Silent Treatment

Oftentimes, a Christian leader or pastor will teach that when they did something to offend their fellow men or to offend God or their spouse, God suddenly stopped talking to them. You will hear terms like "The heaven was closed over my destiny", "I could no longer hear the voice of God", "He took the Holy Spirit away from me", "I was no longer able to access the presence of God", "I was afflicted when I strayed from the path of righteousness", "God turned his back on me", "I began to go from error to error and from trouble to trouble", "I felt my prayers were not going beyond the ceiling", "I felt my prayers were bouncing back to me", "I felt stripped of divine protection and guidance by the Holy Spirit" The terminologies are extensive, and we all must have heard a version of it one way or another. Those who believe this are, in essence, saying "God kept malice with them, or God gave them the silent treatment". They believed this with all their heart and I do not doubt the experiences they had as a result of this belief system.

The challenge is, this is not the true nature of God. Even in the Old Testament, when the children of Israel were not filled with the Holy Spirit and had to rely on prophets to bring the word of God to them. When the Israelites had done things to offend God, they wouldn't get the silent treatment. God would raise a prophet who would point out the error of their ways and lead them to repentance. We may debate on how long each generation took to hear from God and repent, but it is certain that God sent help to them over and over again, right from the book of Judges till Jesus came. Ascribing silent treatment to God is not only a premise for a false belief, it is also an excuse to behave in the same manner. You see husbands and their wives having a disagreement, and the husband, who is a Christian, would go on silent treatment with his wife in the name of registering his displeasure.

Sometimes the silent treatment will go on for weeks and months (in extreme cases). This behaviour stems from how they believe God treats them, so in a manner, they are acting towards their spouses the same way God acts towards them when they do something wrong. The same applies to how some parents relate to their children. When a child pleases them, they are warm and full of joy towards the child. When a child displeases them, they ignore the child and give the child silent treatment until the child apologizes or makes amends Sometimes, they do this for days or weeks until their feelings towards the child improve. The parents do not realise that training their children this way opens the door to their children passing this treatment on as a culture to their wives and children in the future.

God did not raise us this way in Christ. God did not stop talking to Peter when he acted hypocritically towards his fellow Christians who were non Jews in the book of Galatians. Paul corrected him, and that was that. God did not stop talking to the church in Corinth when they got divided, profaned the communion table, and encouraged pride in their ranks. God pointed out their flaws through the letter written to them by the Apostle Paul, and they repented God did not stop talking to Apostle Paul when he dismissed the prophecy of Agabus and fellow believers by returning to Jerusalem to preach. He got arrested and imprisoned. An angel of God appeared to him and told him he would yet preach the gospel all the way to Rome, and this came to pass. God gave us the Holy Spirit as a permanent resident inside every one of us.

The Holy Spirit is locked in to such a degree that he can never leave or forsake us regardless of what we do in this life, at any capacity He is the seal of our salvation, the one who keeps us from falling and presents us faultless to God on a daily basis. The goodness of God was not revealed to us based on our performance or how good and obedient we are. He was good to us in advance!!! While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The fullness of God was made available ahead, and in advance, therefore it does not respond to our behaviour or actions, or attitude. It has been freely given for all eternity God does not go silent on his children. Right in the middle of that crisis, even on that bed of sin and in the middle of that moral dilemma, God is consistently talking to us and guiding us. He says he will NEVER leave us nor forsake us.

It has been reported by many married women that their husbands would go weeks without talking to them whenever they had a spat. Some will claim that their husband said they disrespected them or spoke rudely to them. In order to teach them a lesson so that they don't do this again, the husband will then withhold communication and affection. No husband learnt this from God. It is a fruit of the flesh and an indication of a flaw in the husband's understanding of the nature of God and whose image or reflection he is as a husband. It has been reported that many wives would keep malice with their husbands when they quarrel. They do this to teach their husbands a lesson, that if they dare disrespect them, there will be no warmth from the kitchen and on the bed for them until they apologise.

This behaviour did not spring from the river of life; it is flesh all the way. It has been reported that many parents would ground their children and starve them of affection, love, and communication when their parents feel they have misbehaved. This is not how God raised us as his children. Parents who behave this way are raising their children in the manner of the flesh, and their children will most likely pass this treatment on to their own friends and families one day. Silent treatment is not God's nature God does not practice it We should not practise it also if we are truly born of God.
-GSW-