Many in their devotions feel the presence of the Lord. At services The Holy Spirit can descend, and Christ Jesus speak to our minds and hearts. In private prayer The Pater (Father) may prognosticate to his pilgrims. But what of when God goes silent? When the charisma stops and the voice of the almighty is stilled? Worse what if his presence fades or perhaps you cannot access it due to stressors, tormentors, and life cares and worries? What as Christians are we to do when we feel separated from God’s voice and presence?
The answer is to carry on. To keep praying, seeking, worshipping, and reading Scripture. If God’s voice is quiet, then fill that quiet with praise and prayer. If you cannot feel His presence, then use that time to study the Holy Bible, memorize the verses when you hear not voice of God, for then you are hearing God, what He said in 66 Books, and thus fill the vacuum.
The moments of God’s silence and absence of his dynamic presence is when we need faith must, to trust that The Lord is with us even when we do not feel it. For Our Lord felt this absence and uneasy quiet, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Christ The Lord experienced that silence, and yet He was accomplishing salvation when He felt that quiet and absence we feel.
Some would say these silences and absences are tests of faith, as if God is measuring whither we will keep our wedding vows to Him when the passion is stilled and troubles fill our lives. That maybe. Others would say “who moved? It wasn’t God,” to say its you that has silenced God, perhaps with your anxiety, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:6-7), are the culprit, or maybe a sin has seared your conscious and made you feel unworthy of God’s voice and presence. Another school of thought is The Dark Night of the Soul, that times come when we must confront the darkest of demons and parts of our selves, and that requires God to step back to let you introspect and face those thorns before He steps in. All of these views may have merit, but what if its simpler? We are in marriage to The Lamb of God, and in marriage do you always communicate well? Statistics say the top two destroyers of marriages are bad communication and finances. So is it possible that we may simply having communication problems? That we may not be hearing our Lord right, ignoring words because of our issues? Perhaps The Lord has said something and you fail to perceive it due to rebellion in your heart, interference from dark powers, remember Daniel had an interruption, “Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come,” (Daniel 10:12-14), or perhaps God is answering with silence, wanting you to grow up and make some choices with wisdom you should already have from Scripture and his words unto you in the past?
The greater point is do not let God’s silence and the absence of our Lord’s presence be a sign to you of rejection. He said He will always be with us, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20), “Let your manner of living be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For He has said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5), and “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romand 8:31-39). Hold on to these Scriptures when you feel the silence deafening, and the lack of his presence agonizing. Those words will see you through the Night, and back to Sinai. Amen.
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