Biblical Answer

God is not silent. He has spoken to us through the Bible, His inspired Word. The psalmist asks God to speak and not be silent (Ps. 83:1). God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain). This means that God's silence is not necessarily a lack of communication, but rather a way of speaking to us in a gentle and subtle manner. We must be sensitive to His voice, which can come in the form of a sense of warning and restraint (Proverbs 21:14). If we are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, we may quench it, and our spiritual life will suffer as a result.

When we feel like God is silent, it may be because we are not listening to Him in the first place. We may be saying things and then trying to make God's Word fit what we have said (Psalm 38:13-14). We must learn to listen to God before we speak, and to be still and quiet before Him (Psalm 46:10). This is why daily quiet time with God is so important. It allows us to hear His voice and to be sensitive to His presence in our lives. By being still and quiet before God, we can learn to trust Him even in the midst of uncertainty and doubt.

God's silence is not always a negative thing. Sometimes, it is a sign of His presence and His trust in us. When we are unable to hear God, it may be because He has trusted us in the most intimate way possible - with absolute silence (Psalm 38:13-14). This silence is not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because God sees that we can withstand an absence of audible response. In this sense, God's silence can be a sign of His love and His faithfulness to us. By being still and quiet before Him, we can learn to trust Him even in the midst of uncertainty and doubt, and to find peace and comfort in His presence.