The Heart's Cry: Psalm 13

Psalm 13

How long O Lord will you forget me
How long will you hid your face
How long must I bear grief in my soul
this sorrow in my heart day and night
How long shall my enemy prevail

Look at me answer me Lord my God
Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death
Lest my enemy say I have overcome him
lest my foes rejoice to see my fall

As for me I trust in your merciful love
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me
singing psalms to the name of the Lord the Most High

There isn't much in life that is more disheartening than the silence of God. Those moments when you reach out in faith and in hope and are meet with a deafening nothing. Those moments deeply hurt, but what if there is something more behind the silence?

What if we hear nothing because we don't listen in the first place?

What if there is silence because we are not asking the right questions?

What if there is no response because we aren't willing to follow the response if it was given?

What if we simply don't want the answer to the questions we are asking?

There are plenty of times in my life when someone gives me the answer and it makes me mad. There are times when I ask the wrong question from the wrong perspective to the wrong person. There are times when I seek God's intervention when God is waiting on mine. There are times when I am only willing to hear the response I demand, and if there are responses outside of whatever criteria I have at the moment I simply discard the response. And so, sometimes, there is silence and it hurts.

Then the question becomes, what do we do next? David heard the silence and wondered how long the silence would continue, but he still ends the Psalm trusting in God's love, rejoicing in God's help, singing for God's goodness, singing for God's mightiness. When I was in speech class in high school I was given a paper that had a quote by Charles Swindoll, which talked about 10% of life being what happens to you and 90% of life being about your reaction to it. If that is the case the silence is only 10% but what we do in response is the game changer.

+ How do you view the silence of God?

+ How do you respond to the silence of God?