Sometimes, we think that God isn’t speaking when he is silent. But one thing I’ve noticed is that the people of God are constantly coming before the Lord, with prayers, requests, praise, and worship, and though there are many times when God speaks and responds, there are likewise many other times when we don’t receive a response.
If we think of God as our father, then we know that time and time again we have received instruction from the Lord, guiding us along his path and direction. It’s easy for us to think of this as if it only applies in the spiritual realm toward spiritual things, but our instructions are directions for our how we live our natural lives. We go through so many encounters, and our lives get intertwined, interrupted, and influenced by others on a daily basis; and this is what creates the many intricacies to our stories, that our hearts respond to throughout the many issues of life.
At one point I used to think that because I can hear the instructions of the Lord, as a parent speaks to a child, that the moments when I don’t get a response meant that I was free to decide on my own. But, boy did I learn the hard way. I began to feel tormented because of my own decisions on things that the Lord didn’t respond to. I realized that it was not my own inconsistencies and hindrances that kept me from accomplishing the tasks that I signed up for, but rather that the Holy Spirit had interjected in many ways to amplify those distractions so that the tasks would not be established based on my own free will.
When self-doubt crept in, I had to stop and remind myself that I was more than capable for what I signed up for, but I also needed to understand that regardless of my abilities, that the work of the Holy Spirit had the power to affect the process of my performance.
When I noticed the works of the Holy Spirit and prayed to the Lord about it, the answer I got shifted my whole perspective on his silence. He told me that when he doesn’t speak, he is still responding in silence by not sanctioning any other priorities over what he had already purposed for me to do now.
I then had to humble myself and ask for forgiveness from the Lord and also go through the hard step of asking for forgiveness from the person I had promised based on my free will decisions and then get back on track with what the Lord required of me.
What peace, what joy, and what comfort I found in not just saying yes to the Lord but actually prioritizing and carrying out that yes, in the season he had set apart for those works.
“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 NLT
Be blessed,
G.M.
G.M. Sunshine 