When nothing comes

I've been sitting in front of my laptop all day and nothing has come to me, but I must write something, so I'm just going to tell you exactly what's happening.

All day long, I’ve heard nothing and I’ve felt nothing. So, what am I to do? Pray you say? I have been praying. 

Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. – Psalm 22:2 (NLT)

What do you do when nothing comes? Like me, you’ve prayed and now you’re waiting and waiting and waiting yet still nothing just silence.

God has been silent or so it seems. Perhaps we have not been listening or perhaps God’s silence is an invitation to draw closer to Him, to understand that even His silence has purpose. Perhaps God is teaching us that though He is silent, He is never absent.

Okay, so as I’m writing, something’s coming…

When nothing comes, don’t think that it’s an indication of God’s abandonment, for He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us (ref. Deuteronomy 31:6-8), but see it as an opportunity to build stronger faith and deeper trust.

This is a deafening silence that has more to do with the complete lack of a response than the lack of noise, because everything and everyone around you can still be heard – the hum of the refrigerator, birds singing, the whir of the blades of the fan spinning and the muffled voices from the television in the other room but no response from God.

So, today I waited; all day I waited to hear from God what He wants me to tell you. But now, many hours later, I know. It’s exactly what I’m telling you now. I understand why I had to endure this all-day silence.

When nothing comes and God seems distant and unreachable and you feel cast aside, it’s not any of those things, He is neither and has not cast you aside. God’s silence is never a sign that He has left but a test of whether you believe He hasn’t.

God’s silence always feels unbearable but, in the silence, we need to turn to God in faith and in trust, daring to believe even when nothing comes.  It is preparation, not punishment; God’s silence is the proving ground of your faith and trust. It’s not about what is spoken, it is about what is not – the quiet work being done in you.

When nothing comes, continue to hope. When nothing comes, continue to believe. When nothing comes, continue to trust. When nothing comes, continue to have faith.

I cannot find God anywhere— in front or back of me, to my left or my right. God is always at work, though I never see him. But he knows what I am doing, and when he tests me, I will be pure as gold. – Job 23:8-10 (CEV)

Beloved, you may be in a season of silence when nothing comes, but God wants you to know that He has not left, He is not lost and neither are you. The silence is temporary, but what it produces in you isn’t.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “When nothing comes” ©2026 March 10, 2026