A Time of Silence

The other day I read a neat devotional that talked about how when we find God silent, it is a great opportunity for us to learn discipline. But before I expand on this idea, I want to encourage you to think about how much faith you have in God to fulfill His promises in your life. For me, personally, I know I sometimes find myself saying I trust God to come through for me in tough situations, but my anxious heart tells me something different.

Yesterday when I was pondering this thought I came to the conclusion that I believe greater miracles happened in Biblical times, because they had greater faith! The people in Jesus’ time waited for years before any visible signs of God answering their prayers, yet they stood firm and had confidence that He would come through for them. They used their time of silence as a time for discipline as they waited in anticipation. Isn’t that humbling, yet also encouraging for us?! I often feel that a week of silence (or no signs of God answering my prayers) is a long time! Can you imagine a year? 10 years?

To give you a better idea, here are just a few examples from the Bible:
-Abraham persevered through 13 years of silence before God fulfilled His promise to him. (Genesis 15)

Abraham trusted God to do what seemed the impossible: make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. God fulfilled this promise in the birth of Isaac and then later Jacob, through whom the twelve tribes of Israel were born. Abraham’s descendants did indeed become great nations. More importantly, however, God promised Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Through the birth of Christ—direct descendant of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, and Judah—God fulfilled this promise as well. In this way Abraham’s “seed” has indeed blessed all the nations of the earth!

-Abraham’s son, Isaac, waited 23 years for Rebecca to have children. (Genesis 25:21)
-Moses stood 40 years of silence before his vision of delivering his people from Egypt was carried out. (Exodus 3:7-10)

Today I pray that we will re-assess our trust in the Lord and I encourage us all to take a leap of faith so that God can work some great miracles in our lives! And I also pray that we will learn to turn our season of waiting into a time of discipline where we learn perseverance and, as a result, increase our faith!

God bless!
<3 Shannon

“Our God” – Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_t_87NyHx0
I just recently heard this song and can’t stop listening to it. It’s pretty powerful!! :)