I was so disappointed. I was so eager to hear His voice and listen as He spoke. But I heard nothing. No footsteps in the house, no call from the other side of the door saying, "Just a minute, I'll be right there!" Where had he gone? Was God ignoring me, I wondered? Did He have nothing new to say to me? My internal questioning and concern only lasted a moment. Certainly God was inside His house. He was always in His house.
Convinced that it wasn't God who had run off, I searched for a way to make Him hear me. I tried cymbals and gongs but He never came to the door. I tried pounding on the knocker with more force but the door remained shut. So I thought to myself, maybe He is speaking inside of the house but I just can't hear Him. So I silenced the noise in my life. I turned off the stereo and TV. I shut up my books and talking heads. But all I heard were crickets. No voice from God. No word from inside the house.
Nothing.
Were my ears plugged up or had God gone on vacation? Exasperated and confused, knuckles too sore to pound on His door one second longer, I looked up into the Heaven's and begged God to break the silence. I'm here, ready to listen! Please come and speak to your daughter!
But God didn't come to the door and He didn't say a word.
In that silent state, torn between emotions of frustration and disappointment, standing on God's front porch, a new thought dawned on me. Maybe God wasn't speaking to me because He was too busy to speak to me. Maybe God wasn't speaking because He was busy preparing a special surprise for me on the other side of the door.
While I was standing on His porch, incessantly ringing the bell, God was busy at work on my behalf inside the house. He wasn't speaking because He was orchestrating His beautiful and wondrous plans, accomplishing tasks to bring about my future's surprises. While I was waiting, knocking and ringing, God was working.
So I decided to stop trying to make God's front door open and instead to simply rest on the front porch. I took up a seat and got comfortable, trusting that in the right time God would come to the door, open it wide and speak His words of welcome. I waited in glorious anticipation, knowing that when it was time for the big reveal He would break the silence. At just the perfect moment God would usher me in to come and see what He had been busy preparing on the other side of the threshold.
It was there, peacefully waiting on God in the stillness and serenity of His front porch, that I learned a lesson about His holy silence. God never goes silent as a matter of ignorance or an act of ignoring. God goes silent while He works His grandest plans and prepares His greatest reveals.
Dear friend, do you want to know how I can be so sure that God's silence is His time of surprise preparation? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. While I was waiting on God's front porch I heard a little sound coming from the other side of the door. I heard shuffling and scurrying and the glorious movement of my graceful Lord. And then I heard the most amazing words whispered in God's sweet familiar voice. He said oh so softly, "Oh, I can't wait to see the look on her face when my beloved daughter sees all of this!"
God's glorious surprises are always worth the wait.
And until then I'm enjoying His front porch.
No comments:
Post a Comment