Breaking The Silence

Have you ever endured the long dark night of the soul? I am referring to periods when God chooses to remain silent. Silent to your cries. Silent to questions. Silent concerning future direction. This is what happened to Israel. Not for a few days, months or years. God remained silent for centuries.

Israel still had Levitical priests. They still had the law. They still had their religious ceremonies. What they did not have was any fresh word from God. Nor did they have prophets. Nobody stood up and declared, "Thus says the Lord." Nobody got fresh words from God for the nation.

Picture this. For centuries one generation came and passed and God remained silent. Surely stories resurfaced about Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David. Elijah's prophetic ministry must have been a topic of study and conversation from time to time. In each case God spoke to those men about His purposes and plans. He revealed to them what He wanted done.

I wonder if those generations cried out for God to speak to them. I wonder if they pleaded and begged God to come visit them or to send another prophet. God remained silent.

Suddenly, without warning God chose to break the silence to a man named Zechariah concerning a son he would have. We know that son as John the Baptist. He was rough around the edges. He did not fit into the professional priest status. He dressed out of fashion. He ate like a barbarian. He did not get educated like priests but received the Master's education in the desert as God prepared Him to prepare the way for His Son.

John came preaching fiery messages of repentance. He offended the religious experts. He baffled them as well when the crowds heard God breaking the silence with a new prophet on the scene. They heard John's message and they repented as well as following in baptism.

What is the point? You may endure seasons when God is silent. You may not understand but God has His reasons. He will break the silence in His time. When He is ready and when it serves His greater purposes God will break the silence. Keep seeking. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV) 
⁷  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
⁸  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.