Silence...can you hear it?

Craving: Steamed Fish with Minced Ginger and Garlic

Been reflecting alot lately, on lots of things and have been praying quite abit myself. We are just finishing up on the book of Ruth in BSF(Bible Study Foundation) and two thoughts have been continuously been with me for most of this series. Firstly is on trusting God. I have heard talks on trusting God so many times and been told it so often that it isn't even funny. I mean that is supposed to be our comfort as Christians in our times of trouble right? That we are to trust in God that he will see us through it. Now I don't know about the other Christians out there, but I sometimes find this a really tough part of my faith. Like people always say, the heart is willing but the flesh is weak. Which is why I was struck by the words of the BSF speaker when he spoke on this issue. He said..."The question is not if you can trust God, but if God can trust you to trust God." This simple statement, really made me think, becasue it completely changes the emphasis. It told me a few things. Most important of which is the fact that we can trust God. There is no 'if'. There is no question about it. It also reminded me that I had to make that decision for myself to trust in God, no matter the circumstance.

Which actually brings me to the other though that stuck with me, that when God remains silent in our time of need it is a compliment. Now this was strange to me when I first heard it. Why? Because usually when we don't seem to get a response from God we are usually told to examine ourselves first, see if we would have done anything to alienate God. Have we sinned and not repented? Or maybe we had thoughts of committing sin. Maybe we weren't sincere. In truth, it could be any of this things. Yet, we forget that God loves us and if we love Him, he will watch over us. Why is His silence a compliment? Because it shows that God knows that even if he remains silent, you will continue to trust in Him, and when He finishes the story you will truly be amazed at how He has used your life.

Then again , sometimes God is not slient at all. He is trying to speak to us, trying to guide us, but we just ain't listening. Most of the time we are so engrossed in our lives and so busy complaining about stuff, or so busy doing, or so busy having fun that we just don't hear God speaking to us. Sometimes we just don't want to hear. Which is why we have retreats and get-aways where we can spend time with God without distractions. Yet....if God really means so much to us, so much to me as I claim...why is it I can't sacrifice the time to have that "retreat" with God everyday?