Silent Saturday - Remembering to Wait on God

By: Melanie Moore

On Good Friday, we pause to remember the day Christ willingly gave His life for us on the cross. It's the time we look deep within our souls and realize that the sin we find there is exactly why Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice to redeem us from our sins.

"but God shows his love for us
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us"

Romans 5:8

Then, two days later, on Easter Sunday, we pause to remember and celebrate Christ's victorious resurrection. We realize that the pain around us will all end, and that Jesus holds the ultimate victory over sin, death, and the grave.

"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

What do we do today, on this "silent Saturday" when we remember the time between when Jesus was crucified and when He rose from the grave? There are many responses we may have in this in-between time. 

Today, I am pausing to consider how Jesus' friends must have felt on that fateful day. Their hearts were broken. They had just witnessed the terrible murder of their friend, teacher, and Lord. All hope seemed lost as the weight of His death weighed upon them. Everything He had said and all the lessons they learned from Him may have left them confused and perhaps, even doubtful now that He had died.

Jesus' friends were heartbroken. I imagine them sitting together in disbelief of what had just occurred and weeping the loss of their friend.

Perhaps they reminded one another of the promises He had made and the hope they needed to cling to.

I'm sure that they were also scared after what they had witnessed. Since Jesus was murdered, would one of them be next?

Jesus' friends may have been confused, heartbroken, and scared...

... and yet, God appeared silent.

How many times in my life have I felt the same? I look around at the pain and evil in the world, and I feel confused and heartbroken. Fear and anxiety start to grip my heart. I cry out to God for help and... sometimes, God appears silent.

What do we do then?

It is those times that we must remind ourselves that even when we can't see God's hand, we know we can trust His heart. His plans are for good and not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11), and God's ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The temptation for me when God doesn't give an immediate answer is to try to "fix things" myself. However, God demonstrates His power to us in those moments when we are totally and completely dependent upon Him. Instead of trying to plow ahead and fix things ourselves, God teaches us during seasons of waiting to trust His plans and His timing.

If you are in a season of waiting today and God appears silent, I encourage you to trust Him. Lean into Him more fully than ever before. Ask God what He is teaching you during this season. 

... and just like Jesus' disciples on the day before His resurrection, wait and watch expectantly for miracles to happen.