Silent Seasons. They are a natural part of life, but they are usually not welcomed.
Many times they follow a high point in life. They follow a great victory when we feel like we are on top of the world. They can also follow a major trial. We’ve gone through something very difficult and painful, and God felt so very close and present through it all. Then we get on the other side of it and it seems like God is gone. Like He just vanished.
All we are left with is silence. And we begin to feel like something is wrong with us.
“I heard God so clearly and He felt so close last season. But now…I can’t hear Him at all. He never changes so there must be something wrong with me.”
Have you ever thought those thoughts? Then we heap self-condemnation on ourselves and dig a pit in our own hearts we can’t seem to climb out of. And we curse the silence. But silence doesn’t reflect a flaw in you. It isn’t proof that God has distanced Himself from you or that He is upset with you.
Silent seasons are a natural and beautiful part of the rhythms of life. The problem is we don’t know what to do with them.
We know what to do in the excitement of victory. We know what to do in the painful trials. We even know what to do in the hard work of the plowing seasons.
Silence is a conundrum because it requires us to just sit. It demands us to rest. It compels us to just be, and we don’t really know how to do that.
These seasons are times of recovery of strength. Of recovery of the soul. Space to build up our reserves again that were depleted in the trial and in the plowing.
It’s a time to gaze into His Word again, and not for material to use in battle. We get to look in His Word just to see Him afresh. To sit and ponder and regain the wonder of who God is without the distractions of the battle.
It’s also a season void of diversion where God can more easily draw our attention to things that need pruned, which is never comfortable but is always crucial to fruit bearing in the seasons to come.
We resist the silent seasons because they don’t look as productive as the others. But just because the fruit of this season is happening underground in the hidden places of the soul doesn’t mean it’s without significance. Even though this fruit isn’t something we can post on Instagram, it still has value. Silence works in us more than we can ever imagine if we will just give ourselves to it.
Don’t curse the silence. Don’t waste it. Yield to it. Silence has purpose. It’s tied to your destiny.
Silence is beautiful.
Lord, teach us to be comfortable in the silence again. Help us to value the silent seasons. Show us the absolute beauty of silence. Help us to recognize You in every moment. Amen!