By: Kyle Idleman
I read about a married couple whose relationship was struggling, so they decided the best way to deal with their problems was to go on a daytime talk show. That is a great strategy. Turns out this couple gives each other the silent treatment, sometimes for hours, but often for weeks on end. As luck would have it, during the taping of this talk show they were in silent treatment mode. They wouldn’t talk to each other, but would talk to the host about each other.
The husband told how on one occasion he needed to wake up the next morning at five o’clock for an early morning business fight. He wasn’t talking to his wife, and she wasn’t talking to him, but she was the only one who knew how to set the alarm clock. He left her a note, “I need to be up at 5:00 in the morning.” The next morning he woke up and looked at his clock, discovering it was 7:30. He started to panic, then saw a note next to his alarm clock in his wife’s handwriting. It said, “It’s five a.m. Wake up!”
When we hear stories like that we think it’s petty. But … do you ever sense God is giving you the silent treatment? You ask him for help, for direction, for an answer but all you receive is … silence.
God just isn’t answering your prayers.
It’s like when you’re on your cell phone talking to a friend, you’ve been pouring your heart out, then you realize no one is on the other end. The call was dropped and you’ve been talking to yourself for the past several minutes. You feel foolish.
Do you ever feel like that when you pray?
There was a pastor named John Claypool in my city of Louisville who wrote a book called The Light Within You. In the book he tells about losing his young daughter to acute leukemia. The family prayed and prayed, and initially had some hope when it went into remission. But their hope fell apart on Easter morning when the daughter went into a severe relapse. John felt helpless as his daughter’s life seemed to drain away. One night at the hospital his daughter asked, “Daddy, when will the leukemia go away?” He told her they were doing everything they could, and were praying. There was a pause, then she asked, “Dad, when did God say the leukemia would go away?” He had been praying, but had no answer from God and no answer for her. He writes, “What do you say to such childlike directness when the heavens seem so utterly silent?”
What do you do?
How do you live as a follower of Jesus when you feel like God is giving you the silent treatment?
One of the longest periods of silence from God came in the intertestamental period. From the end of the Old Testament to the arrival of Jesus and beginning of the New Testament there were 400 years of seeming silence from God. I think we can learn a lot from that silence.
When God seems silent we get upset, in large part because it seems he’s not doing anything. We may find ourselves shouting to the heavens, “God, why don’t you do something?” But one of the things we discover as we study the intertestamental period is that even though God seemed silent, the truth is he was still working.
For instance, during that time the Old Testament Scriptures, which were written in Hebrew, were translated into Greek. This gave almost everyone access to the Scriptures that told about the coming Messiah. God was at work.
Also during that time the Greeks defeated the Persian Empire. Eventually, led by Alexander the Great, the Greeks conquered the known world. This led, for the first time since the Tower of Babel, to a common language. God was preparing the way for Jesus. Common language helped the Gospel to spread far more quickly than it would have been able to.
In 63 BC the Romans conquered the Greeks, then starting conquering the world. Soon peace came and a system of roads was developed that allowed people to travel more easily. This also allowed the Gospel to spread more quickly.
It seemed like God was silent, doing nothing, but the reality was that God was at work, accomplishing his purposes behind the scenes. And you can be sure that in the silence God is still at work in your life.
How do you live as a follower of Jesus when you feel like God is giving you the silent treatment? You remember that God is still at work. You also remember that God has said something.
When we’re stuck in the silence we not only wonder, “God, why don’t you do something?” we also ask, “God, why don’t you say something?”
That may have been what believers were asking in the intertestamental period. But what’s interesting is that God had told them it was coming. The book of Daniel records what would happen during this four hundred year period of silence. God wrote about what would happen beforehand. He spoke before and into the silence.
It would be like a new wife who has a husband going off for a tour of duty in Afghanistan spending hours writing letters to put in his duffel bag before he leaves. They can’t communicate while he is away, but he can read the letters she wrote. Since she already wrote them, she’s still speaking through them.
In the same way, during the four hundred years of silence, believers could remember what God had done for them in the past and re-read passages like Isaiah 41:10, where God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
And that’s what the Word of God does for us today. When we experience silence we know God has spoken. He spoke before and into our silence. He is still faithful to keep all his promises. What he says was true and is true. In the silence we open up the Word of God to be reminded of what He has already said. We’re encouraged by verses like:
Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Philippians 1:6, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Revelation 21:4-5, “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”
What do we do in the silence? We hold onto these promises. God is at work, and God has spoken. He has made promises to you, so be encouraged. He will be faithful to them, and you need to stay faithful to him.
Are you a casual admirer of Jesus, or fully devoted to following Him?
Watch the impactful Bible study not a fan on QAVA. This series takes you through the life of Eric Nelson, a man juggling three different lives. A brush with death pushes him toward a spiritual awakening that strengthens his commitment to Jesus while testing the faith of those around him, featuring powerful teachings from Kyle Idleman.
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