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To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit. \u2026 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever. (Psalm 28:1,8-9)

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One of the most difficult realities of the Christian life is the experience of the apparent silence of God. \xa0We don\u2019t talk about it much, but it is a pervasive experience that most of us know. \xa0The fact that we don\u2019t talk about it can leave us with the impression that we are somehow alone in this: feeling abandoned while everyone else sings their heart out in worship. \xa0It can also leave us feeling like we are somehow guilty of something or unfaithful: we can blame ourselves.

But the psalmist and all the Israelites who prayed this prayer through the ages knew all about the experience of God\u2019s silence. \xa0And together in community, they claimed it as part of the life of faith. \xa0In praying prayers like psalm 28, they declared to God and with one another that it is not always because of our sin or unfaithfulness that we fail to hear from God. \xa0Sometimes it is, but not always. \xa0There are times when God is simply silent. \xa0

Now, to say that it is a common experience is not to say that it is a pleasant one. \xa0The psalm cries out to God: \u201cif you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.\u201d \xa0In other words, the experience of silence and separation from God feels like death. \xa0Which is perhaps why Paul in Thessalonians imagines hell in these terms: an eternal separation from God. \xa0Because to be separated from God is hell. \xa0It feels like death. \xa0And the experience of God\u2019s silence can feel eerily similar. \xa0

But the life of faith is not only valleys. \xa0There are also mountaintops. \xa0And this is where the psalm closes. \xa0The Lord is strength and salvation: a God who blesses, shepherds, and carries his people forever. \xa0

In that last line there are echoes of the famous \u201cfootprints\u201d poem, which perhaps helps to tie these two threads together. \xa0At the end of life\u2019s journey a person asks God why he was absent for long stretches\u2014why she looks back and sees only one set of footprints in the sand\u2014to which God replies: \u201cit was then that I carried you.\u201d \xa0

God\u2019s apparent silence and absence is a common experience, but it is not an accurate barometer of reality. \xa0Our God is a God who carries his people forever. \xa0A God of salvation and strength. \xa0In those mountaintop moments we know this to be true. \xa0But in the valleys where we aren\u2019t so sure, we need to continue praying prayers like psalm 28 together so that we can remember these truths again and believe, despite what our eyes do not see and our ears do not hear.

May God continue to save his people and bless his inheritance, being our shepherd who carries us forever and who breaks those moments of apparent silence so that we might have life.

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As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: \xa0 \xa0

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you.\xa0
May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

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