Divine Silence? Our Feeling of Emptiness

Following God’s victory at Mount Carmel, the prophet Elijah fled from the vengeful anger of Queen Jezebel. After providing food, water, and rest for His exhausted and depressed servant, God told Elijah to stand at the entrance to the cave in which he was resting at Mount Horeb. First came a powerful wind, “but the Lord was not in the wind.” Then came an earthquake and a fire, but He wasn’t in those either. Finally, God spoke to Elijah in a “gentle whisper” or a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:1–18).

Elijah had been feeling spiritually empty. He needed to know that God not only acts through impressive miracles but also shows His love in smaller and more personal ways.

In today’s reading, David also felt spiritually empty. He had been calling out to the Lord for help and mercy (vv. 8, 10), yet God had so far apparently remained unresponsive and silent.

The psalmist’s rhetorical argument is that one silence begets another (v. 9). If God remains silent and does not rescue him, then he will die and be unable to offer any more praise: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit?” Only the living can worship God, a point made throughout the psalms: “It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore” (Ps. 115:17–18).

With faith that anticipates God’s answer, David ends this psalm with praise (vv. 11–12). Silence will be transformed into praise, weeping into dancing, and grief into joy! The feeling that our final destiny is the pit of death is a horrible one—but not a true one. Faith knows God will be faithful.

Pray With Us

As we conclude our prayers for the Marketing Communications team, pray for Rachel Hutcheson, Rhonda AuYeung, Paul Currie, Elena Mafter, Nikita Cunigan, and Jacob Iverson. May they always follow Christ and honor Him with their service at Moody.

BY Brad Baurain

Dr. Bradley Baurain is Associate Professor and Program Head of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Moody Bible Institute. Bradley has the unique privilege of holding a degree from four different universities (including Moody). He has just published his first book, On Waiting Well. Bradley taught in China, Vietnam, the United States, and Canada. Bradley and his wife, Julia, have four children and reside in Northwest Indiana.