Although God is sometimes silent, He is always very present and at work in our lives.

Christianity.com -
The Silence of God Series – Article 1 of 4

Do you ever wonder why God doesn’t answer some of your prayers – in the ways that you think best? God seldom does things the way we would do them. In this first part of a sensitive and informative four-article series, Nancy McGuirk encourages us to trust God for who He is, even when we can’t understand why He works the way He does. She reminds readers of many instances in the Bible when God’s people believed that He had not heard their prayers, or would not answer them. Later, they discovered (just as we often do) that He was only preparing them to receive His miracles.

One thing has become quite clear to me over the years—God does not do things in the same way that I would.

He informs us of this truth in Isaiah 55:8 when He declares, “My ways are not your ways, nor are My thoughts your thoughts.”

In the same passage He goes on to explain, “My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher too.”

In other words, God does things differently than we do them because He is God.

It is always when I expect God to act the same way I would, that I become disappointed in Him. When I ask God to respond in the way I think He should it seems that I get no answer. All I hear is silence.

We humans, with our finite minds, try to fit God into our picture of what we perceive to be fair and just. We want God to respond when we need Him to, and in just the way that we think He should respond. Yet, as we grow up in our faith, we begin to discover that life does not revolve around us. God created us. Therefore, He alone knows what is best.

We must remember, “Now we see dimly through a mirror.” We can’t understand how, and often why, God works the way He does.

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Therefore, we must learn to trust in Him for who He is, and not for what He does.
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We are not the first generation to be disappointed in God, or to experience what seems to be His silence. In fact, when we look at God’s Word, we find that we are in good company. As we read the Bible, we see that God was very much at work behind the scenes, in the lives of almost every person who was disappointed in Him. We realize that God was bringing each person to a greater knowledge of Himself, and deepening his, or her, faith in the process.

Nancy McGuirk - Bible commentator, small group facilitator, and intercessor - is the founder and director of the Women's Community Bible Study International. Nancy ministers to thousands of people each week in person and through a video and audio tape ministry. The focus of her work is evangelism, discipleship and intercessory prayer. For more articles by Nancy McGuirk, go to her website at Women’s Community Bible Study a Christianity.com ministry partner.