Why is God silent when I need to hear from Him?

David struggled with this in Psalm 102:1-2 (GW)  O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry for help come to you. [2] Do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble.   Turn your ear toward me.  Answer me quickly when I call.

God has a plan for your life as stated in Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. God is passionately pursuing a relationship with you.

To enable your growth, God allows a series of tests to come into your life.  His process involves divine activity that allows pain. Then God will create mystery in your life bringing on perplexity.  This brings you into a search mode…you are searching for answers.  During the period of perplexity, God uses different tools. In our life, God has used 7 different tools.

1. Drought…He will dry up resources or health
2. Isolation…He will place you in a position where you have no one except Him
3. Removal…He will remove you from a ministry position
4. Darkness…He will cause you to not be able to see where you are or where you are going
5. Complexity…He will allow multiple problems to hit at one time
6. Attack…He will allow others to attack your character
7. Silence…He will lift His manifest presence from your life.

The process is beautifully illustrated in Song of Songs. In this love story, the groom is Jesus and the bride is the church or the individual Christian. In Song 1:15-16 (NKJV) The groom says, ‘Behold, you are beautiful, my love!  Behold, you are beautiful!’ [16] The bride responds, ‘Behold, you are handsome, my beloved!’

In Song 2:3-6 (NKJV)  The bride says, ‘I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. [4] He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. [5] He sustains me with cakes of raisins, He refresh me with apples, for I am lovesick. [6] His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.’  At this early point in the relationship, the bride sees  the groom only as a means to her happiness.  This is the way many new believers see Jesus.  Their attitude is ‘I love being loved by Jesus.’  But Jesus knows that He has so much more for her.  So, in Song 2:10 (NKJV)  The groom speaks and says, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’  He challenges her to come away with Him…to leave the comfort zone.  Jesus asks twice for her to join Him in the journey. Remember, the bride is symbolic of you as a Christian.  She refuses to join Him…she says, ‘No…I love these raisin cakes and I love this shade…I just love being loved by you!’

At this point, the processing begins…He allows pain and perplexity to enter her life.  Song 3:1-3 (NKJV)  She says, ‘By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought him, but I did not find him.  [2] “I will rise now,” I said, “And go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love.” I sought him, but I did not find him.  [3] The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, “Have you seen the one I love?”

Jesus has removed His manifest presence in her life.  She can’t feel Him, she can’t hear Him, she can’t sense Him.  This is the dark night of the soul.

Why?  There are three practical reasons:

1. Self examination…when God is silent, we automatically ask, ‘What did I do wrong?’  God will pinpoint the problem if there is a sin.
2. Clean out the clutter…when you can’t hear, you shut off the tv, tune out people, and you listen to Him.  Sometimes, we just need to get the clutter out of our life.
3. Intensity…it is like when E.F. Hutton speaks….you focus your listening skills.

But what is God’s chief reason for allowing silence to come:

Song 4:9 (NKJV)  ‘You have ravished my heart, my spouse; You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace.’ God is so in love with you that He wants your undivided attention.  Jesus is overwhelmed with His bride…that is you as a believer!  Wow.  You are the one He delights in.  He wants you to join Him in the journey of life…full of hope and dreams fulfilled and peace! 

Today…tell Jesus that your flesh is weak but your spirit is willing to join Him in the greatest journey of life.

 

Week one of filming of ‘Dangerous Calling’ is completed.  We are very tired…10 to 18 hours a day since Monday.  The purpose of the movie is to show that the church is to reach out beyond our comfort zone to reach people different than us.  It shows the difference between people who have a form of godliness who are not real and those who have a genuine relationship with God.  We have had a lot of spiritual warfare this week…the enemy does not want this message to go out.  We have some great footage so far…but there are things going on in the spiritual realm that are far more important than a movie!  We need your prayers.    Pray for the crew, most of whom we didn’t know when this project started on Monday.  All of them are working hard, with only a promise of pay…if the movie sells.  Pray as  we seek to build relationships with these people.  Pray for Josh and Jeremiah, the directors and writers of the script.

Thank you for your prayers.

We love yall,

Billy and Sheilah Daws