There are moments in our Christian journey when God seems to be far away and Heaven seems closed. Our prayers seems to be ignored by God, and the devil seems to be gaining the upper hand. When we go through such moments, we tend to start questioning God’s goodness. These seasons are the most difficult in every believer’s life.
The truth is, there are times when God answers prayer and there are times when He remains silent. Our inability to discern this truth is one of the greatest challenges that we face as Christians.
My family, my team members, and our church have been praying for a friend and a brother of ours. He was diagnosed with kidney failure and was making arrangements for a kidney transplant. Initially, we prayed for miraculous healing but got no answer. We fasted and then prayed for the success of the kidney transplant and even had dreams that the transplant was successful. When he went for the preliminary test before the transplant, it was discovered that his heart was too weak to undergo the transplant. We were devastated by the bad news and wondered why God had remained silent.
My narrative above is just one of the many cases where we have cried, fasted, and prayed but received no answer from God. But God is under no obligation to answer our prayers. It is His prerogative to answer whichever prayer He wants to answer at His own time and season.
It is also important for believers to understand that silence from God does not mean abandonment or rejection. Every silence from God has a purpose. The Bible reminds us that He never leaves nor forsakes His children (Deuteronomy 31:6). God might be silent to test our faith and see our reactions. How we handle the moment of God’s silence shows how mature we are in Christ. His love and mercy remain new every morning, even in His silence.
Moments of God’s silence usher us into another level of spiritual growth and a higher level of understanding. When I first came to Christ, before I asked God for anything, He answered. As I continued walking with the Lord, I realized that He was no longer responding the way that He used to. Initially, I got upset and grumbled, but in time I realized He was using those times to strengthen my faith and make me more like Christ every day.
Sometimes God’s silence indicates greater answers to come. Jesus was silent for four days after He was informed that Lazarus was dead, not because He was uncaring or unconcerned, but because He planned for a greater miracle to take place (John 11:4-6). The longer the silence, the more beautiful the testimony. When God’s voice is heard after a very long silence, it thunders and quakes.
What if God remains silent forever? We are still commanded by Scripture to continue to trust Him in every situation: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Asking God “why” won’t change a thing — trusting in God through our “whys” always will.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
