When God Is Silent

“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God!” (Psalm 83:1)

Ever wonder where God is? Ever think He may not being attention to the affairs of the world? Or the events of your own life?

We have all had those passing thoughts, and so do Asaph. The psalmist is speaking freely to God; he was tired of feeling like God was asleep.

For God to be silent is no small matter. If the people are to be protected, God must not remain silent. Remember back in Psalm 28:1, David wrote, “To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock: do not be silent to me, lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.” It would be a guaranteed end! You might look at it this way:

The enemies activity – God’s silence = our undoing

If God were truly and always silent, we are to be pitied. All our troubles would overwhelm and crush us. For the child of God, the silence of God can be devastating.  

Is God silent? Sometimes. Is God absent? Nope. When it seems that God is saying and doing nothing, rest assured that He is working. He may not be as noisy as the enemy, but He is more powerful.

And the psalmist comes to realize this in the verses that follows: “For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant – the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Sela. Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, ‘Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.’ O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.  As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane! Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:2-18).

Christians need not doesn’t, because God trumps despair. He trumps every enemy; He trumps every trouble.