We ask God for a particular solution, and we get silence. We can even end up asking: “Where is God?” No one can explain all the reasons for these silences, but here are some ideas to encourage you.

First, what does the Bible say about prayer? In 1 John 5:14-15, we learn that God hears us when we pray. In 1 Peter 5:7, we understand that God cares, and has compassion for us. And in Psalm 34:17-20 we have confirmation that God answers our prayers; He delivers His righteous. But sometimes we have the impression that God does not respond. We experience the silence of God.

Fortunately, we are not the only ones who have felt this silence. Jesus also received silence before His request in Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:36 to 46, Jesus prays, cries, and asks His friends to pray for Him… no response, just silence. The next 24 hours were even worse than the garden! No wonder Jesus said on the cross: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34 NKJV).

But just as Jesus showed us the way to follow in all areas, at the cross, He also showed us what to do when we are faced with the silence of God. We must not start doubting ourselves, doubting God’s promises, or worse, doubting the existence of God! We must come to the point of saying the same thing as Jesus: “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46 NKJV). That is what we must do in the face of God’s silence: abandon ourselves to Him. We must move on from the question “Where are you God?” to the declaration “I abandon myself to you”.

What can God’s silence mean? Maybe His silence means “no”. If we don’t have the answer to our prayer, maybe it’s because it’s not God’s will for our lives. Even if we think our prayer is spiritual, God sees bigger than our current need.

Maybe God’s silence means “not now.” Sometimes God delays fulfilling His promises to better prepare us to retain His blessings. If we are a broken vessel, we will not be able to withdraw its living water. God’s silence is not necessarily a refusal, but perhaps a way of encouraging us to prepare for the expected response.

Often, God’s silence is simply an invitation to draw closer to Him (Psalm 42:1-5 NKJV) and to reevaluate our priorities. The silence of God allows us to escape from the material, from emotions, and to enter into communion with God. Silence helps to silence everything, to hear God. A bit like a mother who doesn’t answer her child’s question. Sometimes her silence, her look, is enough for the child to understand what they are supposed to do. God’s silence allows us to connect to His heart, and often, that’s when we also realize that we already know His answer. “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there” (Hosea 2:14 NKJV).

Instead of believing that God is silent because He ignores us, let’s see silence as an invitation to draw closer to Him. No material, no emotion, only a spirit-to-spirit connection. That is possibly where we will find the right answer to our prayer.