Silence. A subject that’s been on my mind lately. Sometimes it just seems that silence is all you hear when you’re listening for God’s voice. Just when you feel like you need it the most, you can’t get any sense from God of what direction you’re supposed to take. You feel like you need to change something, move somewhere, do anything! But there’s no prompting, and that still, small voice might as well be inaudible. It can be so frustrating. And if you let it get to you, it can get you down.
Judging by some of his Psalms, David had a fair few of those moments – ‘Hear my cry, oh God! Attend unto my prayer!’, aka ‘Hello?!! Is anybody listening?!’ But even from his darkest moments, David always comes back to praising God. He sings of God’s goodness and mercy. He reminds himself of who God is and what He has done. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits! – Ps 103:2
Sometimes, when I begin to worship, I feel nothing. And so it seems useless, almost fake somehow. That’s when I know I need to press forward and keep worshiping. Think about this: the harder you have to push, the greater the breakthrough will be. We’re not called overcomers for nothing! We have to overcome our feelings, or lack thereof, and just worship God. Remember that God loves to hear the praises of His people and that He won’t turn away a genuine heart of worship.
As frustrating as it can be to feel like God is not saying anything, know that God is never really silent because His word continues to speak. Here is my favourite scripture for this moment: ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.’ – Heb 10;23 The Amplified Bible says ‘for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.’ Awesome. God is going to do what He said He would do.
In the silence we need to keep trusting God, and the faith that we need to keep walking and keep trusting comes by hearing God’s word – Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. – Rom 10:17. Grab hold of some scriptures and meditate on them. Build your spirit up with the word of God and tell your mind what’s what. When you’re feeling defeated, remind yourself that God has given us the victory (1 Cor 15:57). If you’re feeling alone remind yourself that God is with us (Matt 1:23) and that He will never forsake us (Heb 13:5).
Janna Mercedes 