Why Does God Seem Silent?

This title may resonate so well with so many of our brothers and sisters, and this can something that may as well be truly painful. But, why is this so? Let's talk more about this despite my limited understanding about life and how things like faith works.

I am no expert, as I mentioned above, with things like this. But, I love to reflect on things such as this.

I talked extensively in my previous posts/blogs how I struggled and is still struggling when it comes to dealing with something like forgiveness. It may be is in our human nature to try to get even with things, thus the forgiveness that I have been talking about so extensively in my previous posts, is in my purview as I am writing this.

I have been thinking about this title for a few days and in fact I asked ChatGPT what could be a good topic that involves reflection to talk about and this particular title stood out: Why Does God Seem Silent? And it resonated so well, not because I feel God is being silent; but, because I know some people who feel exactly this way.

But, is God silent, though? But, let me pray this first: Lord, my God, please don't take this blog this as my prayer that I want you to seem silent towards me. Far be it from me, Lord, for you know that I cannot do anything without you. I also know that you are never silent with me, you always reach out to me and you love talking to me and I love talking to you, as well, O Lord, my God. Please be with me at all times, O Lord. Be ever near to me, and for everything, Lord, thank you! Amen.

Okay, there. I didn't want this like an invitation to the Lord to be playful with me and make my title a realization. What a scary thing it is going to be.

God is never silent. But, let's unpack this slowly for we may be treading on a thin line especially for those who may feel God is being silent with them.

I certainly hope, though, that the "silence" is not taken in the most literal sense. That God isn't speaking to us personally, like in the most audible sense. While this is very much possible, for God to speak audibly to us, which is an easy thing for Him to do, I do not think God intends to do this.

Seek His face. God has always taken enormous strides to reach out to us. He is never silent and never will be.

The silence stems, I think, from the fact that people may want an immediate answer to their prayers. People, at least those whom I know who have lost interest or has given up on God, are those who reach out to God only in times of need and are the ones who are quick to forget or even thank God when their prayers are answered.

Quick to get on their knees when things are not going in their favor. This is the kind of attitude that keeps one from realizing the fragility of their lives. While it is a good thing to be quick to get on our knees, it shouldn't only happen when things are not going well. It should be at all times. Our dependency on the mercy and grace of God is just so enormous and gigantic that constant prayer and communication with God should never be taken from granted.

When one sets God aside and completely relies on his own understanding then doom is bound to follow. This is what I mean by "the kind of attitude that keeps one from realizing the fragility of their lives."

He made us, we belong to Him and to which we can almost say that God made us in a way that we will always long for His embrace. We cannot do anything without Him.

And so we can say that it's not a matter of God being silent and that we are not hearing anything coming from Him. The way God reaches out and speaks to us is by involving everything around us.

For one, everything that is happening around is a way of God communicating with us. The 'misfortunes' that we encounter may actually be God's way of telling one who has been away from Him to go back to Him, or it may also be a way for God to recognize our fragility and that we are nothing without Him.

These may be strange ways, at least in our standard, for God to reach out to us. But, I firmly believe that each of this is designed so as so strengthen whatever it is that we lack strength in.

The silence that we attribute to God's way of, as how we deem it, not answering our prayers should not and does equate to God being silent.

One needs to be deep in his spiritual life to recognize and see that God answers our pleas and prayers in a rather different way. Yes, for some it may be the kind of answer that they prayed for, while for others it may be something that is totally different compared to what they prayed for.

There was this movie titled "Silence" by Martin Scorsese derived from a book with the same title by Shusaka Endo. It was quite an intense movie. The scenario truly was God's "silence" in the midst of the Christian persecution in Japan.

People were dying for their faith, and the Jesuits in Portugal have heard of this because one of the missionaries they sent, they heard, has apostatized. It was quite a blow to them and two other priests would like to confirm this as they cannot conceive their teacher has apostatized.

So, they came to Japan and came to the reality how the Christians were persecuted or were asked to denounce their faith.

Father Rodrigues, one of the two other missionaries sent was captured and was asked to denounce his faith and if he won't, other Christians will die in his place. He prayed so intensely; however, he was not able to take this and Father Rodrigues denounced his faith after hearing Jesus, through the fumi-e, telling him that it is okay to step on the fumi-e and denounced his faith.

Now, was it truly the Lord Jesus Christ who talked to Father Rodrigues through the fumi-e? Was this the kind of answer that we want to hear for us to know that is truly never silent? No.

No, I don't think it was Jesus who talked to Him through the fumi-e. The Lord said, he who denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Thinking and reflecting about this much deeper, it came to me that for us to realize that God is never silent with us is to ask for the grace to hear and see and accept what the Lord is showing us as His answer to our prayers.

In the case of Father Rodrigues, would it have been possible that God's "silence" is his answer. God was inviting Rodrigues to lay down his life for the sake of the Gospel, like what Father Garupe did, and Rodrigues' circumstance may have been a case of having the courage of embracing the grace to die for the sake of the Lord.

But, of course, this is easier said than done and thus, all the more reason why we should ask and pray for the grace to embrace the difficulty of this life and constantly ask and invite God to be always present in our lives.

God is never silent.