As a pastor, I've had my fair share of conversations with people who are struggling with the silence of God in their pain. It's a question that has puzzled many, including myself at times. The Bible tells us that God is our nearest environment, and His silence can be a sign that He is bringing us into a deeper understanding of Himself. In times of pain, God's silence can be a wake-up call, reminding us of our human brokenness and alienation from Him, and prompting us to seek outside assistance and turn to Him in repentance and faith.
The psalmist's cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is a powerful example of this. Jesus, who knows our pain from the inside out, was silent on the cross, but when God reached out to Him, He cried out in anguish. This silence is not a sign of God's absence, but rather a sign of His presence, calling us to trust Him even when we can't hear Him. As the theologian Vernon Grounds said, "An individual, quite completely free from tension, anxiety, and conflict may not need God, but he is not."
When we're struggling with God's silence, we often feel a sense of terror, wondering if we're being punished or if God has abandoned us. But the truth is, God's silence is not a sign of rejection, but rather a sign of trust. He's trusting us to withstand an even bigger revelation of Himself, to trust Him even when we can't see or hear Him. As the Bible says, "Time is nothing to God." His silence is not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He sees that we can withstand an even bigger revelation of Himself.