The Beauty Of Silence

So, what has been going on in my world, in my life? Those are the questions you come here seeking answers for, after all.

Well, things are fairly quiet right now. I am healing, moving on. My heart is in a better place than it has been…in a long time, maybe ever. I have a lot of peace, and I am working on having trust and faith; it is a process. I see myself as getting more and more whole, and that is a goal. It is a lifelong goal. Getting whole, being whole, staying whole.

Question – have you ever noticed that, especially when things fall apart in life, we want answers from God? We struggle so hard to understand things and to change things. We go to God, and we ask Him (sometimes even demand Him) to explain to us why things went the way that they did; God, why did You do this, why did You allow this, what is the purpose in this, are You just punishing me, did I do something wrong, tell me what to do – right now – to make things right, how could a good God allow me to suffer, why cannot things ever go right in my life, will I always be a screw-up, should I just walk away from You since I cannot make anything good of my life with You, can I even trust You God?

On and on, we question, we rail, we demand, we plead, we cry. Ever notice, the one thing we are not good at, is listening? In particular, we as a species seem to be very bad at taking silence as an answer. Did you know that silence is a legitimate answer from God to the questions and worries that You have? Sometimes, I believe that God uses silence to teach us something – but because we hate the silence, we do not learn the lesson in it.

Mainly, I think the thing God uses silence to teach us, is this…
He has the answers, not us. We do not need the answers, we just need Him. Sometimes He gives the answers to us, oftentimes not. He knows what is best for us. That is what makes Him the Great Creator, and us His creation. We all tend to think that we would never be like Job, complaining to God about our lot in life. Have you actually read the book of Job lately? For so long, Job did the right thing – He remained silent, while those around Him cast blame. He endured for a long time, but in the end, Job questioned God. Have you ever read God’s response to Job?

Open up that Bible of yours, and turn with me to Job chapter 38, verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.”

Oh man. Job is in a heap of trouble, folks. Do you get the feeling that God’s righteous anger has been kindled against Job? Yup, me too. That “you must answer them” part, that is NOT a good sign for old Job.

If you want to know how bad it is, how much crap Job is in for, consider that God’s little talk with Job continues for another 71 verses.

After that, Job gives a response. Basically, Job says, “Oops, my bad. I will shut up now, Lord. I’ve said too much, You’re pissed, and I am so very sorry.”

After that, all is good, right? Job admits he is wrong, and hey, if he is still angry at God deep down inside, then that is okay, right, because after all he went through a hell of a lot and so it is okay to be a bit grumpy still, right? Uh, no, not right at all. God is not finished with Job yet. The Lord follows up His original 73 verse speech with another 53 verses, declaring how He is God and Job is not. Anybody else get the feeling that it is a really, really, really bad idea to demand answers of God for the way your life has gone, to accuse Him, to even suggest that He is doing you an injustice of some sort?

After this, Job becomes completely penitent. He humbles himself, which he had not done before. He now realizes that God is God, and he is not. Job has no right to question God, and he now understands that thoroughly. He had heard of Who God is beforehand, but now God has shown Himself to Job through what He told him about Himself, and now Job understand his place in life. It is all about God, and not about Job. Nor is it about any of us; it is about what God is doing in us and through us – and that makes it all about God, folks.

Sometimes, I think it is a blessing when God answers us with silence, don’t you? I mean, He could very easily answer us in the same way that He answered Job. Would you like that sort of an intense spotlight to be shone on you by God? Would you like for God to put you in your place? In His silence, God gives us the time and space to figure out for ourselves Who God is, and who we are, and what that relationship should look like. And, to realize that ours is not to question why. Ultimately, the real truth here is, to ask why is to be found lacking in faith.

In the middle of Job chapter 42, God says that He is angry with Job’s friends. They tried to explain and understand why Job had fallen into calamity. But this whole episode was never about Job; it was never about who Job was, or what he had, or what he lost. Instead, this was all about God; Who He is, and how we should relate to Him. That was what He wanted taught. And although Job did finally question God, and got severely rebuked for it, still God forgave him, and then His anger was transferred to those who, well-meaning though they might have been, led Job down the wrong path (away from the truths God was trying to place within him).

It isn’t always about what is happening to us, so much as it is about what God is teaching us through it. And that is why, even in the worst of times, we can rely on our God, because He always has our greatest good in mind.

So, in these times of quiet and silence in my life, I choose to thank God for what I have, and for what He is teaching me, and mostly for Who He is. I know that I am safely in His hands, right where I belong. I will get my eyes off of circumstances and surroundings, and put my eyes instead on what is real; I will look to Jesus, and worship Him.

And that is where my life is at.