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Jeremiah
J. Johnston
God’s Silence Is Biblical, Personal, Common,
and Not Always a Bad Thing
An errant understanding of God produces an
inconsistent spiritual life. Bad theology inculcates incorrect thinking.
There is an erroneous understanding within
the church that God’s silence equals His chastisement in our life.
Of course, chastisement is a word we rarely
hear in modern “Churchianity” today, but it is found in the Bible.
Chastisement is the experience of God’s
discipline in our lives.
and God’s chastisement are very
different things, and certainly not synonymous.
If God is silent to us, it does not
automatically mean that He is disciplining us.
Recall the episode in
John’s gospel in which Jesus saw a blind man and His own disciples queried, “Rabbi,
who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2).
Jesus’ answer
corrected the errant theology of first- century Judaism (and some modern
Christianity), “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that
the works of God might be displayed in him” (verse 3).
Jewish families in the first century who
suffered with handicaps, birth defects, or special needs were considered
outcasts.
I am sure they felt God was distant.
God’s silence is not always linked to sin.
If you are experiencing the silence of God,
do not believe the lie that you are a second-tier, second-rate Christian.
In reality, it is possible, even probable,
that it means quite the opposite.
God has entrusted you with His apparent
silence for a greater reason.
Trust is the central issue that needs your
focus.
Will you trust God to straighten out this
mess in your life?
Will you trust God to see you through the
desert? Will you trust God, even when He says no or wait or not now?
The Bible is a time machine, a portal to the
historical past, providing access to examples of common men and women
transcending extremely difficult moments with profound courage and faith.
As we search the Scriptures for answers to
the unanswered questions, we must remember the Bible is history, not mythology.
The stories of the Bible exhibit
verisimilitude with the reality of the world in which the stories take place.
In Latin veritas (root is ver, meaning
“veracity, verifiable”) means genuine or true; similitude means similar or
likeness.
Therefore, as historians and biblical
scholars, when we say the New Testament exhibits verisimilitude with the first
century, we are noting that the contents of the biblical narrative correspond
with what we know of the era the document describes.
In other words, the Bible finds its place in
the ongoing cut and thrust of history and there is tremendous overlap when one
compares the sacred Judeo-Christian manuscripts with other extant documents,
inscriptions, and archeological findings from antiquity.
We can have an abundance of confidence that
the Bible speaks of real people in real places, with real ceremonial and
cultural customs, who are trusting God through the vicissitudes of life.
Accordingly, have you considered that God’s
silence is biblical?
It is usually a surprise to the casual reader
of the Bible that several of the major Bible characters faced moments of
deafening silence from God.
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are, God
The narrative of Abram and Sarai (later to
become Abraham and Sarah) serve as a series of mountain-peak passages in the
Old Testament.
In studying the carefully recorded chronology
of Abraham’s life in Genesis 12–18, these seven chapters serve as a window into
the twenty-five most important years of his family’s life.
We learn that Abram and Sarai experienced
nearly twenty-five years of God’s silence.
The first period was ten years (see Genesis 12–16), and the second
period was thirteen additional years (see Genesis 17–18).
Even God’s closest
friends are not exempt from experiencing God’s silence: “The Scripture was
fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness’ — and he was called a friend of God” (James 2:23).
When we encounter Abram and Sarai in the
early pages of God’s story they are quite ordinary.
Even so, against all odds, they are able to
exhibit faith in God with reckless abandon.
After all, Abram, along with this family,
trusted in this personal God, Yahweh (“I Am”), which means the self-existent
One, and relocated to a new region called Canaan.
If you read too quickly through Genesis
11:27–12:4, you will miss the fact that when Abram responded to God’s call on
his life, he left behind his heritage, his rightful land, his extended family,
and all of his eventual inheritance to follow Yahweh 1,500 miles (2,400 km)
from Ur (modern-day Iraq), through Haran (modern-day Syria), to Canaan
(modern-day Israel).
At his defense before
the Sanhedrin, Stephen said, “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of
glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred
and go into the land that I will show you’” (Acts 7:2–3).
Hundreds of miles from their cultural home,
Abram and Sarai found themselves in a foreign land, aging and childless.
Not only is God’s silence biblical, it is
also personal.
How is that? God’s silence is personal
because it can be the agent of our transformation.
In Genesis 12, Abram (“great father”) was a
pagan, he was seventy-five years old when God asked him to leave everything he
knew to follow Him.
God promised Abram, “I
will make of you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2).
For many Christians it is not difficult to
identify with the experience of God’s silence.
While it might not be the issue of
infertility, you can probably point to a time in your life when you wondered if
God had forgotten you.
Imagine you were in Abram or Sarai’s place.
Ten years had passed since God’s promise that
your descendants would become a great nation, in Genesis 12:2.
For many years, God had been silent regarding
how and when His covenant with you would be fulfilled.
Suddenly, God appears to you (see Genesis 15:1–6) and you find
yourself standing outside, gazing at the night sky unobstructed by today’s city
glare as the Lord compares your future and immeasurable offspring with the
innumerable stars of the sky.
As with many other characters in the Bible,
and probably with us today, clarity came only in hindsight for Abram and Sarai.
In the midst of those years of silence, even
a man of great faith such as Abram struggled with God’s way and timing.
He even struggled with the lack of God’s
presence! He worried. He looked elsewhere for answers.
Abram was looking for answers to his
uncertainties, but the Lord wanted him to look up.
God’s dynamic and starry sermon illustration
provided a vision for what He planned to do through Abram’s example of trust and
obedience.
Yet when God finally spoke, with this promise
beautifully illustrated by the stars in the heavens, Abram “believed in the
Lord” (Genesis
15:6).
Here we see that even after ten years of
God’s silence, and having absolutely nothing to show for it, Abram cast himself
on the un-failing chesed (Hebrew word translated most often as
“lovingkindness” or “grace”) love of God.
Abram trusted in God’s covenant faithfulness
and he decided, against all odds, to trust in God’s character.
Abram affirmed his trust in God’s covenant
faithfulness and was declared righteous. His faith (’ā·măn) — which
in Hebrew means “to be convinced, have confidence, to trust,”
very similar to our English amen — is cited again and
again in the New Testament as the doctrine of imputed righteousness. (See, for instance,
Romans 4:3, 9, 33; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23.)
Fast-forward to Genesis 17, Abram is now
ninety-nine years old (he was seventy-five when God initially promised his
progeny), twenty-four years after promising Abram a son, and thirteen years
after confirming His covenant.
God changes Abram’s name to Abraham (“father
of multitudes”).
Therefore, Abraham’s transformation occurred
in the midst of God’s silence, because he had cast himself unreservedly on the
character of El Shaddai — God Almighty.
(Genesis 17:1, “When
Abram was ninety- nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I
am God Almighty.’”)
Thankfully the story does not end there. When
we study the narratives of the Bible, we must remember that these are not fairy
tales.
These characters in the Bible are not super
heroes or robots. They were normal people, like you and me.
One of the most relevant and rewarding
aspects of studying the Bible is that the central characters and narratives are
so approachable.
What would your response be to God after
twenty-four years of silence?
After sixteen verses of God proclaiming His
might and power (see
Genesis 17:1–16),
Abraham responds in a most human way: he laughed in God’s face.
Abraham’s name has been changed yet his
immediate reaction was to laugh at God (see Genesis 17:17–18), which was an expression
of disbelief and doubt.
Guess what? God has a sense of humor, too.
God said in Genesis 17:19 that Abraham shall
name his son Isaac (“laughter”) so that each time Abraham calls for his son, he
will always be reminded that God transcended his momentary doubts and kept His
covenant promise.
No wonder God asked a
third person a question of Himself: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
(Genesis
18:14).
Perhaps you have laughed in disbelief at
God’s apparent absence in your life.
It may be that you
identify with the father in Mark 9, a believer who struggled with a
chronically-ill son, who said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
In this case, Jesus did not berate the father
for his believing unbelief!
Jesus healed his child and we learn a dynamic
lesson: some of the most faithful believers struggle with moments of intense
doubt as a result of the adversities in life.
Not only is God’s silence real, biblical and
personal, it is also common.
Consider Joseph’s experience with the silence
of God.
Joseph was obedient to God; he trusted,
obeyed, followed, and ended up in a foreign land, Egypt, a teenage victim, sold
in a human trafficking transaction (see Genesis 37:1–36) to become a slave in
Potiphar’s house.
Joseph was wrongly accused and Potiphar had
Joseph thrown in an Egyptian prison. (See Genesis 39:1–23.)
Many overlook the
description in Psalm 105:17– 19: “... Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They
hurt his feet with shackles; his neck was put in an iron collar. Until the time
his prediction came true, the word of the Lord tested him” (HCSB).
Genesis 40 concludes by saying Joseph was
forgotten in prison. God’s silence.
The meta-narrative was that God did not want
Joseph to remain in the land of Canaan, where his family would have most likely
died from famine.
God did not want Joseph as a slave in
Potipher’s house, either.
God wanted Joseph to be Pharaoh’s prisoner.
Why? Because God wanted to favor him in the eyes of Pharaoh.
God’s silence was a test. Joseph’s trans-
formation to becoming the second-most powerful man in Egypt happened through
God’s silence.
Therefore, God’s silence can lead to our
transformation.
The faithful Old Testament prophets Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel all experienced God’s silence.
God’s silence is biblical, personal, common,
and not always a bad thing.
So, here is the key application: when the
silence is real in your life you must recognize that you are not alone in the
stillness.
In fact, you are in good company.
A right biblical framework will cause you to
think rightly about your experiences. What is it about human nature that we
constantly doubt ourselves?
When you realize that Abraham, Joseph, and
many of the great prophets all persevered and were eventually promoted through
God’s silence, we remember we are not alone.
First Peter 4:12–13
says, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among
you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice
as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice
with great joy at the revelation of His glory” (HCSB).
[Editor’s Note: This excerpt is taken from
Unanswered: Lasting Truth for Trending Questions ©2015 Jeremiah J. Johnston.
Dr.
Jeremiah J. Johnston is a New Testament scholar, professor, apologist,
and speaker. Dr. Johnston completed his doctoral residency in Oxford in
partnership with Oxford Centre for Christian Studies and received his Ph. D.
from Middlesex University (United Kingdom) with commendation. Dr. Johnston
serves as the founder and president of Christian Thinkers Society, a Resident
Institute at Houston Baptist University where he also serves as Associate
Professor of Early Christianity. For more information, visit www.ChristianThinkers.com.
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