SCRIPTURE:

1 Peter 1:6-9 (ESV)
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Galatians 4:4-5 (ESV)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

DEVO:

Have you ever felt like God has just gone silent on you? You pray, you posture yourself, you seek Him but you get nothing in return. Complete radio silence. These times can be extremely discouraging. Seasons of silence can easily lead us into some depressing thought patterns and can leave us reeling, trying to find some explanation for the lull. Have I done something wrong? Does God not care about me anymore? Has He forgotten me? Has He abandoned me? Nothing can lead us to doubt more than the seasons we’re hearing nothing from Him. Proverbs 29 tells us that “where there is no vision, the people perish.” That word vision actually refers less to our sight and more to our hearing and perceiving a providential, God-given direction for our future. Another translation says, “where there is no prophetic revelation, the people cast off restraint.”

For this reason, I can’t imagine how God's people must have felt during the 400 years of silence that provide the intermission between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Yes, you read that right. 400 years where God was silent! Mute. Nothing. Nada. Can you imagine 400 years where God didn’t speak to anyone? I mean even if you haven’t learned how to discern and hear the voice of God directly for your own life, you can pull up YouTube or scroll through Instagram and hear from countless preachers, teachers, podcasters, and writers who have sensed a recent divine revelation from God. Though you may be like the baby bird eating the already chewed up food from her mother’s mouth, you’re at least getting something, albeit secondhand.

But imagine living during the time after Malachi and before Matthew. 400 years where no one has heard God’s voice. 40 decades where not even the faintest whisper has been detected. Why would God do that?

I’m not entirely sure I know the answer to that question. So as most things go when walking through a valley, we probably need to ask a different question. Let’s take a moment and ask this instead: What can we learn from that period of collective silence that will help us understand more about our seasons of personal and individual silence?

History tells us that during that time there were some very important global shifts occurring that proved to be instrumental in the spread of the Gospel once God finally broke the silence with His Son, Jesus. Interestingly enough, those shifts were generated by a very oppressive world super power that treated God’s people very poorly -- the Roman Empire. As an aside, don’t be surprised when the very instrument God uses to bring about redemption and freedom in your lives is the evil that is already at work in this world. Nearly everything the Roman Empire represented stood in stark contrast to and direct opposition to the Kingdom God has wanted to see on earth. For the Israelites, the tailend of this 400 year spiritual drought was characterized by some extreme maltreatment, injustice, and intense taxation at the hand of this despot regime. So not only was God silent, it seemed He had completely forgotten them and left them to be picked off and foraged by their predators.

Yet, as He has proven throughout history, God was taking the best laid plans of this monstrous force and turning them into the raw material he would use for a redemptive narrative. While Rome was laying the groundwork for world conquest and domination, God was sewing the fabric that would be the DNA for a different Kingdom.

Rome made significant shifts during its reign. First of all, from the periods between 27 BC to about 180 AD the empire had created a widespread peace among multiple nationalities under their rule. This has been termed the Pax Romana. This means that the areas surrounding the Mediterranean were largely at peace with each other which ensured that one could travel without resistance from neighboring city states and provinces within the Roman occupation. 

Secondly, Roman engineers and their ensuing technology were extremely advanced for their time. This led to innovations like the infamous Roman Roads which were laid much straighter and built much stronger than their Greek predecessors. They needed these roads built to withstand the volume of transportation of Roman troops throughout the empire. This resulted in quicker, more efficient travel and communication even to the far reaches of Rome's domain.

Lastly, the widespread dominance of the Roman empire gave way to two common languages shared by nearly all of its constituents -- Koine Greek and Latin. If you lived in the eastern part of the empire, thanks to the prior reign of Alexander the Great and Greece, you conducted your business and wrote in Koine Greek. If you lived in the west, you used Latin. No matter where you lived within its reach, if you were under Roman rule, you knew how to write and speak both Koine Greek and Latin. 

Now, if there was a convergence of widespread peace, ease of travel, and a common language, can you see the chess pieces that were coming together to unveil a master plan by a loving creator who had seemed silent for some time? Up to that point in history there hadn’t been better conditions for the Gospel message to travel quickly. Through the entire period of silence God was working behind the scenes to set the stage for His big reveal. 

This was true back then . . . and I believe it’s still true for our lives today.

I love the book of Esther, as another example. Throughout the entire book you can see God providentially weaving details together to bring about a master plan to save and restore His people. From Esther’s favor with King Xerxes, to the King remembering that Mordecai saved his life, to the gallows that Hamaan built for Mordecai eventually being used on Hamaan himself, Esther’s story is filled with conspiracies, twisting plots, and poetic justice. What’s amazing to me, however, is that the name of God isn’t mentioned one time in the entire book, and yet when we read the story we can tell He’s so evidently at work. What this reminds me is that while we may find ourselves in the middle of the plotline where God seems to be far off and not responding, eventually we can look back in retrospect and see His providence at work in our lives. When God seems most absent, I believe He’s actually most active behind the scenes readying us -- and everything around us -- for the breakthrough.

Back to the 400 years of silence. I believe the sheer number 400 is another way God is trying to communicate something to us. You see the Bible is full of recurring numbers, and these numbers carry significance. The number 40 is the number that signifies testing. Everywhere you see the number 40 you can know that there is a God-given test occuring. God tested the people of Israel for 40 years as they wandered around the wilderness, Jesus was tested for 40 days in the desert, Moses was tested on the backside of the mountain as a shepherd for 40 years before being called to free God’s people.

In the number 400 there are ten 40’s. Ten is also a significant number. It’s the number that means completeness or perfection. There are 10 commandments that make up the completion of God’s standard, God sent 10 plagues to completely defeat the Egyptian gods, the passover lamb which provided the complete atonement for sin was always selected on the 10th day of the 1st month.

So if there are ten 40’s in 400, when we see the number 400 in the Bible it signifies testing unto completion. Maybe it’s referring to seasons where God is trying the genuineness of our faith so that it can be made complete and full. The key in these times of silence is to prove “faith-full,” or “faithful.” Being faithful means being filled with faith. Faith is the “assurance in things we hope for and confidence in the things unseen (Hebrews 11:1).” So faithfulness means trusting God is still at work -- even when we can’t see, or hear, Him. 

Faith in these times means taking steps toward God even when it seems as though He’s not able to be reached. I wonder if we can glean some insight from a mom or dad who is teaching their young toddler to walk. When I taught my first born to walk, one of the exercises I did was face him and have him step toward me. The more steps he took, the more I backed up away from him. He could have easily perceived this as me becoming more absent in the process. Instead, I took an active and strategic role in the process by distancing myself. It’s the only way his leg muscles could be built. It’s the only way his steps could become sturdy. He had to learn to walk, so he could eventually learn to run. Perhaps this is what our Heavenly Father is doing with us during these times He seems distant. Maybe He’s teaching us to wobble towards Him because He knows that’s the only way we can find life to the full.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. Have you ever felt as if God has been silent? In what ways might God have been working in the seeming silence? 

2. How could this or a past season of silence been part of God’s testing in your life? In what ways might He be attempting to grow your faith and mature you? 

3. What is one way you can move towards God even if His voice is hard to hear right now?

PRAYER:

Lord, help me in seasons where I can’t hear from you or see you moving. It can be so frustrating and disheartening when it feels like you’re not hearing my prayers. Open my eyes to see where you might be working behind the scenes. Help me to be receptive to seeing you and hearing from you in ways that I’m not expecting. In the meantime, give me patience as I wait on you.