That Awful Silence

By Stan Baldwin

At different times, places and degrees, we all encounter and experience suffering. It may be physical pain, financial or emotional loss, the death of someone we love. During those times we ask, "Where is God when it hurts the most?" When tragedy strikes or when loneliness threatens to almost snuff out our last flickering hopes. God seems the most distant then. When seeking answers, where do we turn? How do we respond? How do we go on? Are we able to say along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego of the fiery furnace fame, "Our God, whom we serve, will deliver us. But even if he does not, we will serve him still"?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Baldwin
• Release date: Jun 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476152769

Stan Baldwin

Stan Baldwin is from Texas. He is married to Lorrie. They have three children and eight grandchildren. He graduated from Yale University Divinity School, Austin Graduate School of Theology and Oklahoma University. Stan has served in the U.S. Air Force and has been in full time ministry for 30 years. He serves as a Chaplain at a maximum security prison; writes and edits for Mercy Street Ministries.

Book preview

That Awful Silence

By Stan Baldwin

Published by Stan Baldwin

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Stan Baldwin

Cover Art: Michael Tift

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Also by Stan Baldwin, Published at Smashwords:

Symphony of Psalms

Fasting Is Feasting

Chapter One: Have You Forsaken Me?

A minister friend tells a story that's very, very personal. His daughter had had an illness for her entire childhood and teen life. It was a congenital handicap that couldn't be treated medically, and so it was a source of great difficulty and spiritual trial to his entire family.

And for years, by the minister's own confession, he shrank away from really offering up a specific prayer of intercession for her to be healed. Oh, he knew all about the Bible texts and promises regarding healing; after all, he'd preached them for years. But this was his own flesh and blood, his own daughter. He wondered if he had enough faith. Were his motives pure enough? What if the family prayed and God said no? Could they take not only the disappointment, but also the spiritual faith crisis that might follow?

All through this period, his daughter kept begging him to have that kind of prayer service for her. I'm old enough to understand, she told him. I know it might not be God's will to heal me, and that's okay. I'm ready to pray, 'Jesus, Thy will be done.' Why can't we do it?

Well, finally, the family gathered up its courage. Several of the church leaders and close family friends came over, and they read their Bibles together and confessed their sins. And then they all prayed for her to be healed if it was God's will.

And an interesting thing happened, as my friend opens up his heart and shares the story. It became clear almost immediately that God, in His own wisdom, had decided to say no to their request. His daughter was not healed . . . and true to her word, she accepted that without complaint or any bitterness. She's bravely carrying on, knowing that Jesus will heal her at the Second Coming.

But as my friend relates in an anecdote