Countdown to Christmas: How To Handle The Silence Of God!

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

How can you and I handle the silence of God? How best can we position ourselves when God is silent? As we draw closer to Christmas, let’s reflect on some lessons we can learn from the birth of Jesus Christ, aside from salvation. His birth represents so much more and today we want to look at hope. Hope that came after a 400-year period of silence and waiting. So let’s dive right in.

The Jews had 400 years (Malachi – Mathew, i.e. the birth of Jesus) where they experienced the silence of God. Can you imagine what they must have been going through during that silent period? They must have lost all hope. There was no prophet at the time to speak to them about what God was saying. And so they might have thought that God had forsaken them. Maybe they had even given up on the promise of the Messiah and decided that they might as well just make do with their current situation. Have you given up on what God promised you because He is silent? Has the silence of God caused you to give up all hope?

First Name

Email address:

I have read and agree to the terms & conditions

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

What would you do when what God promised you is delayed and God is not even speaking? Can you imagine waiting for 400 years for a promise God gave you? They did not come up with the promise. It was God who told them. Despite that, they had to wait for that long for it to come to pass. God told them through the prophets about the birth of the Messiah. One who would rescue them and be their savior. Just to give you a picture of what the Israelites had to go through before the birth of Jesus, let’s look at the timeline between the period of exile when they no longer had a king of their own too when Jesus was born. ( it’s over 400 years) 

Between the Old and New Testaments, 445BC – 6BC ( The silent period)

333 BC                      Alexander the Great of Macedonia, defeats the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Issus

332 BC                      Judaea is conquered by Alexander the Great.  It becomes part of the Hellenic (Greek) world ruled by the Seleucid (Greek) kings of Syria and then by the Ptolemaic (Greek) kings of Egypt

201 BC                      Judaea comes under the control of the Seleucid kings again

167 BC                      Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid (Greek) King of Syria, bans Jewish religious practices and dedicates the Jewish Temple to the Greek god Zeus. He establishes the ‘abomination of desolation (a statue of Zeus) in the Temple in Jerusalem. This prompts a Jewish rebellion led by Mattathias and Judas Maccabaeus

165 BC                      The Jewish rebels (the Maccabees) gain control and re-dedicate the Jewish Temple.  The festival of Hannukah celebrates this re-dedication of the Temple

152 BC                      Jonathan Maccabaeus establishes the Hasmonaean dynasty as rulers of Judaea

67 BC                        The Roman Emperor Pompey invades Syria and creates the Roman province of     Judaea. Hyrcanus is established as a ‘puppet’ king under Roman authority.

40 BC                       Herod defeats the Parthian (Persian) invaders with Roman help and is appointed Roman Governor of Galilee

37 BC                       Herod the Great is appointed ‘King of the Jews’ by the Romans

Here we see this period contradicted everything that God had told them. After all this, they must have lost hope of ever having a savior and a ruler of their own. Are you in this season? Does your life look contrary to what God has spoken to you? Has the wait been so long that the promise looks impossible? Why does God make you go through a long wait? 

Why does God make you wait and what can you learn about the Silence of God in the waiting?

The silence of God is a sign that He is preparing you for what He promised.

Joseph had to wait for 10+ years before he could walk in the promise God had spoken over his life. In waiting, he went through refining and preparation. And when God deemed he was ready, God unveiled him to the world. God has a timeline, just like we do. And although He does not live in a realm governed by time, He knows when you and I are ready to get the promises He has spoken over us. God will never give you something if He knows it will destroy your soul. He will never jeopardize your salvation and deliverance. Therefore He will take you through a refining and purification process. What God has for you is greater than you can ever imagine. That is why He is taking time with you by preparing you.

The delay might look like a punishment, but in reality, it is just preparation. Whenever God makes you wait, it is because He wants to prepare you for WHAT He has promised. God would never give you something that will destroy you because He is a loving father. The preparation season is proof THAT He loves and cares for you. The silence of God is a good sign. Do not equate His silence with His absence. Just because He is silent does not mean He is absent.

Are you preparing yourself for what you asked Him? Have you taken the course you need to take? Have you written the book He asked you to? Beloved, what are you doing as you wait on God? Remember this, God will not give you another instruction if you have not worked on the instruction He last gave you. Check out this blog post to learn the 5 mistakes people make in the waiting season.

Because the promise is greater than you could ever imagine.

The Israelites thought Jesus would come to take over the Roman empire and finally they would have a king of their own. That wasn’t the case. He came to rescue them, you and me from the jaws of sin and death and restore us to an everlasting kingdom.

When it seems like God is silent, it is because what He has in store for you will blow your mind. He says that eyes have not seen what He has in store for His people. Will you believe today that God has an amazing plan for you that will exceed your expectation? The silence of God reveals the magnitude of the blessing. The longer God is silent, the greater the reward. What are you waiting on God for? He wants to exceed your expectation. He is the God of the exceedingly and abundantly. The silence of God is a sign of more. Hold on. He is working in the background.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Ephesians 3:20

The silence of God is a sign that He wants to give you a better blueprint.

The birth of Jesus brought so much more than what they had in mind. What the Israelites had seen was Moses, and that was what they were expecting. But God had so much more for them. He wanted to rescue them once and for all. God wants to shift you to a new dimension, and that will require your obedience. This is because He wants to do through you something that has never been done before. It is a new thing. Can you perceive it? The blueprint will be something that has not been done before. Therefore He is preparing you.

Often we focus on God moving on our behalf like we have seen done in years prior. But God wants to do a new thing. He wants to take you into a new dimension. And sometimes this requires Him to cause delay so that you can have a mind shift of how He will move.

Sometimes God will close all the doors you thought He would use so that He can start all over. And His silence means that He is working on something new behind the scenes. Does it look like your back is against the wall? Have you hit rock bottom? Maybe God has something grand and new that He has in store for you. Will you give Him room to take the lead? Make room for the new

His delay will lead to His greater glory being revealed to the world.

Jesus delayed in going to heal Lazarus because He had a better plan. You see, through the death of Lazarus, the Jews’ heart was softened, and they were more receptive to Jesus then. Sometimes God will delay because He wants you to be fully prepared for the promises He has spoken over your life. Sometimes preparation looks like you waiting and God staying silent. Jesus never sent the sisters a report that He was coming. He remained silent. Also, He had them wait. It seems unfair to some extent they needed Him. But Jesus knew that His delaying will lead to a greater miracle that will bring more people into God’s kingdom. 

God is delaying because He wants others to experience a greater manifestation of His glory through you. Through Abraham, God established a nation. Jesus was born in this lineage. And the salvation of human beings came to be. All this because of Abraham’s yes. And yet we see God make him wait for 25 years for the promise. And there was a period where God was silent. Yet, in the end, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. And the promise exceeded what Abraham could have ever imagined for himself. To top it off, God’s glory was revealed to humanity. God showed us that nothing is impossible with Him and He is the author of time and seasons, too. Abraham was old, yet he fathered a son. Sarah, his wife, was both barren and old yet she conceived and birthed Isaac.

To make you appreciate the promise more and therefore steward it better.

You can only value something more when you have had to wait for it longer. No wonder the phrase: the wait was worth it. You don’t just say this about something when you’ve not had to work long for it. And because of that, it would be very difficult to misuse it. Jesus came to earth when He was most needed and when He would be most appreciated. The world needed a Saviour and redeemer and God knew that that time was the best.

God knows when you will be in the right head space to appreciate what He has given you. Sometimes it takes the well to run dry for you to miss the water. When you appreciate something, you will tend to it and value it. Maybe God is making you wait because He wants you to appreciate the promise when it comes. 

Let me ask you this, will you diligently tend to the promise when it comes? God is preparing your heart for the responsibility He is bringing your way. Your breakthrough is responsibility wrapped as a blessing. When Jesus finally came to the earth, the Jews were ready to receive Him. Although some rejected Him, some gave up everything for Him. They appreciated Him because they could see redemption and deliverance in Him. That was why Jesus spoke the scripture in Isaiah 61. He knew the hearts of those He had called would receive the word fully.

Conclusion.

Christmas is a reminder that God’s silence does not mean that He is not working. His silence and your waiting is proof that He will exceed your expectation. There is so much hope that comes with Christmas. Although the promise tarried, it surely came to pass. Finally, Jesus was born, and that is why you and I celebrate Christmas.

Just because things look a certain way now doesn’t mean that they will never change. God never delays in answering your prayers for no reason. He always has something grand He wants to do in and through you and when you get to the other side, you will be so happy you never gave up. Just hold on a little longer. God has you in His mind. He has not forgotten about you. He wants to blow your mind with what He has in store for you and just because He is silent doesn’t mean it is over.

And again His silence does not mean He is not working. He is working behind the scenes. And there are many variables He is working out that you will only know when you get to the other side. Jesus came at the right time. Had Jesus come earlier, Mary would not have been ready. After all, she was young. And again He couldn’t have come later because Mary was engaged to Joseph so that meant they would have had to look for someone else had she gotten married. God however knew the right time to bring Jesus to earth.

Keep holding on and remember, God will never bring you this far, just to leave you here. As you celebrate Christmas this year, let the birth of Jesus remind you that God will always watch over His word to establish it and delay is not denial. If God is silent, hold on! He has something grand on the other side of His silence.