Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent. Do not be far from me, Lord.
(Psalms 35:22)
Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.
(Psalms 50:3)
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
(Revelation 8:1)
Ada, Deyo and Timi were prayer buddies. They met in fellowship, and it was not long before their common zeal and love for God drew them to each other. Even though they were close, they were generations apart in terms of age. Deyo was in his sixties, and Ada and Timi were in their late twenties. They had similar reasons to want to seek God. Apart from their regular worship days, they got together once a week to fast and pray. The day set apart was so they could hear God and pray God's will. To them, hearing from God was vital.
This season of their lives, Ada and Timi needed life partners and to the time was running out ('Twas in the eighties, then girls married early). They did not want to be labelled "old maid" so they resolved to shake the gates of heaven until the answer came. Deyo had been married for almost thirty years, and the wine had since run out. Didn't they say that when you came to Christ, everything became new, including your marriage? Why was his needing help?
The prayers were fervent, the needs were huge, and the wait was endless, in their own eyes! "There was silence in heaven..." was an apt way of describing their situations. Heaven was just not about to budge. Years rolled by, nothing, nothing! Until, finally, Timi had a young man ask her hand in marriage. Miracle! Ada waited another five years.
Demi had been married 25 years, no child; not even a pseudopregnancy and medically, nothing was wrong. She had nothing to hold on to except promises from God's word, (many times she wondered if the words were for her or she was deluding herself). She knew they were God's words; she just was at a loss why they had no expression in her situation. Menopause was knocking, when will the child go to school, when will he/she grow, let alone marry? Was it so hard for God to give her a child? If only she knew.
Abram knew what it meant to wait. He was promised a child at 75. The child did not happen until 25 years later. In the process, Abram became old, made mistakes and just as he resigned himself, God made an appearance. Unbelievable! Laughable, yes, Sarah laughed. The long silence, broken, Abram became Abraham and Isaac came into the picture. Note the sequence, first a change of name/nature, then the promise personified.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. (Genesis 17:1-10)
Elizabeth and Zacharias were old. They were both God’s people, from priests’ lineage and were Godly. They were faithful and childless. Days ran into weeks, weeks into months and months into years....
