a bystander, simply observing us.
The psalmist expresses the same sentiment. He prays to God, who remains silent while enemies are making noise, those who hate the Lord are running rampant, and God’s people are suffering. “Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the afflicted.” (Psalm 10:12)
“O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere mortals may no longer strike terror.” (Psalm 10:18)
Accepting God’s silence is not easy. But we must accept God’s silence.
In what sense should we accept it? We should accept it as a time when God is shaping us. God is speaking more through that silence. We must realize this.
God’s silence is a time that reveals the true faith and the reality of our hearts, hidden within us, allowing us to examine our faith that was dependent on material things, health, power, and other circumstances. It refines our faith like pure gold and allows us to stand on our own.
Just as parents let go of their child’s hand while they are learning to ride a bicycle, allowing them to ride on their own, God silently waits for us to be able to stand on our own. It is a time to grow into a person of greater faith, without feeling anxious.
God remained silent towards Elijah, who had cowardly fled and collapsed under a broom tree, crying out, “Kill me!” God did not say a single word to him.
Instead, God quietly comforted Elijah and fed him. Through God’s silence, Elijah heard God’s powerful message of comfort. What was the message that God’s silence conveyed?
It was the message, “I deeply understand your pain and weakness.” It was also the message, “I love you unconditionally.” There are stories in the world that illustrate this principle. This is the story of Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Helen Keller was a child trapped in a “prison of the soul,” suffering from the triple affliction of being unable to see, hear, or speak.
Even her family had given up on her, but then her teacher, Anne Sullivan, came into her life. Anne Sullivan didn’t simply pray for Helen, asking God to “let her see, let her hear.”
Instead, she took Helen’s hand, led her to a water pump, and let her feel the cold water, beginning a long and arduous struggle, repeatedly writing the word “w-a-t-e-r” on her palm.
They began to remove the single small stone that was the only barrier connecting this soul trapped in darkness to the world. The moment Helen understood the reality of water and the word for it at the water pump, the door to her tomb opened, and a miracle began.
Anne Sullivan didn’t simply grant Helen’s “wish.” She helped Helen connect with the world herself, removing the hardest stone of disbelief, the stone of “I am impossible,” and guiding her soul to stand strong.
God, why are you silent? But I know and believe that God will answer and fulfill His plan in His time and in His way. (Romans 8:28)
“Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the afflicted.” (Psalm 10:12)
O God, our Father,
At this time, let us hear
the “sound of God’s silence.”
Arise, O Lord,
Do not forget us, and show us mercy.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen
By Kenny Yi
