I.A frequent experience of those who seek God. It is neither an universal nor invariable one, else prayer would become impossible. But it is sufficiently frequent to occasion grave spiritual difficulty.
1. In apparent contradiction of Divine promise. Of Israel, even in Egypt, it was said, “I will surely hear their cry” (Exo_22:23). (Zec_10:1.) (Psa_86:7.) How strong are the assurances of Christ. (Mat_7:7-11.)
2. Disastrous in its effect upon the life of the soul. If it be true that “where there is no vision the people perish,” equally so is it that when no Divine voice speaks to the soul it must cease to live. As the plant withers in the gloom of the cellar, the soul that knows not the sunshine of the Father’s smile cannot be healthy or vigorous.
3. A source of uneasiness and sorrow. It is not only right but in the best sense natural that man should seek God; there is no deeper source of dissatisfaction and restlessness than a baffled instinct.
II. An experience to be interpreted. Even the silence of God has a meaning. Rightly interrogated it may prove a precious revelation. In any case the possibilities are too grave for the “sign” to be neglected.
1. God is sometimes supposed to be silent when He is not. Answers to prayer are not always at once or easily apparent.
2. His silence is not always a token of displeasure. It may be simply
(1) directive; our request unwise, etc. Or it may be
(2) stimulative; as when the Syro-phoenician woman grew importunate when He “answered her nothing.”
3. Yet it is often expressive of Divine wrath.
It must not be regarded as a light thing.
1. It may be intended to invite to inward examination and repentance. Some unfaithfulness; a falling from grace; it may be direct disobedience. The Holy One is saying, by His silence, “Come up higher. I cannot speak to you there!”
2. It sometimes occurs, as in the case of Saul, in token of doom. The gracious lips of Christ were silent before a Pilate and a Herod. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
A silent god
1.Calamity may be borne. We can oppose it to our manhood and our constancy. Menaced by shipwreck, we can breast the storm. To be defeated in battle, to be superseded in power, to see popularity crumbling into indifference--all this and more Saul had to bear, and all this may be borne. “If God be on my side,” anyone may say to all the world, “I care nothing for all the rest.” Did not great Martin Luther cry: “Oh! my God, punish me rather with pestilence, with all the terrible sicknesses on earth, with war, with anything, rather than Thou be silent to me?” “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not.” Ah! that is to be desolate indeed!
2. There are some whom God does not answer because they do not care to inquire of Him at all. The earth suffices them. Life is their feeding trough, and they care nothing for more. They never care to look beyond the narrow horizon of themselves.
3. When Saul inquired of the Lord, we are told that the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Dreams were the lowest form of revelation: yet we have so many closer modes of communion with God, in His Christ and by His Spirit, that of dreams we need not speak. Have no messages of Scripture ever seemed suddenly to burn their revelation upon your souls? Yes, God does speak to us by Urim still, and He also speaks to us by His prophets. And can you wonder that, if this be so, God, whom you have despised, and whose laws you have deliberately and habitually violated, should not only be silent to you at last? God never turns from the cry of the penitent, however bad he may have been. Distinguish between God’s apparent silences for His children, and the self-created silence of your own to those who utterly refuse Him. Oh, let us beware lest we feel the awful silence which is not God’s, but arises from our own obstinate and determined wickedness, that it may not overwhelm us. (Dean Farrar.)
Communications threatened
During a heavy snowstorm the warning was sent out that in a few hours the wet, heavy snow would break down the telephone and telegraph wires, and cut off communication with the outside world. Instantly there was a great rush to the telephones and the telegraph offices to get messages off before it was too late. What if we knew that very soon God would refuse to hear any more prayers; would there not be a great rush to the throne of grace to send our petitions heavenward before we were cut off foreverse (Christian Endeavour Times.)
