After God's Silence.... What?

[Keith]

I have been reading through my copy of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and came across this daily devotional for October 11th that I wanted to share with my brothers and sisters on Worthy. I found great encouragement in it!

After God's Silence....What?

"When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days in the same place where He was."

John 11:6

Has God trusted you with a silence -- a silence that is big with meaning? God's silences are His answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything analogous to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking for a visible answer? God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself.

Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, praise Him, He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. The manifestation of the answer in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you said -- "I asked God to give me bread, and He gave me a stone." He did not, and today you find He gave you the bread of life.

A wonderful thing about God's silence is that the contagion of His stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident -- "I know God has heard me." His silence is the proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, He will give you the first sign of His intimacy -- silence.

[Christ's Free Servant]

As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Keith,

This was very good, but I am having a little difficulty with this sentence. I know that sometimes we hear God speak and sometimes he is silent while he waits for us to grow, to mature, to whatever it is he is wanting to do in our lives, and I think sometimes those times of silence is when we grow the most because it causes us to truly seek his face and to call on him or sometimes to just rest in him.

But, I don't understand the above phrase. I know that in my own life there are times when I hear God speak clearly and other times when there seems to be periods of silence, but one does not nullify the other. I know God has spoken clearly to me about some things and I have full confidence that he is going to do everything he said he is going to do, but for periods of time he is silent on the matter, but that does not nullify what I know to be true nor does my confidence in his response keep me from experiencing the blessing of silence.

[Keith]

Hi Sue,

Oswald Chambers was born in Scotland in 1874. Language was a bit different then, I'm sure you know! That's why I really enjoy this man's writings. Because it causes me to pause and think about what it is that He's actually saying. It's not easy sometimes, is it!?

As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence.

My understanding of the phrase is this...

When you have an intimate relationship with God, you know that God will answer your prayers and bless you. Even His silences are blessings and answers to prayer sometimes. BUT, He will never allow you/us/me the option/grace to be silent towards Him. We must always be in communication with Him. The silences are His, not ours.

Does this help?

[PwrInTheBld]

Does this help?

Helped me. Thanks Keith

[Christ's Free Servant]

Hi Sue,

Oswald Chambers was born in Scotland in 1874.  Language was a bit different then, I'm sure you know!  That's why I really enjoy this man's writings.  Because it causes me to pause and think about what it is that He's actually saying.  It's not easy sometimes, is it!?

As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence.

My understanding of the phrase is this...

When you have an intimate relationship with God, you know that God will answer your prayers and bless you. Even His silences are blessings and answers to prayer sometimes. BUT, He will never allow you/us/me the option/grace to be silent towards Him. We must always be in communication with Him. The silences are His, not ours.

Does this help?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sure. I'm not good at the old English which is why I don't understand Shakespeare or the King James Bible. I need things in my dialect of English in order for me to fully comprehend them. But, Oswald Chambers writes some really good stuff. I have the book and I used to read it, but that was a long time ago and I don't know that I understood it that well then. So, thanks for the interpretation. It helped!!