God Is Silent – Why?

There have been many times in my career when I sought God for answers. I needed wisdom for choices I faced. Sometimes, He seemed to answer me in a very clear way. Other times were not as clear and it took much prayer for me to discern the direction He was giving me. And then there are those times when God is silent. I used to hate those times!

God Is Silent?

Have you ever experienced times when God is silent in responding to your prayers? Maybe you were facing a huge business decision with enormous consequences and you needed His wisdom more than anything. You could have been mulling a difficult choice between career moves or candidates to hire.

Your decision might have been as simple as choosing office locations or the wording on your resume. Whatever the case, we have all likely experienced times when we felt we really needed to hear from God, but He did not respond. This is especially tough for those who have received clear answers from Him at other times!

Have You Wondered Why?

Have you ever wondered WHY God is silent? Have you experienced periods of self-doubt when you wondered if He even cared about you? Have you questioned whether He was interested in your struggle anymore? Have you fought these thoughts until you could no longer fight, giving up in the process?

Well, I have been here and lived to tell about it. If you are like me, you answered yes to at least one of the questions above. If that is the case, I have some good news for you…God loves you! He IS interested in you! He loves you more than you can imagine! He wants you to stop fighting and relax.

He Has His Reasons

God is not sitting on His throne laughing at your struggle. He is not too busy to help. He has not forgotten you or your struggle. Instead, there are other, legitimate reasons that might explain why God is silent in response to some of your prayers. Knowing these possible reasons has made it so much easier for me to handle it when God is silent.

However, the following five reasons are not exclusive. There are likely more reasons God is silent, but these should cover the majority of your situations. I do not promise that your specific situation falls into one of these categories, but I encourage you to pray through them to see if it does.

1. The Timing Is Not Yet Right

There are many times in the Bible when one of God’s people was facing circumstances that drove them to prayer. In some of these cases, God is silent for a time. It might be years later before He answers and gives them direction in their specific situation.

In these cases, His answer was simply delayed because circumstances were not yet ready for His perfect timing. It is not our place to question His timing. We are only to trust Him in this. If we are faithful to wait, He will answer when the time is right.

2. He Has Already Given You The Answer

There are two different ways that this reason can apply. First, if you are asking Him to help you with a question that He has already answered in His Word, then you should not be surprised at His silence.

Too often, we want to skip reading the directions and jump immediately to the help line! We should read and study His Word to the extent that we are not constantly asking for help He has already provided.

Other times, we actually go back to God for answers that He has already shown us on previous occasions. Maybe we have forgotten these answers or maybe we are hoping for a different answer! Whatever the case, He might remain silent until we realize His answer will not change.

3. He Is Pushing You To Mature

This is one that I really struggled with. There was a time in my walk when I felt God was giving me step-by-step directions for the path I was to take. I followed in faith and expected those clear directions to continue.

When I faced new choices, I expected more step-by-step directions. When they did not come, I got very frustrated. Then I read how Paul described those Christians that were still feeding on milk when they should be maturing to eat solid food (Hebrews 5:12-13).

It could be that God is silent in your current situation because He is helping you to develop your decision-making muscles. He is trying to help you along in the maturing process.

Don’t fight it! Consider all He has shown you along the way and make the best choice you can. He is faithful to walk with you through the process and give you strength as needed.

4. Sin Is In The Way

This reason is difficult as well. It is hard because we are so often blind to our own sin. Unfortunately, God is not. He has provided a way for us to get rid of it (through forgiveness based on Christ’s blood and our repentance).

However, if we are blind to the sin or enamored with it to the point of clinging to it, then we are not going to be heard in our prayer. If God is silent with you, pray instead that He would reveal to you any sin that is between you and Him. Then repent of this and move forward in relationship with Him!

5. He Doesn’t Care

Before you jump, hear me out! Clearly, this reason is not what it seems at first. Sure, God cares about you and the decision you are facing! What I mean instead is that maybe He is giving YOU the choice.

God has given us free will and an unbelievable life to experience. In some cases, I believe He simply wants you and me to decide for ourselves which way we would rather go. Either choice is fine with Him!

If both choices line up with Scripture and pass THIS TEST from my previous post, then you might just be free to take either path with God’s blessing! Don’t let the freedom scare you – embrace it!

Have you experienced His silence?

How did you react? What were your thoughts?

Do any of these reasons for His silence help to ease your mind?