He will quiet you with his love. ZEPHANIAH 3:17 ESV Are you reading these verses as a child of God who is experiencing a crushing sorrow, a bitter disappointment, or a heartbreaking blow from a totally unexpected place? Are you longing to hear your Master’s voice calling you, saying, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:27)? Yet only silence, the unknown, and misery confront you—“Jesus did not answer a word.”

God’s tender heart must often ache listening to our sad, complaining cries. Our weak, impatient hearts cry out because we fail to see through our tear-blinded, shortsighted eyes that it is for our own sakes that He does not answer at all or that He answers in a way we believe is less than the best. In fact, the silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His words and may be a sign not of His disapproval but of His approval and His way of providing a deeper blessing for you.

“Why, my soul, are you downcast . . . I will yet praise him” (Psalm 43:5). Yes, praise Him even for His silence. Let me relate a beautiful old story of how one Christian dreamed she saw three other women in prayer. When they knelt the Master drew near to them. As He approached the first of the three, He bent over her with tenderness and grace. He smiled with radiant love and spoke to her in tones of pure, sweet music. Upon leaving her, He came to the next but only placed His hand upon her bowed head and gave her one look of loving approval. He passed the third woman almost abruptly, without stopping for a word or a glance.

The woman having the dream said to herself, “How greatly He must love the first woman. The second gained His approval but did not experience the special demonstrations of love He gave the first. But the third woman must have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word at all, nor even a passing look.”

She wondered what the third woman must have done to have been treated so differently. As she tried to account for the actions of her Lord, He Himself came and stood beside her. He said to her, “O woman! How wrongly you have interpreted Me! The first kneeling woman needs the full measure of My tenderness and care to keep her feet on My narrow way. She needs My love, thoughts, and help every moment of the day, for without them she would stumble into failure.

“The second woman has stronger faith and deeper love than the first, and I can count on her to trust Me no matter how things may go or whatever people may do. Yet the third woman, whom I seemed not to notice, and even to neglect, has faith and love of the purest quality. I am training her through quick and drastic ways for the highest and holiest service.

“She knows Me so intimately, and trusts Me so completely, that she no longer depends on My voice, loving glances, or other outward signs to know of My approval. She is not dismayed or discouraged by any circumstances I arrange for her to encounter. She trusts Me when common sense, reason, and even every subtle instinct of the natural heart would rebel, knowing that I am preparing her for eternity, and realizing that the understanding of what I do will come later.

“My love is silent because I love beyond the power of words to express it and beyond the understanding of the human heart. Also, it is silent for your sakes—that you may learn to love and trust Me with pure, Spirit-taught, spontaneous responses. I desire for your response to My love to be without the prompting of anything external.”

He “will do wonders never before done” (Exodus 34:10) if you will learn the mystery of His silence and praise Him every time He withdraws His gifts from you. Through this you will better know and love the Giver.

The other evening I found myself staggering alone under a load that was heavy enough to crush half a dozen strong men. Out of sheer exhaustion I put it down and had a good look at it. I found that it was all borrowed; part of it belonged to the following day; part of it belonged to the following week—and here was I borrowing it that it might crush me now! It is a very stupid, but a very ancient blunder . F. W. BOREHAM

You and I are to take our trials, our black Fridays, our lone and long nights, and we are to come to Him and say, “Manage these, Thou Wondrous Friend who canst turn the very night into the morning; manage these for me!”

Sparrow, He guardeth thee; Never a flight but thy wings He upholdeth; Never a night but thy nest He enfoldeth; Safely He guardeth thee.

Lily, He robeth thee; Though thou must fade, by the Summer bemoaned, Thou art arrayed fair as monarch enthroned; Spotless He robeth thee.

Hear, thou of little faith; Sparrow and lily are soulless and dying; Deathless art thou; will He slight thy faint crying? Trust, thou of little faith! R. G. W.

Is there ever any reason to be downcast? Actually , there are two reasons, but only two. If we were still unbelievers, we would have a reason to be downcast; or if we have been converted but continue to live in sin, we are downcast as a consequence.

Except for these two conditions, there is never a reason to be downcast, for everything else may be brought to God “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6). And through all our times of need, difficulty , and trials, we may exercise faith in the power and love of God.

“Put your hope in God” (Psalm 43:5). Please remember there is never a time when we cannot hope in God, whatever our need or however great our difficulty may be. Even when our situation appears to be impossible, our work is to “hope in God.”

Our hope will not be in vain, and in the Lord’ s own timing help will come.

Oh, the hundreds, even the thousands, of times I have found this to be true in the past seventy years and four months of my life! When it seemed impossible for help to come, it did come, for God has His own unlimited resources. In ten thousand different ways, and at ten thousa nd different times, God’ s help may come to us.

Our work is to lay our petiti ons before the Lord, and in childlike simplicity to pour out our hearts before Him, saying, “I do not deserve that You should hear me and answer my requests, but for the sake of my precious Lord Jesus; for His sake, answer my prayer . And give me grace to wait patiently until it pleases You to grant my petition. For I believe You will do it in Your own time and way .”

“For I will yet praise him” (Psalm 43:5). More prayer , more exercising of our faith, and more patient waiting leads to blessings —abundant blessings. I have found it to be true many hundreds of times, and therefore I continually say to myself, “Put your hope in God.” GEORGE MUELLER

Is there ever any reason to be downcast? Actually , there are two reasons, but only two. If we were still unbelievers, we would have a reason to be downcast; or if we have been converted but continue to live in sin, we are downcast as a consequence.

Except for these two conditions, there is never a reason to be downcast, for everything else may be brought to God “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6). And through all our times of need, difficulty , and trials, we may exercise faith in the power and love of God.

“Put your hope in God” (Psalm 43:5). Please remember there is never a time when we cannot hope in God, whatever our need or however great our difficulty may be. Even when our situation appears to be impossible, our work is to “hope in God.”

Our hope will not be in vain, and in the Lord’ s own timing help will come.

Oh, the hundreds, even the thousands, of times I have found this to be true in the past seventy years and four months of my life! When it seemed impossible for help to come, it did come, for God has His own unlimited resources. In ten thousand different ways, and at ten thousa nd different times, God’ s help may come to us.

Our work is to lay our petiti ons before the Lord, and in childlike simplicity to pour out our hearts before Him, saying, “I do not deserve that You should hear me and answer my requests, but for the sake of my precious Lord Jesus; for His sake, answer my prayer . And give me grace to wait patiently until it pleases You to grant my petition. For I believe You will do it in Your own time and way .”

“For I will yet praise him” (Psalm 43:5). More prayer , more exercising of our faith, and more patient waiting leads to blessings —abundant blessings. I have found it to be true many hundreds of times, and therefore I continually say to myself, “Put your hope in God.” GEORGE MUELLER

Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord .—Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.—Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord , and my judgment is passed over from my God?—In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance.—We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.