Day 14, “What If God Seems Silent?” speaks to the painful seasons when we are praying, asking, and waiting, yet God seems quiet. Using Isaiah 49:14–16, the episode reminds listeners that feeling forgotten by God does not mean they actually are forgotten. Scripture assures us that God will not forget us and that we are held constantly before Him. The episode also offers practical encouragement for what to do in the silence: slow down, make space to listen, and remember that God may communicate through thoughts, Scripture, impressions, images, or a quiet sense in prayer. And if you are already listening but still hear nothing, the encouragement is to keep showing up. God does not have to feel present in order to be present, and He does not have to seem active for Him to be working. The invitation is to remain faithful in the silence, trust His promise that He has not forgotten you, and allow the quiet to become a place where He can strengthen, heal, and deepen your trust. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Hope in the Waiting - Day 14 - What If God Seems Silent
Isaiah 49:14-16 “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
I like this verse because it reminds us that even though we might feel like God has forgotten us sometimes, He will never forget us. That promise is written right here in Scripture. I also like it because it helps us to know we are not alone when we feel like God has forgotten us. If Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me,” after all God did for them, then we don’t have to feel bad when we feel it. However, just because we are not alone in this feeling doesn’t mean it is true.
When we are struggling. When we are asking God for answers to some pretty big prayers and yet we are not seeing the answers, we can start to feel like God has forsaken us or has forgotten us. Have you ever felt this way before? Have you ever felt like your prayers are falling on deaf ears? You are in good company. Plenty of people who were highly favored by the Lord have felt forgotten by him at one time or another. We started this series off with Psalm 13:1-2, which says, “How long, Lord? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I carry sorrow in my soul, grief in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” The author of most of the Psalms is thought to be King David. David was favored by the Lord, and yet he still questioned if the Lord had forgotten about him.
If someone who was so sure God was on his side that he went up against a giant when he was just a kid with nothing but three stones and a slingshot can question if God has forgotten him, then we don’t have to feel bad for thinking He might have forgotten us. But today’s devotional isn’t about that. Today we are looking at what we can do if God seems silent. Is this how you are feeling right now? Are you feeling as if you are turning to the Lord and yet He is silent? You are talking to Him, but He is not talking to you? If so, you are not alone in this either. I am hearing this is from a lot of people I am praying with right now. They are asking the Lord for answers; they are asking for healing; they are asking for strength; they are asking, and yet they feel like the Lord is not talking. They feel as though He is just quiet. What do we do when this happens?
There are a couple of things that come to mind when I hear that God is not talking. First, are you truly listening? I used to ask God all sorts of questions and pray for all sorts of things, and I never heard any answers. Then one day I felt as if God said, “You ask the questions, but then you go about your day, and you don’t actually wait and listen for any answers.” This was true. I did not know that I could listen and God would talk to me. I didn’t know that a two-way conversation with God was possible. If this is you, I want you to know that it is possible to hear God. It won’t always be words, but it could be a thought that comes into your mind, a quiet voice, a feeling, an image, a vision, a sense, an answer, a scripture verse. God communicates in a variety of ways, and if we know this, we can start to give Him time to communicate with us.
If you are asking the Lord for answers but not stopping to listen for those answers, I want to challenge you to stop today, even if it is just for five minutes, and sit and listen for the Lord. Be open to however He wants to communicate with you. Don’t just dismiss a thought or a word because you assume it is yourself saying it. The voice we often hear sounds like our own voice, but if you ask the Lord a question and you “hear” an answer or get a sense or a thought, trust that it is the Lord talking.
If you are taking the time to sit in silence and listen for the Lord and you still aren’t hearing anything, that doesn’t mean that He is not talking. Sometimes we will go through periods when we show up for prayer, and yet we don’t hear from the Lord. This can be a time when the Lord is stretching us. I have heard it described as the Lord testing to see if we will still show up even when we aren’t receiving the consolation we normally receive from prayer. It can be hard to show up and pray and yet feel nothing time and time again.
Everyone can go through periods where our prayers seem fruitful, and we feel like the Lord is with us, and He hears us, and then there can be times when our prayers feel like they are falling on deaf ears. God always hears our prayers. They never fall on deaf ears. He is not only hearing our prayers, but He is also working on answering them as well. We don’t have to feel God’s presence for him to be with us. We don’t have to hear God for Him to be working in our situation.
If God seems silent, it’s ok; He is still working in your situation. Trust that He never leaves your side. If you want to hear the Lord and you haven’t tried listening before, I encourage you to start listening and see what you hear, feel, or see. If you have been listening and you still aren’t hearing anything, I want to encourage you to keep listening. Keep showing up and giving the Lord your time, and just sit in the silence. God has told our prayer group over and over again that it is in the silence where He comes in to heal us. Are we sitting with the Lord in silence and giving Him time to come in and heal us?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. I ask you to help us hear you. I ask that you put on our hearts a desire to sit in silence with you and listen to what you want to share with us. I ask that you give us a desire to sit in silence and allow you to come in and heal our hearts and minds. I ask that you help us to not get discouraged if we are listening and we don’t hear you. I ask that you help us to keep hoping even when it feels like you are silent or that you have forgotten us. Help us to remember your promise in today’s scripture that you will not forget us! And that you have engraved us on the palm of your hands. We love you so much, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to remind you that I am starting a new series today in my mentoring group that takes an in-depth look at the promises God made to us in Scripture and what they mean for us in our lives. I would love to have you join us. You can click on the link below or go to walkboldlywithjesus.com to get more info. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I’ll nudge you. I'll tell you what to do. Please don't worry. There's nothing to worry about. I love you. I watch over you. I'm in charge. Don't worry.”