How to Have Confidence in God (Even When He’s Silent)

by Valerie Riese | Aug 5, 2021 | Blog, Celebrate Life!

Have you ever lost confidence in the promises of God? How do you fill the silence in those desperate, broken times when it seems all is lost, including the sweet soft sound of God’s reassuring voice? 

If you’ve lived long enough, it’s likely you’ve doubted that God was still in charge. If you ponder a moment or two, I bet you’ll remember thinking God had revoked His promises to never leave you, that He’d put you back up for adoption for one of those golden-calf gods to deal with. 

When God is silent, do you still trust in what He’s already told you? Or do you fill the void of a long, lonely night with your own doubt-drawn conclusions? 

Psalm 77: Who Was Asaph

In Psalm 77, King David’s chief worship leader invites us into his grief one dark night when he lost confidence in God. Come with me to see how he found comfort.

Asaph was Kind David’s chief musician. He was a key figure in two of the most significant events of his lifetime. He walked alongside the ark of the covenant as it was brought from the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, to the tabernacle David built. And he saw the ark move to the temple Solomon built. 

As lead musician, praising God was Asaph’s livelihood. He led a team of musicians appointed to praise God at the tabernacle around the clock. Sounds like a wonderful life, doesn’t it? Isn’t that how heaven is described, people constantly signing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord” (Rev 4:8)?

Asaph Suffered & Lost All Confidence in God

But Asaph wasn’t praising God from heaven. He was on earth, and he lived an early life full of tribulations, just like the rest of us. Asaph recorded his grief and sorrow in some of the most beautiful Psalms of the Bible, Psalm 77.

In great distress, Asaph cried to God and heard no response. He laid awake all night, remembering the good old days when his life was filled with joyful songs, but now he was overwhelmed with sorrow. He’d raised his hands towards heaven and pleaded with God to just hear him! The only reply was from his own tears hitting the dirt floor. 

The searing silence, in contrast to a lifetime of music both in his voice and in his soul, convinced Asaph that God wasn’t listening. Asaph’s fatigue and grief replaced the silence with broken promises: God had abandoned him, left for him good. 
Then the man who spent his lifetime praising God lost all confidence in Him.

“I said, ‘This is my fate; the Most Hight has turned his hand against me.'” 

Psalm 77:9 NLT

The doubt-triggered pity party seems hypocritical, doesn’t it? How can the royal worship team leader accuse God of breaking His own covenant? And yet, how many of us have been there? 

How Asaph Restored His Confidence in God

Yes, Asaph was just as human as the rest of us. And his honesty in shaking his head at God also tells us it’s okay to be honest with God, no matter how ugly it is. Because only honesty can reveal God’s truth. Asaph remembered who God is when he looked beyond his rose-colored memories of the good old days to remember that God never changes. 

“But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

O God, your ways are holy.
Is there any god as mighty as you?
You are the God of great wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.“

Psalm 77:12-14 NLT

He continues to recall God’s display of power and providence in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptians. And then suddenly he stops in the middle of his own visions. Just like that, the psalm is over. I suspect the psalm ended as abruptly as Asaph’s pity party. Lifting God’s name raises your spirits. Asaph joined God in silence and poured out his heart on paper just long enough to let God write back. God restored Asaph’s confidence in Him by reminding Asaph that He never left the throne. 

God gently gave Asaph the attitude adjustment he needed so he could regain confident once more in the God that never leaves. He is still in control, even when He’s not sharing His plans with you. 

How to Have Confidence in God, Even When He’s Silent

Friends, even the most faithful of us have a short memory. When we doubt God’s presence, we can lose confidence in His promises to never leave us. Instead of filling the silence with shortsighted what-have-You-done-for-me-lately conclusions, we must take a moment to dwell not on our past but on God’s history of faithfulness. 

When you wonder if He’s left the throne, take a moment to hear your heartbeat and feel the breath fill your lungs. Because even when you can’t hear His voice, God is still on the throne and in your heart.

I invite you today to find a few scriptures about having confidence in God, so you’re armed with truth when the enemy tempts you with doubt. Here are a few suggestions:

Jeremiah 17:7
Proverbs 3:26
Psalm 20:7
Hebrews 10:35
Hebrews 4:16

Valerie Riese

Valerie is a wife, mother, blogger, and breast cancer survivor. After suffering years of debilitating anxiety, she learned that victory over anxiety comes only through surrender to Jesus. Now she points women to Jesus, as co-director of Candidly Christian, and as a freelance devotional writer, proofreader, and copyeditor at ValerieRiese.com. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and teenage daughter.

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it  (1 Thessalonians 5:24).