“We fear silence. But the thing that calms that fear isn’t faith; it’s trust. Faith is the assurance of what we hope for. Trust is confidence in the character of God. Before we can have faith that God will answer a given request, we simply have to learn to trust the character of the God we’re talking to. In my experience, trying to will faith into the equation doesn’t make the possibility of silence any less terrifying, but trusting the character of the listener certainly does. Trust allows us to say, “I don’t understand what God is doing right now, but I trust that God is good.” What if I pray and the cancer doesn’t disappear? Or I don’t get the job? Or she doesn’t come back? Or he’s still addicted? Without trust, we suppress the disappointment that God’s silence leaves with us. We build a wall to protect ourselves from the very God we pray to. We carefully nuance our prayers, guarding ourselves against allowing God to disappoint us like that a second time. With trust, we can come to the God whose character doesn’t seem to match his silence, saying with brutal honesty, “Where were you? How could you? What were you thinking?” Jesus hasn’t revealed a God we can perfectly understand, but he has revealed a God we can perfectly trust. Trust is the certainty that the listening God hears and cares. I trust the God who, even when he doesn’t make the suffering go away, wears the suffering alongside me. Trusting the God revealed in Jesus means silence is real, but it’s not forever.” Tyler Staton, #
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