37. Silence

God in the Psalms No.37 – God of Silence

Psa 22:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer

In the 15^th meditation we considered ‘The God who hides’ and the idea and effect is very similar to this verse, but it is sufficiently important that it needs looking at again. The truth is that there are times when we cry out to the Lord and He seems to remain silent, He seems to ignore our cries. Why would a God of love do this?  This psalm is considered a prophetic psalm reflecting Jesus’ anguish on the Cross. This psalm is the cry of the Saviour heard as “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mt 27:46)

Probably the classic example of silence from God is Rev 8:1, “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Again there, there is given no explanation for the silence and so we are left wondering. So what does a silence indicate?  Is it an indication that God doesn’t care?  No, everything else in Scripture challenges that wrong assertion!  Is it an indication that God is having to think through an issue before He comes up with an answer?  Definitely not!  Everything in Scripture tells us that God has perfect knowledge and wisdom and, even more importantly, that what is happening today is a working out of His perfect plan devised before the very foundation of the world. Oh no, it is nothing like that!  So what are we left with?

Probably it is because God is waiting for the right moment to speak and move. Indeed there can be no other satisfactory answer. There are clear indications in Scripture that God is concerned with timing and moves at exactly the right time (e.g. Mk 1:15,  Jn 2:4, 7:6,8, 7:30, 8:20, 13:1, Acts 3:21, Rom 5:6, Gal 4:4, Eph 1:9,10). It seems it is as if God moves in ‘seasons’. There have been times in church history when He has come in revival power; suddenly He has turned up and amazing things have happened and thousands of people have been saved. Compared with such times, most of church history seems slow and relatively uneventful.  In those ‘slower times’ it is natural to cry out to the Lord, with the feeling, “Why Lord, don’t you answer?”

So why does God seem to wait? Why doesn’t He come with power all the time? Possibly it is that He knows that if He did we would take it all for granted and it wouldn’t, in fact, bring good into us. The reality is that we change more into the likeness of Jesus in the hard times, not the times of great blessing. The times of God appearing to remain silent are, in truth, times of testing for us, times that reveal what we’re really like. One day Jesus told a parable, “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Lk 18:1) It was about a widow who pleaded with a judge who apparently wouldn’t reply. Eventually he did, just because she went on and on. Listen to how Jesus concluded it: “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:6-8). Look at what he’s saying. Yes God will eventually deal with the issue, but in the meantime, if I should return, will I find you in a position of faithfulness?

When God appears silent, will we still remain truth to our faith and to Him? Yes, God is waiting for something to happen before He replies, but that something may just be your right response in the situation, your affirmation of love for Him, your declaration of trust in Him. For such reasons the Lord remains silent. If the Lord remains silent, He has a good reason. You can keep asking, but you may have to wait a while for the answer.

36. Anger

God in the Psalms No.36  – God of anger

Psa 21:9 In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them.

There are some things about the Lord that make us do a double-take. Is the Lord really like this? On one hand we’re told that God is love (1 Jn 4:8), so how, we wonder can He also be a God of anger, a God of wrath who destroys people? This needs thinking about!

Let’s start with that incredible man of God, Moses: Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.” (Ex 4:14,15).   This is where looking at the context is important, for this comes near the end of a long conversation where the Lord has answered all of Moses’ questions, explained what would happen, given two miraculous signs and still Moses says, “send someone else to do it.” There is nothing more that God could say or do more than He has already done in this conversation. Moses’ response is now just selfish obtuseness and there is no excuse for it. God’s anger has been slow to come but anger is the only response to it.

So what is anger?  A Bible dictionary definition is, “a feeling of displeasure resulting from injury, mistreatment, opposition, etc.” It is a natural, right and just response in certain circumstances. We so often link anger or wrath with a quick, hasty and selfish response to an offence, but with God it is the exact opposite. It is a slow, measured and concerned response of justice. It is slow (Psa 103:8) because God doesn’t just react to people, He gives a fully measured, perfect response to the situation. The anger or wrath of the Lord is not a capricious self-concerned response, but a slow concerned response. We might nod at someone’s sin and excuse or ignore it  but God knows that unrestrained sin spreads and destroys so He first speaks against it, speaks and speaks again, and then acts against it. A willful ignoring of His calls is just that, a willful ignoring! It is an act of stupid rebellion; it is pure folly. Stop and think what emotions you could express: happiness at it. Well that is obviously stupid! Neutral and unfeeling?  How can you remain unfeeling about a gross crime?  Our problem sometimes is that we simply don’t feel enough, we don’t think enough about the crime. If you were a husband and father and your house was invaded by an armed gang and you were tied up and your wife and daughter raped in front of your eyes, what would you be feeling? Happiness? Don’t be silly!  Passive neutrality? You’ve got to be joking! It will be absolute, total, hostile anger. Everything in you will be blazing against them – and rightly so!

So why do we wonder, when perfect, beautiful God who calls out and calls out and calls out and has to watch increasing (because it is increasing before He acts) stupidity, eventually expresses anger?  The answer has to be because we simply are blind to the awfulness of the stupidity. Why does God judge and destroy?  To stop the spread of destructive sin. As someone has said, the incredible thing is not that God destroys one or two individuals, but that He doesn’t destroy all of us!  That is the wonder of the Cross! It is God’s means of diverting His righteous anger over sin. Why does He ever act against sinners then?  So save the situation getting worse, to save others from the spreading destructive nature of what this person or people do.