“Hello, God. It’s me again. You know, your servant Barbara Benton. I am checking in again because it seems like you are not responding.”
Have you ever felt this way? I have! Recently, I have had heavy things on my mind and in my heart. Heaviness tries to go to bed with me and wake up with me. My “hot line” to God seems barely lukewarm. Yep, here I am, national speaker, counselor to others, and God seems silent. Some days, I have felt like a third sister to Lazarus. Barbara, Mary, and Martha thinking, “Lord, where are you!”
One morning our grandson Joseph was visiting. Joseph is on the autism spectrum, so there are things He does not quite understand yet. But there is one thing Joseph gets very well – singing the praises of God.
My mind was on the heavy things of life, and silently I was crying out to God. Suddenly Joseph began to sing aloud the words of a song. I was not familiar with the song, so I listened carefully and wrote down the words, so I could find the song. “Your Love Never Fails” is the name of the song.
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night
But joy comes in the morning.
And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that you love me
Your love never fails
Joseph sang the song over and over and over. He walked and sang. He sat and sang. He sang! The words began to penetrate my heart. God was singing to me through the words of a child who does not always understand things, but who does understand the joy of praise.
When God says that His ways are not our ways, He is not kidding! (Isaiah 55:8) I love the encounters with God where He breaks into my life with great power, fixes my situation, and waters my garden of faith. I love that experience! Don’t you?
There are times we will also experience a season when life presses in on us, or when life leaves us shattered and darkness descends. We cry out to the God who can change anything, the God who loves us, and He seems silent, even absent.
As I pondered the song and the seeming silence of God, He seemed to break through and say, “Barbara, just wait. I am not finished with the conversation.”
Are oceans still raging around me? Indeed, they are! While God might seem silent in our pain, joy comes in the morning. God might be silent, but He is not still!
“It is good that a man or woman should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” – Lamentations 3:26