As mentioned in previous posts, this last week has been a difficult one. I lost complete use of my computer and my data. That pretty much left me with nothing to do but appreciate the silence.
Me? I'm not a silent person; I like to talk. Feel connected to another
person and know they will understand me. So you can understand my EXTREME AWKWARDNESS during the first few days. In a way, I felt as if I deserved his circumstances. But after a while, I began to accept the silence. It gave me time to think-to reflect-on what is really important in life. This change in perspective wasn't all self imposed, but one of my favorite televangelist showed me the way. His name is Reverend Charles Stanley. Thanks to my TiVo, it records his Sunday sermons.
Sometime during the last two weeks, one sermon focused on God's silence. The sermon made some very good points. So good, I thought I would share them with you.
Here are the top reasons why God can choose to remain silent in our relationship.
1. To get our attention-too often we are distracted by the activities of life. We forgot about what is really important in life until it takes something drastic in our lives to make us stop and slow down. This is where the rhetorical "smelling the roses " Comes into play. This is when we are reminded that only the bare essentials are necessary. Some of these include: food, housing, love, and family.
2. During the "silent times" is when God is getting us to trust him. This is the time when we have to rely on someone besides ourselves to assist in our very survival. We are tired, frustrated and weak. We are taken back to our childhood. We have tried to everything to help ourselves, but we can't.
3. Sometimes God doesn't communicate with us because there are past things that we haven't admitted to him. These are barriers obstructing to chance for a deeper relationship with Him. Areas He would like to see changed before we can even think of having a deeper relationship with God.
One important thing to note about God's silence-God doesn't always have to answer our prayers. We should respect it when he remains silent and consider it a privilege when he does talk to us through the answering of a prayer or reading the Bible.
Just because He doesn't doesn't answer right away, doesn't mean he's not listening. It's just in HIS timing, not ours. Be open to communicate through prayer and reading the Bible. He just wants to listen and be there for us. Keep the dialogue going no matter what you have to say.