Moments of silence

Call To Prayer

Title: Moments of silence

By: Wale Lasisi

Date: 21.11.2024

O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? (Psalm 13:1 NLT)

Some years ago, I was very frustrated because I had planned to study to become a medical doctor but my university admission wasn’t coming through. During those years before I finally got in, I would cry and pray even as I studied but it looked like God had forgotten me. So, I kept asking the question: God why?

In retrospect, I look at those periods now as times when I was ignorant about the plan of God for my life because now I understand the reason for what looked like a delay then. It would have been foolish for Joseph to question God why he had to go through the suffering he went through if we look at it from our standpoint today because we know where the story ends. Even if he had questioned God, it would not have changed anything because of God’s plan for his life.

There are times when we go through situations that look intolerable and we are asking God why? It might look like He is silent or he has forgotten us but that is very far from the truth (Isa. 49:15). Joseph was being prepared for the throne in adversity. The same thing happened with David before he became king, being left alone and saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the family business in a very dangerous terrain with constant threats to his life.

From our opening text, we see him asking God why he had forgotten him even after becoming king because he had such feelings in the past as a lonely shepherd boy. All through Job’s ordeal, God was silent as Job questioned him and proclaimed his own righteousness. Job and his friends were obviously ignorant of what had happened overhead and Job regretted his actions when God finally addressed him.

The wisdom of God sometimes is manifested in silence because the season might not be adequate for what you want to do. We must learn to wait on him and trust his process after doing all that is required of us to do because His ways are higher and he knows the end from the beginning. We on the other hand are short-sighted and can only relate to the moment.

As believers, we need to understand what God is saying in the moments of silence concerning situations around our lives and our loved ones. If His silence is indicating judgment, then we can intercede to avert it. God uses silence to communicate to us as his children but we must understand what he is trying to say per time.

Prayer point:

Let us thank God for today. Let us pray for grace to understand what God is saying in moments of silence.