God used times of silence to change you.

After floating silently for five months without being able to see where he was going, having no idea of the conditions outside the boat, wondering if it would ever come to an end....things finally began to happen....the Bible says, "God remembered Noah." He sent a wind to move the ark and the waters receded and the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. You can imagine Noah's relief to know that the ark was not going to be his home forever. The first thing Noah did was to remove the covering and saw that the ground was dry. This was ten and a half months after the flood began. He saw that the water had receded but Noah didn't come out yet. Then a month and 27 days later he could see that it was growing increasingly dry. But Noah still did not come out of the ark....not until God finally spoke again and invited him out.

Now what effect did this time of God's silence have on Noah? Think about the "before and after". Before the flood Noah was the only righteous person on the earth. II Peter 2:5 says he was "...THE preacher of righteousness." With all the corrupted half-demon people running around, he must have felt that he was pretty special. But when he floated in the boat....when he seemed forgotten by God, he was able to notice the tension that existed between him and his sons and their families. He understood his capacity for to be angry with God, and to feel sorry for himself. The awful realization dawned on Noah that he was going to start the world again, and his heart was as much in need of the grace of God as anyone else. He saw that he was not a good specimen on which to build a new earth. He found out that he was as capable of tawdry and angry and embarrassing and had godless behavior as anyone else. This time of silence showed Noah all this. God often teaches you lessons like this when He's quiet? You see, as long as you can compare yourself to other people, you can fool yourself. But when you are put in some kind of wilderness and there's nothing but the spiritual reality of who you are on the inside to occupy your thoughts, the awful discovery begins to take place: You see that you are capable of sin. You see that you are not as great and courageous and godly as you think you are. You discover your weakness and shortcomings.

So, God used this time of silence to change Noah....to mature his faith and make him into a man who realized how much he needed God....the type of person on whom God could rebuild humanity. And that is how it is with you. In fact, the kind of faith that God values most develops in these times when He seems to be silent.

Real faith.... requires times of silence from God to test it and make it stronger. And the stress of silence can make your faith in God stronger. Noah's experience shows you that your faith is strengthened and matured in times of crisis when God seems to be silent.