I recently heard an idea about why we sometimes feel that God isn’t speaking to us. It was something to the affect of this: When students are taking a test, the teacher is silent. He can’t help his students no matter how much he may want to. He hopes they have studied and know what they need to get them through it. The students may raise their hands and want to ask the teacher something about the test, but the teacher cannot answer their questions. That wouldn’t help the student. He has to sit back and hope they do good.
Sometimes I feel like that student. I raise my hands again and again and ask God for help as I am walking through something hard. Still, He is silent. I get frustrated. I know that He is there, but He won’t say anything. I wish He would speak to me, but still, He is silent. The test gets harder and I start to wave my arms around wildly, now begging for God to speak to me and give me the answers to get out of my test faster, but still, silence.
When the test is over, I am tired. I may be worn from having to fight so hard to mentally get through my test. Mostly, I am a little confused as to why God did not come in and help me out with my test when He so clearly could, because He knows all the answers.
It’s then that He speaks. He tells me that I had to take the test on my own, but that I was never alone. He was there. He was willing me forward, but He, like the wise and silent school teacher, knows that I will never learn what I need for the next part of my life, if I don’t go through the test on my own, being forced to recall all that He has taught me in our times together. These times are so important. They fuel the harder parts of life. They are what He has provided for us so that we can know how to handle the tests when they come. And they will come. But we can close our eyes and lean on what He has already provided. His Word, His amazing grace, and His love, which are with us always.
Don’t wonder why He is not speaking to you during the test. Remember that He already has, and that you need to take the test in order to be able to move on. He has spoken already, and He will continue to do so. He is always perfect in His timing. He won’t forget to give you what you need. Trust Him.
