Online Reporter
Salima Mangani
There comes a moment in the life of faith when the silence of heaven becomes louder than any promise ever spoken.
It is the moment when the vision seems to mock you; when the clock ticks mercilessly forward; and when the God you have served faithfully appears to be the one who has forgotten you.
If you are in that moment; if your hands are tired from holding on; and your heart is bruised from unanswered prayers, then this article is for you.
This is not a sermon from someone who has arrived. This is a letter from the valley, written by a hand that trembles, to a heart that understands.
Baruch Atah Adonai!
I know you’re tired. I can feel it in the way you whisper now, not the bold declarations you once made, but something quieter, wearier. The worldly thoughts are beginning to creep in. Lord when? I hear it in your prayers.
You earnestly seek Him. You pray, you tithe, you are faithful in your dealings with men. You don’t live in righteousness during the day and worship pagans during the night. You are not ashamed of the gospel. But yet, it’s not happening.
Four years ago, five years ago, even 15, He gave you a vision and said, “Write it upon a tablet and wait for it, though it tarries, wait, for it will not delay”.
But yet, time is moving. You are racing against the biological clock, against age.
Your parents are getting old. With each day you wake with frail hope, holding your breath because the words He once spoke, “The plans I have for you to prosper you and not to harm you” (Jeremiah 29:11): are slowly becoming blurry, like a promise written in rain.
Everything you were afraid of happening, simply happened. Hush, my love!
Jesus Christ said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
He also said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18). I know what it feels like now. Practicing your faith loudly has become like an embarrassment ritual. I can hear them: the whispers behind your back, the raised eyebrows during your prayers.
If she prays like that, why is God silent on her? Take heart, my love. Your saviour went through the same right at the moment He was about to utter the most beautiful words ever spoken: “It is finished.”
Instead of honour, they gave Him mockery: “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40)
Why are you not married yet, but you serve in church? Why don’t you have a car?
You’ve been serving your God for way too long. There is a traditional healer I know who can help you with this area of your life.
Even the church leaders, the ones you trusted, have told you that “it’s spiritual.” You’ve cast that demon out a million times. You’ve divorced that spiritual spouse a million times. Yet the Bible makes it clear:
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11)
So, what now?
You are drained. You are tired. If you are honest with yourself, you certainly dislike God now. There, I said it—the thought you were too afraid to speak into the air. It sits heavy in your chest, but I’m inviting you to stop pretending.
I understand. The world can become really harsh, but it’s not for the benefit of the world, it is for God. Let us remind ourselves: if Jesus had decided to give up, God would have sent an army of angels right at that moment and they would have destroyed everything. But He endured a little longer. He suffered the grave, not just for me but for you too.
Where would we be if He had actually come down from the cross?
Look, they were asking Him to do a simple task. What’s harder? Coming down from a cross, or spending three days in a tomb and rising from the dead with no voice calling, “Jesus, come out of the grave”? No “Talitha cumi.” Just the silent power of a God who keeps His word even when no one is watching.
So, take a deep breath, relax and ask yourself, “What is God trying to teach me in this season?”
Is it patience, long suffering, humility, or gentleness? What is it really? Why has this been so long? Is it because there is something I’m failing to let go? Are there idols I’m holding on to that are weighing me down? Is it unforgiveness? Is it malice? Is it pride? Is it sin? What is it that I’m not doing that I’m supposed to be doing that may be delaying me?
What should you do when the world asks you where your God is because your life isn’t producing the results it must?
“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” … “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you carefully’” (Luke 4:3, 9–10.
Our saviour didn’t engage. He didn’t perform. He responded with wisdom. He quoted Scripture. He stood firm. Do not bend yourself trying to explain your relationship with God to the crowd that crucified a perfect man.
God’s timing is perfect. He lays foundations that do not shake. He has never lost a battle. Even if the world has its own timing, God lives outside of time. He is everything that we are not. So, stay at His feet. Stay in the Word.
It doesn’t have to make sense, because from the moment He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), there is no single day the world has had a light crisis.
What an amazing Father we have.
The silence you are enduring is not the silence of abandonment. It is the silence of a potter who has not yet removed His hands from the clay. The waiting is not wasted; it is being woven into something you cannot yet see. One day, perhaps sooner than you think, the whispers will stop, the mockers will fall silent, and the God who was silent will speak. And when He does, it will not be to explain Himself. It will be to say, as He said to the tomb, “Come forth.”
Until that day, hold on. Not because you are strong, but because He is faithful. Not because the circumstances have changed, but because the cross already changed everything. You are not forgotten. You are being prepared.
Baruch Atah Adonai: Blessed are You, O Lord. Even here. Even now. — tgcafrica.com
