Wait through the silence for God’s miracles to happen

Have you ever been waiting for your prayer to be answered or for God’s promises to come to pass, and God seemed to go silent? Have you ever had Him consistently speak something to your heart, confirming His Word to you almost every time you turned around and then BOOM — He just stopped talking about it, causing you to wonder if you had even heard His voice to begin with?

I think that most people who endeavor to live a life of faith and trust in God have been in that situation at one time or another. Even the people through whom God promised to bring the Savior of the world did not always have an open line to heaven. They experienced long periods of time in which His affirmation and confirmation concerning all that He had spoken had almost completely dried up, and they were left wondering if and when He was going to act on their behalf.

There are two 400-year spans that immediately come to mind when I think about the silent periods in the history of the children of Israel. The first being the time that they spent as slaves in Egypt, and the second is being the time between the last recorded prophesy in the Old Testament and the coming of Jesus. In both of these instances, the promise of salvation had been clearly given and confirmed, but was then followed by an uncomfortable silence as God awaited the right time to act.

There were also future great leaders of faith who had to hold onto the promises of God when His words seemed like nothing more than a distant memory. Noah, Abraham, Joseph and David, just to name a few, each had a season in his life in which it seemed as though God had grown quiet. I’m sure all kinds of negative thoughts and feelings must have tried to flood the hearts and minds of these men, but they chose to believe God and press forward. Even Jesus encountered the Father’s silence, and cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” as He took His final step of obedience to purchase our salvation.

While it is true that God sometimes seems silent in our lives, He is never absent or inactive. The common thread between the aforementioned instances of His apparent lack of communication is that they were all followed by wonderful displays of His faithfulness. The promises that had once been uttered, eventuality came to pass in amazing and miraculous ways.

It’s no different now than it was then. If you’ve been given a promise by God — whether it came as you read the Bible or by Him speaking it directly to your heart — hold onto it! Don’t set it down and walk away just because it seems like He has stopped talking about it. Keep pressing forward in faith through the silent times, because it is often right after those quiet times — when God seems silent — that wonderful miracles begin to take place.

•••

Milligan is a Poteau resident who went on a mission trip to Guatemala just before Labor Day 2021.