There are times that I’ve been frustrated with God lately.
When I’m trying to put my daughter to bed and she won’t cooperate.
When we’ve been asleep for 4 hours, and she wakes up sick, throwing up and screaming and won’t go back to sleep for another 2 hours.
When I’m on the brink of insanity and just need some relief.
Those are the times that God falls silent.
Those are the times I don’t typically see quick responses to my prayers. I pray for peace, for quiet, for my daughter’s comfort and my preservation of sleep. I find myself angry, asking God, “Why now? Why do you fall silent now?”
I will never know why the Lord chooses to respond the way He does, in the same way I will never know how He pulled off creating the world in seven days, or how He parted the red sea for Moses with the snap of a (figurative) finger.
I have to understand it is part of the mystery that is God.
I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
1 John 5:13-15
We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask. In the middle of the night. In the car after a long day. Between our tears, or in between gasps of laughter. We know that he hears us when we make our requests.
Scripture also says that if we ask for anything that pleases him he will give us what we ask for. Great! That’s so exciting, right? What I find significant in this passage is that it doesn’t specify the when. This is something I wrestle with. Would I rather this verse specify when exactly the Lord would grant my requests? Or should I be thankful the Lord hears my request and responds to it at all?
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
Matthew 26:46
Sometimes I’m very self absorbed, and I fuss at God because I take it so personally that he’s not responding to me.
I’m shaken by the words of this scripture – seeing, and questioning, that the Lord even fell silent to his own son – even when he was on the cross!
Jarrid Wilson says it well when he says, “There have been many times in my life where I felt God to be silent, but later realized that “silence” was actually God doing a mighty work within me—I just failed to realize it. What we perceive as God being silent isn’t always the reality, and we must trust that God knows what he is doing when it comes to taking care of the children he created.”
We can all empathize with this feeling. It’s not just you, and it’s not just me.
We will never know why God seems silent when he does, but we also will never know why he chooses to bless us immensely either. It’s the catch of being the created, and not the creator.
Not only are we His creations, we are his children – and He is a father who desires to take care of his children.
Don’t fear that you are being left behind. He hears your prayers, and He loves you – regardless of your current relationship with him, your social class, your highest level of education. Regardless.
Happy Monday, friends. Rejoice in this!
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