The Silence of Saturday

The silence of Saturday is deafening. It is surrounded by the two most important days in the history of humankind. Sandwiched between the earthquakes and cries of Good Friday, and the stolen breath and amazement of Resurrection Sunday comes the silent Sabbath of Holy Saturday.

The eye of the storm.

We don’t talk enough about this day.

Perhaps it is because silence makes us uncomfortable. We don’t know what to do with it. In the endless series of distractions that we call a normal Saturday, any more than five minutes alone with our thoughts can feel like too much. But there is a special kind of silence that hangs over this day—it’s the silence of God. If you’ve ever experienced it you know this can be the hardest of all.

Why won’t God say something? Why won’t He do something!? Where has He gone?

I have thought those thoughts. I have mouthed those prayers. I would imagine they were the only words the disciples could have formed as they tried to process what they just experienced. With blown adrenals and shattered hearts, the silence of God was the greatest mystery of all.

I know it could not have been easy for them, but I am grateful for this day.

I am grateful because it reminds me that the silence of God is not the absence of God.

Sometimes, in the moments where it seems like God is missing, He is moving mountains beneath the Earth. Sometimes in his silence, God is doing His greatest work.

He did promise us these days would come. He promised us it would be like Jonah’s three days in the belly of a whale.

So if you are experiencing the silence of the day in-between right now in your life, remember that there is hope in the darkness. God hasn’t gone anywhere.

Remember, this silent Saturday.

Remember, the silence of God is not the absence of God.

Hold on until the morning. You have no idea what God has in store…