When God Seems Silent
Everything can change in an instant.
The relationship is over. The phone call you’d been dreading for weeks came through. The company you were ready to build your future with decides to go a different direction.
The future you’d been planning for suddenly looks different. So, what now?
Good Friday felt like anything but “good” for the people who followed Jesus.
Everything they thought was about to happen collapsed in a matter of hours. And the worst part? God was silent. It was like He couldn’t even hear their prayers anymore.
Have you ever been there?
We’re going to walk through the events of Good Friday and see something the disciples couldn’t see in that moment. Just because God seems silent, it doesn’t mean He’s absent. Beneath the surface, He’s working in ways bigger and better than we could imagine.
The Day Everything Fell Apart
Somewhere in the crowd that day stood the people who had followed Jesus the closest, trying to understand how everything had gone so wrong.
Three years earlier they had left their homes, their work, and their old lives behind to follow Him. They had seen Him heal people no one else could help and speak with an authority that made crowds stop and listen. They had watched Him calm storms, restore broken lives, and promise that the Kingdom of God was near.
With Jesus, they knew they were just beginning something that would change the world.
But now they stood at a distance, watching as Jesus was led outside the city and nailed to a cross.
“The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.’” (Luke 23:35)
From where the disciples stood, nothing about this moment made sense. The man they believed was the Messiah was suffering and dying in front of them. The same people who had cheered for Him were now hurling insults, cheering that Jesus was being killed in front of them.
Surely Jesus would do something. He had to have a plan. Call down an army of angels. Defeat the Romans. Somehow turn the situation around.
But the moment never came.
By the afternoon, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
And then He breathed His last.
To everyone watching, it was over.
It felt like heaven itself had gone silent.
The Silence After the Cross
The hardest part of moments like that isn’t always the shock of what happened. It’s the next morning. Life keeps moving, but you’re left wondering how you’re supposed to move with it.
You wake up wondering what you’re supposed to do now. Nothing makes sense anymore, so what are you even moving toward?
Did I hear God wrong?
Did I miss something?
How did everything just fall apart?
God, where are you?
As the silence drags on, it can begin to feel unsettling.
The followers of Jesus experienced that same kind of quiet after the crucifixion. The One they believed would change everything had been buried, and nothing around them suggested that anything different was coming next.
Sometimes life feels exactly like that space between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
You keep going through the motions, but it’s hard not to wonder what the point is anymore.
But what the disciples couldn’t see yet, and what we often can’t ourselves, is that God is still working even in seasons when He seems quiet.
What’s Really Happening
While everything looked like it had fallen apart, something far bigger was taking place.
The disciples saw defeat. But what was actually happening was the very plan God had set in motion long ago.
Jesus carried the weight of sin on behalf of all humanity: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24)
What looked like loss was the cost of redemption. Jesus’ death was the culmination of the mission He had come to accomplish. The separation between humanity and God was addressed once and for all because the cross was the center of His plan.
And while the world saw a man dying on a cross, God was preparing the moment that would change everything.
When the Silence Was Broken
A lot can happen in three days. The silence was broken.
When the women arrived at the tomb early on the first day of the week, the massive stone in front of it had already been rolled away. The place where Jesus had been laid was empty (Luke 24:1–6).
The resurrection confirmed what had been accomplished through Jesus’ death.
Sin had been dealt with once and for all. The power of death had been broken. The separation that had existed between us and God since the fall was forever removed.
As Paul later wrote, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
The silence of Good Friday was never the final word. This truth is the same for us, too.
At times, God may seem distant, like He isn’t even listening to our prayers anymore. Easter reminds us that God is never far away. Even when we can’t see what He’s doing, He’s still at work, right there with us.
The resurrection proves that God has not ignored the brokenness of our world. He entered into it through Jesus and overcame it.
And if you feel weighed down by disappointment, grief, or unanswered questions, you can hold onto this promise:
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is still near to us in our pain, still present in our questions, and still faithful to bring restoration in ways we may not yet see.
Good Friday is the moment we remember the price Jesus paid, and Easter is the celebration of the victory He secured.
We’d love to invite you to join us for our Good Friday service at Faith Church as we remember the sacrifice that changed everything.
If you’re asking questions or wanting to learn more, this is your time to step into community and experience what a relationship with Jesus is like for yourself.
At Faith Church, Easter weekend is a celebration of the hope, forgiveness, and new life Jesus made possible.