Silence

My Sunday School teacher taught something that increased my faith last Sunday. She explained that after the last book of the Bible in the Old Testament, Malachi, was written God was silent for the next 400 years. He was silent, but it is important to know that He was still there. In fact, it was during these 400 years of silence that the miracle of the oil occurred. You may recall that the temple had been destroyed, but the Jewish people went in to rededicate the temple and found a jar of oil. The jar of oil only contained a one day supply of oil. In order to rededicate the temple new oil was needed and that took eight days to make. (This oil was used to provide light in the temple.) Then God allowed this one day supply of oil to burn for eight days until more could be made. That was the miracle behind Hanukah. This is also how Hanukah began. However, I want to focus on God’s silence. He was silent for 400 years, but as you can see by this miracle He was moving.

Have you noticed this in your own life?

I have noticed that there are times when God is silent. For whatever reason He just does not speak. Yet, He is still there and aware of what is happening now, just as He was for the Jewish people during those 400 years. After learning about this, now I can see it in my own life. There are times when He has not been speaking, yet His hand has still been there. In other words, He is still involved in my life, even though I am not hearing from Him. These periods of silence are dotted with His provision. His silence is normal, everyone experiences it. It can be tempting to loose faith during these times of silence. We pray and nothing seems to happen, but keep the faith, God hasn’t forgotten us, He is very aware of what is happening to us and He will speak again, in His perfect time.