Word of Encouragement (6/3/2026)

To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary (Ps. 28:1-2)‍

Yesterday, we reflected on the importance of being heard by God (“be not deaf to me”; “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy). Today, we want to reflect on the importance of hearing from God (“if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit”).

We don’t know whether David offered this petition after God had been silent to him for a time, or as a way of asking for a speedy answer from God. It is likely the latter, considering the conditional form of the petition: “…if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.” But we can also imagine that David was beginning to sense God’s silence toward him in a time of crisis for him.

But what did David mean by God being silent? As far as we can see in the biblical narratives, God did not communicate directly with him; He communicated to him through the prophets. David did compose many Psalms under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But to be inspired does not necessarily mean to be spoken to. The Holy Spirit can engender thoughts and ideas in His servants without direct verbal communication.

The expressions of God being silent to him may simply be about an absence of God’s response to his prayer. The expression of God hearing his prayer means much more than our words being registered in the mind of God; it also includes the meaning of God answering our prayers. The expression of God speaking to us means something similar. For God to be silent means, then, that He is not responding to our prayers.

David may also have been referring to a sense of God’s presence in his life. When we sense His nearness, it is more than just a vague, fuzzy feeling. One of the effects is a heightened awareness of, and sensitivity to, God’s Word. We feel like God’s Word has ready and easy access to our minds and hearts. Maybe it was in this sense that David spoke of God being silent to him—that sense of access being blocked.

Let us affirm that God is never silent because He has already spoken in His Word. Yes, God can take the light of His countenance away from His people for a time. But that is not the same as His presence; rather, it is their sense of God’s presence, which is taken away. What David prayed for was that subjective experience of God’s nearness. And we, too, can feel like God is silent toward us. But let us not think that God has abandoned us. Let us pray as David did, not because we doubt God’s nearness to us, but because we want to experience it at all times.