Many hearts have been awakened during this season where the world has battled the Corona virus. People are bowing their knees, lifting their hands, seeking the One Who alone has the strategy for this battle and every other one that we will face. In our desperation we cry out to Jesus, and sometimes we are met with silence . . .lots of it.
The church is always quick to preach that God Longs to have a relationship with us, and I believe that this is true. Why then is it so hard to find Him when we are seeking? When we carve out moments to sit in His Presence, why does He seem unresponsive? The seconds drag while we struggle to still our minds and hearts. We sit for a while and wait; then we walk and wait, read and wait; finally, we kneel and wait. Still, the silence remains. Not the good kind of silence where we feel His Presence amidst the holy hush. No, I’m talking about the silence that screams of nothingness and absence, wasted time and unrealized expectations. Is He still moving in those moments?
The good news is, the waiting gets easier. It might take days or even months to get used to God’s unhurried rhythm, but you will learn to do just that, and the closeness with Him that is conceived in the waiting is totally worth it. You see, it’s not my job to make God speak. It is my job to seek Him and trust Him with the results.
One day in a period of waiting, God spoke to me and reminded me that He is not interested in speed dating. The Church is the Bride of Christ, and He will prepare His Bride as she waits for His appearance. In the days of Esther the maidens were groomed for their night with the King by twelve months of beauty treatments. By the time the women were introduced to his majesty, they emanated the scent of the oils that they had soaked in for months on end. Their lives had revolved around preparation for his presence. Do our lives reflect the same preparation? Am I content to sit and wait for Him for as long as it takes?
We often want God to come to our level. We want to feel and Hear Him on our terms and in our timing. We mistake His silence for lack of attention. But God has a different plan. He says that we are to draw near Him first and then He will draw near to us. We seek Him with all of it hearts and then He will be found by us. He is interested in bringing us higher than what we see and feel into a realm where His Word and Spirit reign, and this is accomplished as we stay parked in His Presence. John 4:24 says God is seeking worshippers who worship Him in Spirit and truth, not feeling and sight. As we wait, we are becoming the kind of worshipper that He desires. We learn to tune out the world and tune Him in, and He can build patience and strength (Isaiah 40:31) in us as we linger.
I have never been into journaling, but it has become a really rewarding venture in my seasons of waiting. I have poured out my heart to the Lord and documented what I felt that He might be saying in return. This practice has awarded some amazing revelations! He speaks to my heart, and I savor those Words enough to jot them down and read them again and again. On the days when God seems silent, past exchanges encourage my faith to keep resting in His Presence.
The closer I am to an individual, the less I feel the need to fill the silence. Often with a new acquaintance, we chat about surface stuff so that the moment isn’t awkward. As the relationship becomes more seasoned, sentences can be communicated with one look, and you can fill in the blanks for one another. The same can be true with God. On the days when He doesn’t seem to be in a talkative mood, I read His Word. After all, He’s already said everything that I will need to know through His Book, and the Holy Spirit can breathe on the pages and bring life to the words when I bury my nose in them.
So if your heart has been ignited again to seek God, but you are disappointed with the results, don’t give up. I have become a veteran at sitting and waiting on Him. Enjoy some worship, allow Your mind to think on past testimonies, remember His declarations of love for You noted all throughout Scripture, journal, walk, sit, rest, and He will come, I promise. He might not come in your timing, but He comes in perfect timing, and we should never discount the deep work that God does in us as we learn to trust and wait.