I'm by no means a God-expert. And I'm certainly not a parental expert. But I wonder if those times when God is silent, it might not be a little like parenting.
You know the God-is-silent routine, right?
Prayers seems like they hit the ceiling and fall right back down. You talk to God and it feels like a cosmic echo chamber: empty, void, bouncing without landing anywhere. You need some movement and some guidance - you'd take writing on the wall, a fleece on the ground, anything - but there's nothing. On the other end of the line, nada. Your text doesn't get a reply. It maybe feels like not only is God not picking up, but doesn't even has His phone with Him.
You get the idea.
God could be silent for 1000 reasons. Most of them remain mysterious to me. But sometimes, when He is silent, I wonder if it's because He's a good father. I have a kid who tries, at times, to draw out a reaction by stating something ludicrous or possibly even rude. It's a childish attempt to gain attention and we, generally as parents, don't even pause in conversation to acknowledge it because we want that one to know that it's not a good communication skill, not good relationship building, and does not lead to good character.
We're just silent.
The idea is that there is something deeper to be discovered and a stronger, healthier way to relate. And I think God probably does the same. In order to wait us out, be patient until we discover a stronger, healthier way to relate, He's quiet. He give us the room provided by His silence to actually listen to our hearts and see what's in our soul.
And when we bring that stuff to Him, He's always willing to talk about that. He loves dealing with our hearts. And so sometimes He's silent.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
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