Echoes of silence

Psalms 29:4 

The voice of the lord is powerful; the voice of he lord is full of majesty. 

I love those times in my Christian walk where God's voice can be clearly heard and understood. Those times when a lightning strike couldn't be more clear than the voice inside me. When the Holy Spirit can be felt working through and around me. When God is present and with me and his voice can be heard in my very soul. His voice is powerful, it carries all the authority that He should have and yet all the tenderness and love of a caring father. Holy, and yet intimate, powerful, yet gentle, authoritative, yet loving. Our need for his voice and his presence, and his guiding is our hearts cry for something deeper than ourselves something of more value, something to fill that empty space inside. We love to hear god's voice. In those times when God can be clearly heard and seen working in and through you, are the times of most joy in a Christians life. But, they are not the times when we learn the most. 

Ecclesiastes 3:7b 

...a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. 

There is a time for everything as this whole chapter in Ecclesiastes says. Including a time to speak and a time to be silent. There are some times in your life where God has chosen to be silent, chosen mind you, he has chosen to keep silent for the good of us so that we can learn to live in him even when it's hard. The teacher is always silent during the test, and why is that? Because God wants us to take what we know of him and put it into practice. When a teacher talks it means that you have something to lear, when a test is given and the teacher stays silent then that means that the teacher trusts you enough and trusts that you have learned the lessons well enough that you, at that point in time, no longer need to be taught that lesson. God is silent  out to torment us with his absence,he is silent because he knows and trusts us enough to let us put the lessons we have learned into practice. When God is silent our faith becomes less about feeling, and more about loving. When he chooses to be silent it means that he is trying to shape us and mold us not into beings enslaved to his every whim, but beings created individually, with purpose in this dark world, serving him, loving him, freely and openly without being made to. One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the ability to think for ourselves, and he will not take that away, even if sometimes we wish he would. But how do we get through those time? How do we keep going when the thing which drives us is silent? How do we continue to be lights in this world when it seems that the light of the world has stopped loving in us? That answer is simple. 

Isaiah 41:10

Fear thou not; for I am with thee:

be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee;

yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Even when God is silent, and his voice cannot be heard, we can still read his thoughts. When his voice cannot be heard then that is when the scriptures come alive with hope and promise. When God feels far, turn to his holy word, his word, the words that he has written down, the words that are straight from his mouth. In the scriptures are the promises that God has made us, promises to keep us and not forsake us. Promises to never ever leave us, because though we walk in silence, we do not walk alone. Promises to be our God and to carry our burdens, even when we ourselves have made the burden. Promises to strengthen us and help us, even in the days when our strength fails for the multitude of tribulations round about, even then his mercy and grace are sufficient enough, and his strength lives in us and he will empower us for everything that we need. Promises to uphold us, to lift us up when we are down, to lift us with his right hand and set us at his feet to rest. So If you are at that point where God seems silent and you don't know what to do, remember this. God will never let you walk alone even if you walk in silence, God will never leave you. He is still God no matter what. He will strengthen and help you in your time of trouble. He will uphold you even when your burdens are heavy. He is God, and his promises are always. 

“I walked a mile with Pleasure;

She chatted all the way;

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow;

And ne’er a word said she;

But, oh! The things I learned from her,

When Sorrow walked with me.”

― Robert Browning Hamilton 

Hear the echoes of silence and let that silence be a call to your heart to love God all the more. 

Isaiah 46:9

Remember the former things of old:

for I am God, and there is none else;

I am God, and there is none like me,