Deafening Silence

I have to admit that last Wednesday took the wind out of my sails. As we gathered for our last bible study of the semester, I opened up our share time to hear how God had been at work for the last few months in each of our lives. The response? Silence. “Sometimes that happens in those first moments when those types of questions are asked,” I rationalized. “In hindsight, I was rushed, so maybe that contributed,” I later justified. As a leader, you second-guess all the things you could've done differently. Did I not pray enough? Did I not lead well? Should I have utilized the last session time differently? Still the silence was deafening. A small group leader finally broke the stillness by saying she couldn’t stand the silence.So, did God really not show up? Did He take the semester off? He would have to violate His own Word for that to be true. He says that where two or three are gathered, He will be there. Just the week before, the women had written down some of the ways God had been at work. I know God used the book of Jonah and the study on the Sabbath in my own life, as well as the other members of my own small group.Both occasions have caused me to reflect how much we need each other and how much others are counting on us to speak up. Every “one another” in the bible is there because we need them. Love one another. Encourage one another. Exhort one another. Left to our own thoughts, we are a mess. We need one another. We need to hear from others that God is working in their life. Sometimes we need them to point out where God is working in our own. We need to pour courage into others by letting them know when their obedience makes a difference in our life or the life of someone we’re praying over.So, why do we remain silent? Here are some possibilities:

• We think God’s activity in us is not significant enough to say out loud.
• We explain away God’s activity as our own realization or doing.
• We aren’t looking for God’s activity, so we don’t see it.
• We’re self-conscious and we let that keep us from verbalizing our thoughts.
• We forget. As soon as God shows up in one way, we’re now asking for His presence in our next need.

May we not overlook or minimize the very thing we need the most: God’s activity. Instead, acknowledge it. Speak it. Celebrate it. As a dear friend of mine often says, “Brag on God.”Two things occurred to me that day. First, there was someone there that needed her faith increased that we missed an opportunity to bless. Second, if we remain silent among believers, the chance of us being a light among unbelievers is in serious jeopardy. How quick are we to complain and yet so slow to praise. There’s way too much darkness in this fallen world. We must reverse that trend, me included!I encourage you to bring attention to all of God’s goodness in your life. You never know if it might be the one thing someone else needed to hear to keep pressing on. Today, what can you brag on God about? twitter | facebook