Have you noticed how sometimes God provides a quick answer to some prayers and a slow answer to others?

There are seasons where I have felt like God is silent. Years of prayers that felt like they went unheard by God. I know that’s not true; the Bible tells us over and over about how God listens to our prayers, especially the heart-felt ones:

• Psalm 38:9 – You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh. (NLT)
• Psalm 56:8 – You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (NLT)

While these verses have brought a measure of comfort, they didn’t provide any sovereign guidance about what to do or why it felt like God wasn’t answering. I’m currently in the middle of one of the best devotions I’ve found yet (Resilient Hope by Christine Caine) and one of the devotions provided insight that made me look at God’s “silence” with a totally new perspective:

In short, she talks about how when we are in school and taking a test, the teacher rarely says anything. Instead, they are silent and want to see how we do during the test. The same is true with God; we may feel like He is silent and not providing any answers during a test or challenge we are going through. But maybe He wants to see how we will do and allow us to build endurance and resilience through that time.

What a peace came over me. What sense that makes. We “study” for the times when we will be tested; moments, days and seasons of testing will come. The Bible tells us that we will have trials. This is not the exception for us as Jesus-followers but rather the rule. And just as a teacher is silent during a test and trusts that the students will have listened, learned and studied for the day of the test, maybe God does the same.

So, what happens during the test? What if we don’t know the answer? God has been teaching me about what it means to trust Him in new ways lately and the small answer that He keeps telling me is “do the next right thing.” This side of heaven we won’t have the full plan of God. We may never understand how His timing is good and sovereign in some situations – a heart-felt prayer that seemingly goes unanswered, a project that fails, a relationship that is in a hard place, or a diagnosis that a heart can’t be prepared to hear.

But what we can trust is that God is always at work and always has our good *for His glory* in mind. Whatever you may be facing today, be it a big decision or a small one, do the next right thing and stay faithful.

Habakkuk 3:16-18 (NIV)

Yet I will wait patiently…

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Devotional by Kate Aberson