“Sometimes nothing around us is moving. That does not mean God is not.”
— Dr. Christine Rudolph
There are seasons when we pray and nothing seems to change.
The door is still closed.
The situation is still unresolved.
The answer has not appeared.
And when we have waited long enough, silence can begin to feel like inactivity.
But Daniel gives us a glimpse into something we cannot ordinarily see.
After Daniel had prayed and waited for twenty-one days, the messenger told him:
“From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand... thy words were heard.”
— Daniel 10:12
From the first day.
Daniel had been waiting, but God had not been ignoring him.
What appeared to be silence on earth did not mean there was inactivity in the spiritual realm.
That reminds me that I cannot measure God's activity solely by what I can see.
I believe God hears our prayers. I also believe He answers them, although His answer may not be the one we wanted. It may not come when we expected. And sometimes His answer may come in a form we almost overlook.
But God does not ignore us.
There is a difference between waiting while wondering whether anyone is listening and waiting while trusting that God has already heard.
Faith does not require me to see God moving before I trust that He is at work.
So when nothing around me seems to be moving, I want to remember Daniel.
Silence does not mean God is absent.
Waiting does not mean I have been forgotten.
And what I cannot see does not define what God is doing.
I can keep praying.
I can keep trusting.
And I can keep walking.
Because sometimes the answer has not yet reached my eyes, but my prayer has already reached the heart of God.
Words for the Journey
Book of Ruth Publishing