When God is Silent

We continue our sermon series on The Gift of Darkness. In this message, we will consider the gift of darkness when God seems silent. Earlier in this sermon series we noted that God is as comfortable operating in the darkness as in light. When God appears to go silent, God goes dark. Going dark is a military term for a sudden termination of communication, such as from a public channel to a private channel. It may appear to us that communication with God has ceased, but, in reality, it has simply moved to another channel. Followers of Christ will face times in our lives when our communication with God goes dark and seems silent. For example, there may be times when you pray, and you get nothing. There may be times when you feel like saying, “Hello, is anybody there?! Are you even listening?” When God seems silent, we can feel alone, abandoned, anxious, frustrated, disappointed, and distant from God. We don’t understand it, especially if we are used to feeling God’s presence or used to God speaking, leading, and guiding us. God has gifts for us in the midst of the darkness of seeming to be silent. Those gifts in the darkness of God’s silence include reflection and self-examination, deepening trust and faith, humility and surrender, and drawing closer to God in intimate silence.