Lessons In The Silence

This has been a very weird period for me. Since I begun this Faith Blog. I have been determined to post once a week and had managed to do that consistently. For someone lacking certain structural disciplines I can tell you I was proud of that.

My immediate concern when I said I would post weekly, was that I want this to be Spirit-led and not me writing for the sake of putting something up. I do believe that can also slip into being an excuse for laziness, so I went ahead with that commitment. I was consistent and God always left me with something in mind to say...then came silence.

The funny thing about the quiet period for the last month is it happened when I felt I should have more to say and not less. So recently the Ignite fellowship of my church, Guiding Light Assembly started a show on InspirationFM, IgniteGLA on the Radio, which I co-host along with two other members of the Ignite team. After one of our shows we sat down together for hours in fellowship and light was shed on a lot of things for me. It felt like God had really been dealing with things for me that I was blissfully unaware of and I had this certainty of 'I know exactly what I'm speaking on next', swiftly followed by an inability to write about it or anything else.

I felt like I had this huge thing God wanted to use me as a vessel to talk about in the open but God gave me nothing to say. It was perplexing.

There are things to learn from the silence. I may not have a word just yet, but I know when God gives it to me it will be a force for His Kingdom. You have to learn to trust God's timing and process.

Lessons in the Silence

1. Dealing with arrogance - For me one thing I've learned is not to get proud and believe God's doing is actually your own doing. Time and time again in the Bible we see God use people in their weakness, it makes it so evident that it couldn't be, if not for God. There is a danger when you see God use you again and again that it is because you are somehow worthy, or more deserving than others. When the silence comes and you find yourself devoid of answers you will fall on your knees at the feet of the King, knowing it could only be Him.

2. Leaning on the Word - It can feel at times like God has gone silent and we struggle to hear His voice, but there is always His Word. Spend time with the Master, reading and studying His Word, praying according to His Word and being obedient to it. Too often we want God's step by step directions on the intricacies of our daily lives, but are we even being obedient to His directions in the Word. The Word is the foundation for relationship with God for a reason. Start with what is in the Bible, the rest will come.

3. Determining your Relationships - There is always a reason for silence. Between the Old and New Testament there was a period of silence, where the Jews did not hear from God for about 450-500 years and this period was prophesied in Amos 8:11, "The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the LORD. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken." It is important to in that period look at your relationships, the people around you, the things you surround yourself with and what could be deafening you to the voice of God, look at your actions, lifestyle, habits, test them against the Word, against the foundation.