God's loudest answers is sometimes His quietest

It has been said many times that God’s silence does not mean no.  Sometimes during the course of our walk with God and in the never ending search for His will, the silence is deafening.  Seeds begin to take root and slowly our faith is being choked by the weeds of doubt and discouragement.  God is faithful.  He often sends you reminders that you are still His.  God oftentimes in the quietest way will give you the loudest encouragement.  My journey over the past several months has been that of waiting.  Waiting is not easy.  There are moments when I question the sanity of our decisions (or insanity).  Throughout the past several months, God has given us golden nuggets of encouragement.  Some of the most cherished nuggets are the quiet ones even amidst the chaos.  Satan’s attacks us from all sides and with different angles.  He is armed with doubt, discouragement, anger, bitterness, and frustration.  He stands ready at the sign of the first crack of your shield of faith.  His agenda is to cut down the very foundation of your relationship with God.  Through it all, you wait for that one message from God.  You know the promises that He has given to you.  Those promises for you in such as time as this and you cling dearly to them.  But, He is quiet.  You diligently search for the voice of your Master among the angry seas in the billowing wind.  Like a child crying in the darkness, you cry out for your Heavenly Father, waiting for His comforting embrace.  Then God in His quietness provides you the loudest encouragement.  It comes at a time, when you need it the most.  It comes in a way you expected it least.  Nevertheless, it comes.  Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. (I Kings 19:11-12)  One day while organizing my bookshelf, I came across a church bulletin that I did not know I still had, much less kept it there.  It was a church that I preached at 3 months before.  But recently, God had been silent.  It was a simple quiet reminder of my journey in seeking God’s will for my family’s life.  It also reminded me to pray.  Within an hour of praying, a church phoned me.  God’s encouragement for me that day was loud.  On another day, my emotions were in a state of war.  I was trying to be at peace and content in my wait with God, but my emotions were overrun by doubt and discouragement.  I stole away for a quiet time but emotionally, I could not.  I picked up a Bible and a devotional book and in God’s own quiet way He gave me the encouragement I needed.  I placed the Bible and the book aside and knelt down in prayer.  I prayed and I pleaded and I thanked God for the personal message He had given to me in His word.  I shared it with my wife and we both had a smile on our face.  Yes, God was still working and still preparing us for something greater.  Within two hours, I received an email from a friend that I met in a church that I preached at.  It did not say much, but the timing and the thoughts, spoke volumes of encouragement to me.  Too often we are guilty of seeking God’s answers in a bold package, but His loudest ones are the quietest ones.  God does not necessarily come to us in the wind and the fire, but will most likely reveal Himself to us in a still small voice.  When we are surrounded by chaos, whether it be emotional, physical, or spiritual, we can often find God in the smallest way.  Instead of being disappointed in how God answered, be thankful that He in fact, did answer.  You see, God’s quietest answers are mostly His loudest.  Sit, wait, and allow Him to answer, but don’t just look for Him in the most powerful, but also in the most quiet.