Have you ever wondered about the silence of God. Have you ever been confused that sometimes it seems like God is invisible, and seemingly not doing anything about the situation that you’re concerned with? I believe when Jesus met that lonely woman at the well in John 4, she had probably asked that question many times. You know the question; “Where are you God?” The reality of course, was that God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, had been there all along, quietly breathing and brooding over her life.
In 1 Kings 19 we find Elijah in a similar situation. He had just come through a number of situations where God manifested Himself, and His power in profoundly dramatic ways; being supernaturally fed by the ravens in chapter 17; and also in chapter 17 watching the Lord supernaturally, daily, create food in the home of the woman at Zeraphath. He also saw God raise her son from the dead. In chapter 18 He watched God send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice in front of the 850 false Prophets of Baal and Asherah; and then in response to his prophetic declaration God miraculously sent a storm to end the famine. Even after all of that, in chapter 19 when Jezebel threatened his life, he fled in fear and discouragement, and depression because of this single setback. After one days journey into the wilderness he laid down and asked God to take his life because he was the only one who stood for God’s purposes, and now look how things are turning out. Boy, was he into some heavy “feeling sorry for himself! The Lord sent angels to feed him twice, he then got up and went to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. This is the same as Mount Sinai, where God met Moses in the smoke of His glory, with earthquake, and thunder and lightning happening on the mountain. He camped out in a cave on the mountain and the Lord asked him the question, “What are you doing here.” This wasn’t a question about his physical location, instead it was a question about his spiritual and emotional condition. Elijah answered But basically saying that he alone had stood for God and that things weren’t turning out very well, or at least the way he thought they were going to turn out. The Lord then told him to go out of the cave I am to stand on the mountain and that he would encounter God. At first a great and strong wind passed by. It was so strong it broke the surrounding rocks in the pieces; but God was not in the wind. Next there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake, and then there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. Finally, 19:12 says there was the “sound of a gentle blowing,” and it was in that gentle blowing where Elijah encountered God. That Hebrew phrase “sound of a gentle blowing,” or “still small voice,” is literally translated “The voice of silence thin.” In other words, “the thin sound of silence.” Once again, in that silence, God asked him “What are you doing here.” Why did God meet him in the silence? First, God was in what He chose to be In, now what Elijah might’ve expected from an appearance of God. God does not always reveal himself according to our expectations. Secondly, even when it seems God is silent and invisible, He is at work, and active in power, even though we may not see it yet. God’s power is just as potently operating in the invisible and silence as in the profoundly dramatic. Thirdly, He also told Elijah that the reality was there were 7000 others in Israel that Elijah didn’t know about, who had not bowed their knees to Baal. In other words, there is stuff going on in your situation that you just can’t see. The Woman at the well and John 4, did not know that God has been arranging everything, and that she was about to have her life and destiny change forever.
When you ask the question, “where is God,” the answer is, He is here, breathing, hovering, and brooding over the situation. He is still good; and He is at work in the silence, creatively bringing about the “very good” conclusion of His redemptive purposes, which will ultimately be manifest for all to see, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Remember that “chaos is His canvas;” “Darkness is His hiding place (Is. 45);” and according to Habakkuk 2:20, “silence is His sanctuary.”
Those who learn to “wait on the Lord,” even in the silence, especially in the silence, will gain new strength, mounting up (above the situation) on wings like eagles.