“Just my luck,” I said. “The Most High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.” (Psalm 77:10)
This is a case of a man at his wits end. Everything seems not to be working, no help unlike in the past. All that once has been such a comfort to him, that which has strengthened him, given him character and power, what hitherto has been his bedrock – the foundation of his faith is fast given way. It’s like God has withdrawn His support and the door permanently shut. Why is this, he probably asked. Have I been having wrong impression about God? Is God like man that cannot be depended upon? All these questions are probably going on in his head and yet cannot find answer to them. This writer’s faith is in crisis. Could this not be the hidden problem with many of us? When we have tried all we know – prayer, fasting, deliverance and all spiritual stuffs but nothing seems to be working!
God seeming silence is not unusual. It happened in the lives of Abraham, David the king and many others. David says in Psalm 10:1 “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” All around him were not add Ming up and God seemed to be uninterested and unconcerned. But in retrospect, one could see that the silence of God could part of His divine program that He has for disciplining and training His own. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13a). The faithfulness of God is deliberately put into contrast with this passage, because every one of us tends to suffer from the feeling that what is happening to us is unique. But many have experienced similar temptations if they are seeking to live the life of faith.
Isaiah reveals what God says. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). That is, God’s reason is above ours. We understand so little of life compared to what we see in it. My thoughts are not your thoughts; therefore, you can expect there will come times when you will not understand but will be perplexed. If we are limited then to the tiny section of life that we can grasp with our puny understanding, it is only to be expected that there will come times when we do not understand what God is doing. So do not be troubled by these times of perplexity. They are normal experiences coming to all in the life of faith. Remember, “……. all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
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