When God is Silent

Introduction

We are in week 3 of Grieving with God. Last week we read the 2nd chapter of Lamentations that dealt with finding order in chaos in which we learned to acknowledge our loss knowing that, this is not the end of our story, lament while pushing forward, and cry out to God while trusting Him to restore.

Today we will be exploring half of chapter three vs 1-39 as we wrestle with the reality of God’s silence.

The worst part of the experiences of grief and trauma is the perceived silence of God. One commentator pointed observed that missing from the poetic voices in Lamentation is the voice of God. He notes how the missing voice looms over the whole book.

The speakers refer to God, call for help, ask God to look upon them, accuse Him of hiding from them, of attacking and forgetting them and not once does God respond.

1. God’s Silence Can Feel Overwhelming (vv.1-18)

Lamentations 3:1–18 (LSB)

1 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

2 He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.

3 Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away; He has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged and encompassed me with gall and hardship.

6 Dark places He has made me inhabit, Like those who have long been dead.

7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

8 Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has blocked my ways with cut stone; He has made my paths crooked.

10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

12 He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.

13 He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their music of mockery all the day.

15 He has saturated me with bitterness; He has sated me with wormwood.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

17 My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten goodness.

18 So I say, “My strength has perished, As well as my hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”

The writer expresses profound anguish and a sense of abandonment.

He feels like God is actively working against him surrounding with bitterness and hardship. The imagery is intense.

Remember how Peter refers to the devil as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour in 1 Pet 5?

Well here the writer which is Jeremiah compares God to a bear lying in wait or a lion hiding in ambush.

One thing is the destruction but the author here feels “cut off from any peace, and his hope in the Lord has vanished (v.18).

In these verses we see the overwhelming weight of God’s PERCEIVED silence.

We too experience seasons where God’s silence feels overwhelming. Whether while enduring personal suffering, or we have seemingly unanswered prayers, or waiting for God’s guidance. The silence is crushing.

Same principle as last week Acknowledge the weight of God’s Silence but resist the temptation to interpret it as His absence or apathy.

You are not the first nor the last to feel the silence of God.

Psalm 13:1–2 (LSB)

1 How long, O Yahweh? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Better more righteous people have asked these questions.

Matthew 27:46 (LSB)

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1. Lets read it and add verse 2.

Psalm 22:1–2 (LSB)

1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my groaning.

2 O my God, I call by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.

In the book of Job, Job faced immense suffering and loss, and his cries for answers seemed to echo into silence. For much of his trial, God did not respond to his anguished pleas. It wasn't until later that Job discovered that God's silence was not abandonment.

In the midst of a stormy sea, the disciples called out to Jesus, who was asleep in the boat. Their frantic cries seemed to go unanswered as waves crashed around them. Only when their fear reached its peak did Jesus awaken.

So why? why does He do that, is He rude, is He mean? Why do I call and he not answer? What reason can He possibly have?

God does answer that question

Isaiah 55:8–9 (LSB)

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares Yahweh.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s ways are higher than ours, and His silence does not mean He is absent or inactive. It may mean He is working in ways we do not yet understand. It certainly does not mean that he is absent or unconcerned.

Hebrews 13:5 (LSB)

5 Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Even when God feels distant, it is a perception that is far from reality. His promises assure us that He is always present. We must resist the temptation to believe that His silence means He has left us. We do this By…

Remembering the Promises of God (vv. 19-24)

Lamentations 3:19–24 (LSB)

19 Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and gall.

20 Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

21 This I will return to my heart; Therefore I will wait in hope.

22 The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.”

When we sit in the silence of God, we need to remind ourselves of His promises. In the absence of answers, cling to what God has already spoken in His Word. Rehearse the promises of God daily, trusting that His mercies are always present, even when His voice seems absent.

Isaiah 40:31 (LSB)

31 Yet those who hope in Yahweh Will gain new power; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and not get tired; They will walk and not become weary.

This promise should be a constant reminder that hope in God leads to renewed strength, even or especially during times when we are forced to wait in silence.

You and I must cling to the Word of God in all that it promises and in all of its assurances.

Psalm 119:105 (LSB)

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

His Word provides light, guidance, and refreshment. We can hold on onto His promises to guide us through the darkness as His rod and His staff comforts us according to Ps 23.

Romans 8:28 (LSB)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

All things does not mean some things, it does not even mean most things. All means all.

As we are mourning and grieving over what we have loss, we must remember that the blessing, the transforming and perfecting power of God, the ever working purifying and sanctifying work of your soul is not in the things or the people that the storm, hurricane, fire, heart attack, cancer, aneurysm took.

the blessing, the transforming and perfecting power of God, the ever working purifying and sanctifying work of your soul is in what is still here.

You may think, but we had so many plans, I was going to do such and such, I had saved sacrificially for so long, I was going to… I was looking forward to… I was dreaming of… I was so sure I was headed in the direction of His will for my life. The timing of all of whats happened to me is so off the rails.

Trusting God’s Timing in the Silence (vv. 25-39)

Lamentations 3:25–39 (LSB)

25 Yahweh is good to those who hope in Him, To the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of Yahweh.

27 It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust; Perhaps there is hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him; Let him be saturated with reproach.

31 For the Lord will not reject forever,

32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

33 For He does not afflict from His heart Or grieve the sons of men.

34 To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

35 To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,

36 To defraud a man in his legal case— These things the Lord does not see with approval.

37 Who is there who speaks and it happens, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both calamities and good go forth?

39 Why should any living person or any man Complain because of his sins?

Silence does not mean inactivity. God’s timing is perfect, and His silence may be preparing us for what is to come. Trust God’s timing and resist the urge to take matters into your own hands.

Psalm 37:7 (LSB)

7 Be still in Yahweh and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out schemes of wickedness.

This verse is a reminder that we are to trust in God’s timing, even when we see what we deem as the wrong people prospering.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (LSB)

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

God works in His own time, and His plans are often beyond our understanding. Trusting His timing is essential, especially during seasons of silence.

Habakkuk 2:3 (LSB)

3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay.

It will come no later and any sooner than God has so decreed it.

God’s promises will come to pass in His appointed time. We are called to wait in faith, knowing that His plans will be fulfilled, even if they seem, from our perspective, delayed.