What Can I Do When It Feels Like God Isn’t There?Sýnishorn

Day #1: When God Seems Silent

Most of the times I have read Habakkuk, I have moved quickly past verse 5 to the rest of the book. But verse 5 actually contains wisdom for us about how to live through moments of God’s silence. It is, after all, the exhortation that God himself gives to a man who has been living with that experience for some time.

So, what does God’s response to Habakkuk teach us about his sovereign silence—God’s choice not to answer the prayer of this prophet for a season of time?

Let us first consider what this does not mean. God’s silence does not mean that God does not see or is not there or cannot help. The nature of God’s ruling of the nations and of orchestrating the geopolitical events of that time more than demonstrates that the God of the Bible suffers neither from exhaustion nor distraction.

God’s silence toward Habakkuk for a season seems to suggest that when all we can see is evil, injustice, and brokenness, God sees more than we do, and his plan is still at work. Though in a season of sovereign silence this may be difficult to believe, it is also much more critical to believe. The spiritual myopia of Habakkuk is just as much a risk for us. So we should hear well the command to “look” and “see” beyond what is merely before our eyes or within our emotions.

Yet, God’s silence suggests something more: that he is not merely choosing to be silent toward us to bring our attention to his sovereignty but to form in us the virtue of humility.

Prayer:

Father, thank you that, when you seem silent and all we can see is our pain and our problems, you see the whole picture, and your plan is still at work. Thank you that in these times, you form humility and maturity in me that can only be forged within the furnace of sovereign silence. When the furnace burns and feels unbearable, I praise you that I have a Savior who understands exactly what that is like, standing ready to pour out sustaining grace, mercy, and love on me. Amen.