When God Is Silent
Have you ever known for sure you were right in the center of God’s will? That’s a beautiful gift for a follower of Christ.
In 2012 we were in a challenging situation at our church in the Dallas area, where my husband was on staff as the small groups pastor. We’d lived in Denver for a couple of years early in our marriage, and when we went to a wedding in Colorado, we stayed a few extra days to pray about our next steps.
As we got on the road to head back to Dallas, my husband quipped, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if God called us back here?” My response was, shall we say, less than gracious. We had family in Dallas, and I had no desire to move. Texas was home.
We told no one about our decision to ultimately leave our church in Dallas or about our plans—mostly because we didn’t yet know what our plans were! Yet in the two or three weeks after we returned from Colorado, people repeatedly brought up Denver in conversations. That could only point us to the Spirit. I even went through a Starbucks drive-through in a north Dallas suburb where all the city mugs were turned the wrong way except for—you guessed it—Denver.
My husband finally said, “How sure are you that we’re supposed to go to Denver?”
“About 70 percent sure,” I replied. He felt the same.
We took the leap of faith and moved to Denver before we were even sure we’d have jobs. God opened a door for us, and now we’re about two years into our church plant in northwest Denver. We know we’re doing what God wants us to do, and we’re so grateful.
When God speaks to us clearly and decisively, we receive a beautiful kindness. Sometimes, though, he doesn’t speak at all.
I had managed to get spoiled. When it came time to select the house we’d live in for our church plant, I asked God to speak clearly again. I wanted him to send a Hunger Games–type parachute thing with the address of the house we should purchase inside. I didn’t even care if it was for sale. I was ready to knock on the door and tell the owners God told us to buy their house. That wouldn’t have been awkward.
I know this will shock you, but God didn’t do that. He was completely silent about where he wanted us to live, and it wasn’t for our lack of listening or seeking. One of our wise mentors listened to me whine about God’s silence, and he said, “God isn’t going to lose you. If you pick a house that isn’t where he wanted you, he won’t say ‘Where did the Wiebes go?’” I knew this, but I still needed to hear the unvarnished truth.
I learned such a valuable lesson in the house hunt and God’s silence. Our job as Christ-followers is simple: we are to seek his voice and his will. If he speaks, we listen and obey. If he doesn’t, we use our best judgment and make the best decision we can.
Even on closing day for the house we chose, I still wasn’t sure we were where God wanted us to be. But I’m sure now. We’ve been in our home for more than two years, and our relationships with neighbors and parents at our kids’ school are building. That might be the case even if we’d purchased another house, but God has blessed our choice.
We often joke we hope we’ll stay in this home until we’re rolled out because we’re so old we can’t care for it. But in the meantime, we’ll continue seeking. If God says go, we’ll go. If he’s silent, we’ll use the wisdom and judgment he’s given us to make the best decision we can for our family. No matter what, he’s still leading in our seeking—sometimes loudly and other times silently, but he is always faithful.
is a Jesus follower, wife, mom of three, church planter, finance director, and lover of sarcasm and deep conversation with friends. She also loves camping, rafting, skiing, sewing, and having people over. Amy blogs with her husband at fringechurch.com.
Photograph © Annie Spratt, used with permission
