QUESTION No. 11 - SUNDAY JUNE 28, 2026

Q. Why does God no longer speak directly to us?

Throughout the Old Testament, God speaks to His created beings. He gives them laws, orders, instructions, and sometimes even asks them probing questions.

Then, God goes silent.

For 400 years God refrained from direct communication with His chosen people. Instead, He sent his only Son with the most profound message ever delivered. Not in words but in action - death and resurrection.

“He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

– John 19:30

Silence fell once again. This time to reign over humanity for two thousand years.

Some critics use this absence to conclude - God is dead. And to be honest, it’s a strong argument.

But silence can be as powerful as any word.

So, what is God trying to tell us now?

Personally, I’ve never heard the voice of God. And I think I’m okay with that.

I often wonder if God’s voice would be booming louder than thunder filled with lightning, smoke and earthquakes as was experienced by the ancient Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai, or that still small voice Elijah heard standing at the mouth of the cave.

Supposing God did choose to speak with me, what would He say?

A WORD ON THE WORD: In Hebrew, the word for word or speech is “dabar”. But dabar does not mean merely a sound or utterance, but an event. When God speaks, something is about to happen. In Greek, word is “logos” – the eternal rational principle, the structuring logic of reality. The thing that holds it all together.

In ancient cultures, the gods spoke through omens, dreams, divination practices and mysterious oracles – all requiring priestly interpretation. The God of Israel – YHWH – was more direct. Humans needed to know exactly what God wanted without the chance for manipulation.

Over time however, God withdrew His voice and began to speak through the prophets. Why?

One answer might be, spiritual immaturity. We humans needed to start learning on our own.

Problem is…we didn’t.

“ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”
– Malachi 4: 5-6

So, God sent His only Son - The Word made flesh.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

— John 1:1-2

Jesus finished the sentence God had been building for over a thousand years. Through parables, miracles, sermons, tersely worded statements and loving guidance, Jesus redefined the entire paradigm. He made it all easy for us to understand in just two short commands:

Love God. Love your neighbor.

And then, silence again. An impenetrable absence. But silence is not abandonment. Hiddenness creates the conditions unavailable during overwhelming divine presence. It presses us to grow, reach out, use discernment, learn from our mistakes, reorient ourselves, and develop wisdom.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
- Lamentations 3:25

Today, God speaks in ways beyond words – order, reason, prayer, meditation, even His own creation. While His voice may be quiet, His Word is always within reach, always available for encountering Him through the Bible - an inexhaustible source to know God’s way and will.

Perhaps God is not silent at all. We may have just lost the ability to hear.

Or maybe God is giving us all the time we need to simply do what Jesus asked upon His arrival – repent.

“Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”
- Psalm 19: 2-4