Why God Is Silent Over Our Troubles

Often times, when a great disaster such as a fatal lorry accident, a destructive flood, a shattering earthquake or a slashing epidemic disease etc, befall some God-fearing men, people react by immediately asking: ��If God is really there, why did He allow that to happen?�� Or, ��Why should God be silent to all the sufferings of the people?�� Indeed, the silence of God has been a subject of dispute in several societies and a number of reasons have been advanced to explain it. First, let�s look at the negative reasons. There are those who consider the silence as an indication that there is no God at all. For, to them, if there is any God, he would speak or act immediately to save situations respecting his own God-fearing children. There are also the materialists who think that there is no personal God to order the affairs of men; but only a Cosmic Force whose laws govern the universe and that everything is at the �mercy of the blind side of the Cosmic Force, but is not due to the power of God�. That means no God has any power over any disaster. Thus a lorry accident is due to an ill -luck. Then there are those who believe that there is God, but He is either unwilling to interfere with, or is indifferent to, what pertains to the world because he has given every one the complete free will and talent to do whatever he wants, or to be wherever he wants. That is to say, a lorry accident for instance happens when a man (the driver)misapplies or under-utilizes his free-will talent; or a flood becomes a disaster to a person, because he chooses to stay where the flood is ,or he does not use his faculties (or talent) enough to prevent them. Others negatively think that God is so much involved with the affairs in his own city, heaven, that he remains unobservant to what happens to the world�s society. But God�s silences are due to several positive reasons. The first is his paternal justice. This demand that if any one recognizes God as a father who can help or defend him, it is his bounden duty to first call on Him as a father and tell Him all he wants and he will get whatever he wants. God once told Prophet Jeremiah ��Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know� I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and society.�� (Jeremiah 33:3:6). The main principle in God�s paternal justice is simple: ��a call�� to the father. In other words, silence from a son is equal to silence from the father, because the father feels much disregarded or disrespected when the son is silent. So it is a question of: �� ibi you sabi me, me too I sabi you; ibi you no sabi me, me too I no sabi you.�� (If you know me I too know you, if you don�t know me, I too don�t know you). This, in point of logic, does not make God look unmerciful in the suffering of those who do not sabi (know) him or call upon him. Fact is, God does not break his principles of law which he Himself has made for mankind to obey. God�s silence is strictly according to the principle of paternal justice. There is, in regard to this question of paternal justice, a tricky point concerning God�s prolonged silence, to those who even strongly call on Him as a father. The answer is straight forward: the inability of believers to call under the correct or suitable prayer conditions such as: �confession�� of their sins, ��calling��, with unforgiving heart, inhumility and disobedience to God�s commandments� all of which produce stumbling blocks which make prayers go unheeded. God�s silence might also be due to other positive reasons, namely God�s testing of the believers faith, God�s re-orientation plan for the believer or God�s unexpected miracles. The faith-testing silence of God is confirmed by the Scripture. In Genesis 22:1 Moses writes: ��some time later God tested Abraham�� by asking that his beloved son Isaac should be sacrificed to Him. Job was tested by God�s prolonged silence to his supplications for the healing of his sickness. Job�s tenacity of purpose, in spite of God�s unusual silence, remained unwaived. And he continued to declare ��When He has tested me, I will come forth as a gold (Job 23:10) Job understood God�s silence as a test! Next is God�s re � orientation plan. By his silence, God often intentionally creates ample room or gives sufficient time to the believer to change his ways: to repent and reorient his lifestyles; or to change the ways of the person about whom he is praying. Take the latter case. God displayed initial silence to the prayers of Christ�s early Apostles who, from AD33 onwards, were being persecuted by Saul (St. Paul). After well over 3 years of silence to the Apostle�s prayers, God, through Christ, reoriented Saul to become the converted St. Paul in AD37. Lastly is God�s mysterious silence. One might consider God�s 38 years silence to the cripple who In vain had struggled to be healed in the pool of Bethsaida .The man mysteriously met his miraculous healing in a split second from Jesus Christ so that the Glory of God was manifested. God undoubtedly wanted the man to be a believer in Christ one day! Certainly, an understanding of Gods silence will help believers to be tolerant, and this will help believers to patiently wait for answers to their patients (Psalm 40:1). Or that will help them pray more fervently to forcibly get their petitions answered (Matthew 11:12). If God has become silent to you, first examine your prayer condition, remain steadfast in your demands, and patiently wait on Him to perform His miracles.