By Andrew Williams
Series: The Year of the Prophet- Month 3: The School of the Wilderness (Preparation)
Week 10: The Purpose of Hiddenness (The “Cherith” Phase)
Anchor Scripture: “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.” — Job 23:8–9 (NKJV)
The Teaching
One of the most terrifying experiences in the School of the Wilderness is not the heat or the lack of food; it is The Silence of God. For a prophet—whose entire identity and function are built upon hearing the voice of the Lord—divine silence can feel like a spiritual death sentence. You cry out for direction, for a word for the people, or for a sign of His presence, and you are met with an echo of your own voice.
Job, who was a man of high spiritual stature, describes this perfectly. He looks in every direction and finds “nothing.” He knows God is working, but he cannot perceive it. For the prophet, this “Sound of Silence” is a sophisticated testing of the soul. God stops talking to see if you will continue to obey the last thing He told you, or if you will start making up “prophecies” just to fill the quiet.
Silence is not absence. In the wilderness, God often uses silence to move the prophet from being “gift-dependent” to being “person-dependent.” He is teaching you to trust His character when you cannot hear His commands. He is forcing you to lean on the Written Word (The Bible) when the Spontaneous Word (Rhema) is quiet. The silence is the “final exam” of your faith: will you still follow Him when the “radio” goes dead?
Prophetic Insight
If Heaven is quiet today, do not panic and do not try to “conjure” a word. In the prophetic office, a forced word is a false word. God’s silence is often an invitation to deeper rest. When a teacher is giving a test, they are always silent; they have already given the instructions, and now they are waiting to see what you have learned. If you are in a season of silence, go back to the “last thing” God told you and perfect your obedience in that area. The silence is not a sign that He has left you; it is a sign that He is watching you grow.
The Activation
Take 10 minutes today to sit in total silence. Instead of asking God to speak, simply acknowledge His presence. Say, “Lord, even when I don’t hear You, I trust You. Even when I can’t perceive You, I know You are here.” Open your Bible to a foundational promise (like Psalm 23 or 91) and feed your soul on what He has already said.
Daily Prayer: Lord God, I thank You that Your silence is not Your absence. Forgive me for being so dependent on the ‘new’ that I ignore what You have already spoken. I choose to trust Your character in the quiet. I will not move from my post just because I cannot hear the next command. I anchor myself in Your faithfulness and wait for Your timing. I am content with the sound of Your silence. Amen.
