GodReflection:
He asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. John 19:9
The best I can determine, I am a wired optimist. However, I like to believe I am also a realist. Both bookends serve to keep my life from tumbling off the shelf. I find that in my information overload world, I am bombarded 24/7 with more bad news than my brain can possibly comprehend. Far too many times in this broken world I marvel with dismay that it all happens within Holy awareness.
From my human viewpoint I sympathize completely with the Psalmist who shouts out the question that echoes through the centuries when it may seem God is unaware:
God don’t shut me out; don’t give me the silent treatment, O God. Your enemies are out there whooping it up, the God-haters are living it up; they’re plotting to do your people in, conspiring to rob you of your precious ones. “Let’s wipe this nation from the face of the earth,” they say; “scratch Israel’s name off the books.” And now they’re putting their heads together, making plans to get rid of you (Psalms 83:1-5 from The Message).
When I pay too much attention to my pessimistic tendency the horizon darkens rather fast. We people can’t govern ourselves. Crime, anarchy, political rulers, war, and disease seem out of control. There are days when it seems as if The Creator is in observation mode rather that speaking out against the chaos.
I find it again and again as I walk through life. It happens so frequently that it should not come as a surprise. I am not too deep into my day before the road sign appears that reads TRUST. On my better days I know that God is in control and is at work for the ultimate good of the new creation.
My human limitation to understand the Holy and my lack of capacity to grasp the daily confrontation of God and Satan results in the mystery of His silence. God can’t explain to my pea-size self what I cannot understand. So, the silence continues.
On the eve of Jesus crucifixion, as he was passed from mock trial to mock trial, he stands before Pilate who represents the Roman government. When the noise quietens down, he asks, “Where do you come from?”
It was impossible for Pilate to understand the real answer to his own question. Given all his circumstances The Holy keeps silent.
When I pray and hear only God’s silence, I want to trust that God who loves me heard my request but there is no possible way for me to understand all the ramification of His answer. So, in faith I hear trusting silence.
It was at the university when I first heard the name of the old German preacher and teacher, Helmut Thielicke. More years went by than I like to admit before I made the effort to read from the sermons, he preached between 1942 and 1952.
In his book of sermons on The Silence of God, a rather lengthy passage caught my attention that merits more than a light reading:
So, it often is when God does not answer our prayers. Behind the silence are His higher thoughts. He is fitting stone to stone in His plan for the world and our lives, even though we can see only a confused and meaningless jumble of stones heaped together under a silent heaven.
How many meaningless blows of fate there seem to be! — life, suffering, injustice, death, massacres, destruction; and all under a silent heaven which apparently has nothing to say.
The cross was God’s greatest silence. Then the power of darkness was allowed to make its final bid against the Son of God. Then the demons were unleashed and the most dreadful passions since the fall of Adam were given free rein. And God had nothing to say.
There was simply the cry of the Dying asking of the silence why God had forsaken Him.
God was still silent even when dumb nature began to speak in an eloquent gesture and the sun withdrew its light. The stars cried out, and God was silent.
But now hear the great mystery of this silence. The very hour when God answered not a word or syllable was the hour of the greatest turning point when the veil of the Temple was rent, and God’s heart was laid bare with all its wounds.
Even when He was silent, God suffered with us. In His silence He experienced the fellowship of death and the depths with us.
Even when we thought He did not care, or was dead, He knew all about us and behind the dark wings He did His work of love. We live in the power of this Golgotha night of silence. – Helmut Thielicke
Maybe when it comes to my perceived silence on God’s part, I should give God a break and trust that in the mystery of His silence, He is still doing His work of love.
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on Can I Trust Within The Silence?
God Reflection 
Good thoughts Gary and an important subject. The silence of God is a mystery that shouldn’t be interpreted as disinterest or neglect. We must learn to trust even God’s silence.
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great article…much to think about…we want a God who speaks, even shouts, especially during our moments of pain and distress. You and Thiekle remind us that truly “silence can be golden”, a moment when our Lord is accomplishing the greatest of works, as He did during the moments of silence on the Cross…
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