When God seems silent and you do not sense His presence, how do you react?

Sweet sister Leslie:)

I read your post here and it reminded me of a booklet that I read entitled " The God who hides Himself"

(Isa. 45:15; 1 Kings 19:9-18; Luke 24:13-37; John 20:11-29; 1 Pet. 1:8)

There was an account in the bible... and this line came from that verse.

We know Him as the almighty One, as the righteous One, as One full of grace and compassion; but as the One who hides Himself, He is unknown to us.

Isaiah expresses this thought:

"Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel."

This statement of his is most emphatic. He is not talking empty words, the fruit of his own imagination; his utterance is based on an accumulation of facts. He has looked at those facts, he has studied those facts, and then he has come to his conclusion: "You are a God who hides Himself, O God."

Then we see a similar thing happening to Elijah

Our personalities are diametrically opposed to God's personality. He likes concealment, we like display; He does not crave outward manifestations, we cannot be content without them. This divine disposition constitutes a great trial and test to us.

"Elijah was a man of like feeling with us," and he did not stand this test. On Mount Carmel God was obviously with him; but when God withheld His manifest presence, Elijah could not bear it. He became depressed and crept into a cave.

When God asked him, "What doest thou here?" he answered, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." God knew Elijah's difficulty; He knew Elijah wanted Him to be a God who would manifest Himself; he had not realized that God is a God who hides Himself.

So God gave him a demonstration. There arose "a great and strong wind." Elijah thought: The Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the wind." The wind was followed by an earthquake. Elijah thought: Surely the Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the earthquake." Then came a fire, and Elijah thought: The Lord is a consuming fire, He'll be in this! "But the Lord was not in the fire." After the fire came a still small voice—and the Lord was in that! Elijah said to Him, "I, even I only, am left"; but the Lord very gently answered, "There are seven thousand persons who have not bowed down to Baal.

Elijah, I hide Myself; you did not know I had preserved those seven thousand souls." Elijah had reckoned only with what he could see; but God is a God who hides Himself. He was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire; He was in the still small voice. He had preserved for Himself seven thousand persons who had not bowed the knee to Baal; but so hidden was His activity, not even the prophet Elijah knew anything about it.

Sweet sister...God's surest work is done in the secret of our beings. Often it is just a slight whisper or a slight influence—so slight we can scarcely distinguish it from our own impressions. This is God's mightiest mode of activity. Sometimes from our innermost being comes a faint suggestion (or shall I call it a feeling? or a voice? or words?) saying something like this: "That's your natural life; that belongs to the cross"—saying it in words that are scarcely words; but do please take note, these almost indefinable words are indications of God's most positive activity. You may reason: This is not God; it's just me.

But let me assure you, this is His most definite speaking and working. It is such divine activity that has preserved the church throughout her history of nearly two thousand years. The more we serve the Lord, and the more we abide in Him, the more we realize that God is a very quiet God, so quiet that His presence is often undetected.

His most intimate way of guiding us is so natural that we scarcely perceive He is guiding us at all, yet somehow we have been led; something has happened. It is often by this quiet, inward activity of God that we receive our greatest guidances.

Somtimes sister, our God seems silent because He wants to take us somewhere deeper in Him. He wants us to " Seek and Find" Him. By being so silent during these times of spiritual growth, He wants to take us from knowing Him on one level, to knowing Him on a deeper level. For this reason, He is a God who hides Himself. He is somewhat silent. He wants us to seek Him deeper in the Word. To do some unearthing in our being. So that we can discover deeper depths and higher heights in Him.

At some point in any faithful christian's growth in the Lord, they will come upon this kind of time and experience... where the Lord wants to take us beyond knowing " about Him" to really ' Knowing Him".

My prayers are with you sis. That the Lord who is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him will be your blessed Portion. That coming out of this time, you will be weightier and have a greater inner constitution of Christ in your being in the end. Keep the communication lines open. Spend sufficient time in the Word. Call upon the Name of the Lord. He is silent..He is hiding Himself.. but He is there.. waiting to see what your response will be. Will you walk away and say that He does not care, or will you say " Lord, You are a God who Hides Himself, I will SEEK YOU OUT, I will FIND YOU, I will gain YOU as my inner supply... I will KNOW YOU more. ...Lord Jesus..Here I come!

Grace be with you sister, and peace be multiplied.

Your sis

sandy

My sis in Christ,

I KNOW exactly how you feel, as a matter of fact, I am experiencing that right now. My hubby and I went through a horrible experience about 8 mos ago. It was hurtful, and stressful, and left our future unsure. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. I heard absolutely nothing! To make matters worse, some of our Christian bros/sis implied we must have sinned and needed to repent!! Can you believe that?!? I was reminded of Job and his story. His story gave me peace. I am not saying that You and I are Job, but it just showed me that if he could stick with God, when all hell has broken loose, and it seems as if God has not said anything, then certainly I can. I must admit my first reaction to God not speaking (or my perception of that) is human, I get scared, I panic, but then I get my bible and remind myself that He will never leave me nor forsake me, that He is my shepherd and I shall not want. Then sometimes it helps to do exactly what you are doing now, reaching out to the brethren, it's always nice to hear an encouraging word.

My sis I will pray that God answers your fervent prayer, and envelope you with His presence,

God Bless

Yvicks

You have received some AWESOME responses, girl!

It is a good question!

One that I have heard fairly often, lately.

For one example, in my life, my co-worker's daughter has two types of cancer. Not one, but two. She's already had a total hysterectomy. The family has just learned aggressive one has not responded to the chemo. The doctor's are reportedly going to be trying another type of chemo shortly. ---

You see, this is happening to a kind, young newlywed. Unfair it seems. Why isn't God healing her? I can only answer that in my own way:

The Lord does hear our prayers. (it is written, so I believe it).

Hindsight is 20/20 for me. (experience has taught me that)

...which teaches me that we do not know God's master plan.

But I trust Him. And that is my key.

There is so much scripture about encouragement and hope.

(Check out the website biblegateway, it's awesome!)

I found some encouraging words in the following quotes:

Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow. ~Philip Gulley

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley

--------I'm here, if you ever want to talk. But remember that the Lord is too. Jesus is there! It is a deception of the evil one for you to think He is not there. So, I say, Lord, please rebuke the evil one, and may You, sweet Jesus, bless LeslieAnn... enough hope, strength, courage, wisdom, insight, and understanding... and a special "something" to let her know You are there. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Amen!

† Comforting Prayer Warrior †

I know how this feels. But God does let go of the bicycle after the original honeymoon period of conversion, to see if we can keep peddling. He's running right beside you though, and He won't let you fall.

When the dry times come (and they will, more than once)--do what you know. Stand on your convictions. Faith is not a feeling, salvation is not an emotion. Listen to good music that lifts your spirit. Help other people who have what you need. Talk to a trusted Christian friend; we all go thru these dry times.

And get people you trust to pray for you. Sometimes we learn more about God's Presence when He seems absent for awhile.

Hey Sis. Leslie,

Sorry I didn't get your email any sooner. My PC is dead. I'm a little handicapped on my iPod. I loved Sis. Sandy's response. God does play hide and seek.

Heb 11:6 -- ...he is a rewarder of them that DILIGENTLY seek him.

I went through a really bad time with both my little girls. With Elizabeth, we saw a miraculous, instantaneous healing in the emergency room at the Name of Jesus! But with Allison, we spent two months in Neo-natal ICU in agonizing, horrifying uncertainty. Heaven seemed like brass. Allison is now a perfectly strong and healthy beautiful sweet spirited little girl. The pay-off: a bond between us that is sweeter than imaginable.

Refining gold (or faith) takes a painfully hot fire. Trust the Refiner.

Praying for you,

Greg

Fasting has proven to be very helpful.

Oh, and I LOVE this:

Ps 91:15 -- He shall call upon me, and I WILL answer him: I WILL be with him in trouble...

Yes, I have. It pretty much sucks. St. John of the Cross called it "the dark night of the soul" and I think he was dead on. When this happens to me, I immediately fall into prayer. I pray for mostly stronger faith, and for God to open my heart to hear him. Then I pick up my favorite spiritual reading along with the Bible (the Psalms and the Gospel of Luke are my favorites for this sort of feeling) and do what is called Lectio Divina.

After prayer, I think the best resource to use is other people. If you have someone who you feel to be close to God, go ask them for advice or their prayers for you. Having other people of faith to lean on really helps. And sometimes being in your own place of worship, surrounded by people who believe as you do, can have a positive rubbing off effect.

I feel that those "silent" times are times God uses to draw us out... to bring us closer to him.

Its hard to feel like God is far away when you have felt his presence so close before, but think about how your soul is crying out for him now. Just continue to pray and ask the Lord to make himself known again, read some scripture. God cannot help but want to be with his children so I have no doubts that you will feel him again. Call to him. He hears you.

and to answer your question.. yes I have gone through this. Many times throughout my faith and it only has made me stronger and feel Gods love for me more. Though its tough in those moments when he seems so far, once i get back there again I find that I am drawn closer to him. That he continues to tell me that he IS my father and that he will never forsake me.

Excellent question and I hope my answer will be of help to you. The Bible gives us the answer to this question, For example... When God gave Noah the command to build the Arc, He gave Noah specific details and measurements. Then God was silent for over 100 years until Noah finished building the Arc as commanded. God then gave Noah further instructions. When God appears to be silent, we simply need to think back to the last thing God told us to do, then do it!

I suggest heartfelt prayer in seeking out any unforgiveness towards another person or in finishing a task God has commanded you to do. I always try and remember that God has been around since eternity, He has not moved, it is I who move away from Him, never Him away from me. I hope this answer helps you...God Bless You...Peace.

Sometimes I get sad. I think sometimes maybe I want an answer so bad that I think God doesn't hear me.

So I remember that God is always with me and hears me.

That maybe the communication is not what I am expecting.

When I look back at these times. That God has always answered me, maybe not how I wanted, but things happened to me for the best when I look back on different events in my life. We look sometimes for time frames with God. But just trust in our Lord and he will answer you. Remember this.

Jesus said, "I am with you always." God Bless.

My friend and I were just talking about this tonight. She said it's one of the reasons Christians need each other, to remind each other of what we've seen God do in our lives, because we all are short on faith and our feelings can be deceiving.

What I do is fall back on what I know is true. God never lies. God never leaves nor forsakes His children. I read the Bible, I pray and I trust God.

Saint, God knows all things, and, sometimes when He knows that through our Zeal, we may hinder some work He is doing, He will back off for awhile.

Also, this is another way of "trying faith". The times are coming (perilous times), that we will have only the Word in our hearts to keep us anchored.

I encourage you to "after having done all, STAND". You are learning the fulness of what it means to "trust" God...

Phillippians 1:6 ....... Being confident of this very thing , that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6:13 ....... Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

1st. Peter 1:6,7 ....... wherin ye greatly rejoice, though now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations : That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

I pray the Lord, because He loves you, will work in your life to the benefit of the end, for many are falling away from the faith : Hebrews 3:14 ....... For we are made partakers of Christ, if, we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.

Here is a post from my 360 :

Saints, there is an onslaught of evil directed toward the saints, to discourage, to make stumble, to cause fear, to oppress, to HINDER THE WORK OF THE LORD !!! We MUST remember that WE have POWER over ALL the power of the ENEMY !!! Halleluiah !!!

The Lord is crying out : WALK IN MY LIBERTY !!! Believe Me when I say : You Have Power Over ALL the power of the ENEMY !!! WALK IN THIS !!! Put on My armour, and do all I have directed you to do, then STAND, and watch , as I destroy your OPPRESSOR !!! HOLD FAST TO THAT YOU HAVE !!! Those in the LIBERTY, strengthen your brethren !!! Stand in the gap !!! Cry out from your spirit unto Me and I will DELIVER YOU !!! It is My WILL that you have PEACE and JOY, and the LIBERTY of My Spirit !

Those that have an ear to hear...hear what the Spirit is saying unto the Church ...

COME INTO MY CHAMBERS...For the door is closing.

Come , My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity : the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. ISAIAH 26 : 20,21

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you...