319. NEEDING ANSWERS BUT GOD IS SILENT

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 11)

As Christians, we should never allow the times that God is silent to make us lose faith in the fact that we are loved by him, that he has our best interests at heart, that he is faithful, all-powerful, will keep all of the promises he made us and always knows best.

It may be difficult but remember, God is faithful all the time, in every situation and circumstance, even when for reasons unknown, he chooses to be silent.

The Bible contains a number of examples of godly men who battled, cried out or felt frustrated with God’s silence in the midst of turmoil or trouble. They did not understand why God, though powerful, was refusing to act in their circumstance and why, when they called out to him, he remained silent.

JOB for example, stated in the midst of his adversity and pain, him having lost all his children, wealth, health and people’s respect and God having given him no explanation as to why he had allowed such losses, though he sought him continually to try to understand, “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but am not heard: I cry aloud but there is no judgment” (Job 19:7).

In chapter 13:21-24, he pleaded with God, who remained silent, even as his suffering continued him desperately wanting relief from the waves crashing down upon him and to at least understand what he had done wrong and why he was being punished:

“Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgressions and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?”

Job therefore craved communication from God, as he wanted to at least know where he had gone wrong and if so, so that he could repent. However, although he wracked his brain, he could think of nothing For, he had feared God and done the things which were right in his sight. This too was torture.

To his friends who were convinced that God had allowed all of the pain and suffering in his life because of his sin, Job told them, “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.” (Job 6:24).

Yet the things they accused him of were not true. He was innocent of them. Alas, they could not show him what he had done wrong or explain why God had allowed all the loss he had allowed and God himself remained silent.

In chapter 10:2, he reasoned, “I will say unto God, Do not condemn me: show me wherefore thou contendest with me.” Yet, all his cries and requests seemed to fall on deaf ears, so much so, that in chapter 31:35, he passionately bellowed: “Oh that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.”

Such was the extent of his continual suffering, that Job also stated in chapter 19:23-24: “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven in an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!”

Job had suffered so much and for so long and without any answers from God, that it seemed that he did not want all that he had gone through to be in vain. It seemed that he wanted his ordeal to count for something, to be etched somewhere as a record, a desire that many people who have gone through deep pain or prolonged grief and sadness, can identify with.

He therefore expressed the desire that his ordeal, given its gravity and the extent of his pain, would be recorded in a book, not knowing that this was exactly what God intended to do!

Ironically, God did hear him and planned to record his ordeal in a book, the Bible. Job did not know that at the time, nor could he have conceived, that a book in a Book of all Books (the Bible), would be devoted to his story, recorded for countless generations to come.

It stands as God’s permanent boast of Job’s character and faithfulness and of his delight in same. It also helps people facing adversity and not understanding why, to not bow to the affliction and lose heart but to remain faithful to God, even when they don’t understand and are weary of the seemingly never ending situation, all the while reminding them, that even in God’s silence, even when what they are going through doesn’t seem to make sense, that he sees, he hears, he knows and he cares.

Our tears and sighs are not in vain and even in silence, which is for reasons we may not be able to fathom because God’s ways are past finding out, he is faithful.

We must therefore not get bitter, resentful, think of God as unjust, uncaring, unable to help and that we should just curse him in our hopeless state and die. The Bible says that despite all that Job went through which he understood was sanctioned by God, he did not sin with his mouth or charge God foolishly. He did not even do this when his wife sought to entice him in his flood of troubles to do so, due to his overwhelming pain and confusion as to why God had allowed his sufferings and why for so long, he was content to not intervene to bring relief or to at least help him, the sufferer, understand why he was being made to bear such a load.

DAVID also experienced periods when he desperately wanted answers from God but he had opted seemingly, to be silent.

In Psalm 22:1-2, he cried:

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”

In Psalm 28:1-2, he also prayed:

“Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.”

David seemed perplexed at God’s decision to remain silent during his difficult season but what he did not know was that God planned to use his utterances, birthed through his pain, as an analogy of the eventual sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and to have both accounts recorded in a Book, the Bible, for future generations to read! Unbeknown to David, it seemed, he was therefore prophesying in his pain, pointing to the Messiah’s sufferings in his crucifixion!

Often times, God achieves beautiful things in our sufferings that we don’t even realize. To think that he is not working and not up to good when silent in our trials is not right. We may not be the recipients but oft times, God plans to use what we are going through, as a blessing to others, provided we don’t lose faith in Him through the process and that we maintain a good attitude, no matter how difficult or prolonged the trial.

In everything therefore, whether we are up on a mount or in a deep, deep, valley where it seems like God is not hearing us or refusing to respond to us, we should give thanks to him, for what we are going through is his will for our lives, in Christ Jesus.

GIDEON also felt that God had abandoned him and the Israelite people, when they were in dire straits. Due to the sin of the people, God had caused them to be delivered into the hand of the people of Midian for seven (7) years. where they immensely suffered and were impoverished for food. The Word of God states:

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.”

The Lord heard their cry and in response, he sent a prophet to explain to them why they were going through what they were going through. They had disobeyed God and so, had brought this calamity upon themselves. Yet, Gideon, who had heard so much about God’s power in the past and what he had done for his people, felt that surely, God had forsaken them all! Why else had he been silent for all those years and allowed the Midianites to oppress them so?

In verses 12 and 13 of Judges 6, it says of Gideon, who was threshing wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites:

“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

Gideon had therefore equated God’s silence and non-intervention over those years, as an indication that he had forsaken his people and wanted nothing more to do with them. This is what they deserved but he had not! In fact, the angel of the Lord told Gideon, shockingly and despite how everything looked, that the Lord was with him!

Gideon found this hard to believe given his present predicament and the magnitude of the problem faced by the people. To his mind, if God cared for them, still, he could not understand why he had not delivered them after so long.

Yet, God’s silence during those years as they suffered and rightly so, was not an indication of abandonment. God was still with his people and still loved them. His eyes and his hands were still on them and his ears open to their cry, even if he chose in his sovereignty, to remain silent.

To Gideon’s amazement, God having heard the cry of the people and decided after seven long years that it was time to intervene, he chose to deliver his people from the Midianites, through the very same Gideon.

HABAKKUK, a prophet, also grew frustrated at God’s silence and non-intervention, where he perceived an injustice that was taking place. Righteous people were being besieged by the wicked! This bothered Habakkuk, so much so that he cried to the Lord about it. Yet, it seemed like he was refusing to hear because he remained silent!

In the Book of Habakkuk 1: 2 and 13, Habakkuk therefore prayed:

“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!…Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”

Yet, although God was silent, Habakkuk decided to persist in prayer about the problem and God eventually answered

In chapter 2 verse 1, Habakkuk resolved, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”

In verses 2 and 3, God did eventually answer but in his own time. Habakkuk states:

“And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

God therefore had a plan and wanted him to write the vision that he had seen, down, letting him know that it was for an appointed time and that at the end, it would speak. He therefore encouraged Habakkuk to wait for it, as it would surely come.

This account reminds us that sometimes in our adversity, when we cry out and God is silent, it is not that he does not care or that he does nor hear us. It is that he has a set time to answer. At the right time, that which he has appointed, he will do.

He did answer Job eventually, though it seemed long in coming but in the wait, during the grievous silence, God had been working out his purposes. There was divine method, to what may have seemed like madness.

In conclusion, in God’s silence, we must remember who he is and that he still has his hand on the dial. He is still in control and is therefore still steering the ship of our lives. He still knows what he is doing and there is a reason and a purpose to all that he does. Most importantly, we must remember that God sees us, hears us and cares for us, no matter how much the enemy or our own flesh may try to make us feel otherwise. He may be silent for a season and for his divine purposes but he has not forsaken us. What we are going through may be difficult and the pain of our situation, intense but even when God chooses to remain silent and to allow us to go through what we are going through, he still loves us and in his timing, if it is according to his purposes, he will deliver.

As David uttered in Psalm 22:24 during his valley season when God seemed silent, “For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.”

(Written on 22nd February, 2024 and 21st June, 2025)

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