God's Not Absent

When we got out of ministry in 2005 we had no desire to ever go back. I started a sales job and started making 3 times the money I was making in ministry…that further confirmed our desire to not go back. When some trusted friends approached us in 2007 and suggested we pray about being restored back into ministry, that was a big request.  After a few months of praying about it we felt like that was something God was calling us to do…and we surrendered to that.

We had in our mind that once we made that decision that this magical door would open and we would be ushered back into ministry. For the next two years we asked God to open the door to go back into ministry and nothing opened. God did not speak. God did not lead. God did not direct.

I remember praying, “Would you just speak to us? We will sell our house. We will move away from our family. We will obey in whatever you ask us to do, but just speak to us. Lead us. We will go where ever you want us to go, but you have to show us.”

Nothing. For 2 Years.

My natural thought was that because He wasn’t speaking that he must not be present. I assumed because God was silent, He must be absent.

You know that feeling?

-Where is God in my financial mess?

-Where is God in my divorce?

-Where is God in the failure of this friendship?

-Where is God in the loss of this job?

You’ve equated God’s silence with his absence. He isn’t speaking in your relationship with a friend. He isn’t showing up in your marriage. He isn’t leading in what is next for your career. He is silent and feels absent.

But God’s silence is not God’s absence. God’s hiddenness is not abandonment.

You are not alone. No matter how silent God is for you right now…He is not absent.

Do you struggle in equating God’s silence with His absence?