when God is silent

Think of a friend who is hurting.

Your friend comes to you with their pain.

They can’t make sense of it, so they come to you with their pain.

They pour out their pain, and ask you to say something.

But you know that anything you say to them in that moment

will fall short of the full love you want them to know.

You know that sometimes the most loving thing you can do for your friend

is to listen to their now-wordless pain,

to just sit with them in silence,

to be with them,

to be with them,

a true friend

without words.

Even a good word to a person in pain

falls short of the goodness of simple presence,

the goodness of loving silence,

an embrace without a word.

We sometimes wonder why God is silent.

We think, “God, if you love me, speak!”

But sometimes the most loving thing God does for us is just
to be present to us and to listen.

I know this sounds crazy to some of you but

I think God wants to love us

more than God wants to speak to us.

If God is love

and God is sometimes silent

God’s love is sometimes silent.

Don’t fear;

the sorrow that has no language but silence

is surely embraced by the silent Presence,

the God of loving silence.

………………………….

When God is silent

a reflection by Troy Cady