O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1
Don’t we all wish God would just come out and say what he wants to say? At least then we could try to do what he wants us to do. Here’s a crazy thought: what if it’s not about you having to do something for God? What if God isn’t like a project manager who assigns tasks to people? What if he is actually after you? That changes things, doesn’t it?
Liz Ditty puts it well when she writes,“God’s voices can definitely be hard to recognize if you expect them to sound a certain way.” If we expect a list of tasks from heaven and instead receive silence, we freak out or we doubt that God is even there. Ultimately, what does God get out of his relationship with you? It is not what you get done; he is fully capable of getting things done without you. It is you that he gets. God isn’t a cosmic killjoy; he is a good father who is pacing his fatherly training. He uses seasons of waiting and silence and the changing of your desire to teach you new things.
Here’s another crazy thought: what if seasons of waiting and silence were a sign that you are maturing? It’s like the training wheels are off. Sometimes silence is God’s way of letting you ride without training wheels. God is not a helicopter parent who swoops in to fix everything. He wants to teach us to ride free in his kingdom. Am I saying that God doesn’t speak to the mature? Not at all! When you trust God’s intent to guide you into his loving best for you, you begin to see even waiting and silence as his voice.
So, what now? How do you move ahead when God seems silent? Do what you already know. The scriptures are full of explicit instructions that stand as an ongoing agenda for a person trying to live in the way of Jesus. Things like, “love your neighbor as yourself” and “forgive one another” and “do not worry.” Today, purpose to do one of these examples.
By Aaron Bjorklund
