“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NLT)

Silent Saturday. The one day of Holy Week we don’t hear much about. Palm Sunday and Good Friday are the prominent days we direct our attention to leading up to Easter Sunday. But there’s something to learn from the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

For the disciples, I feel like Silent Saturday was hard to digest and I can only imagine the emotional rollercoaster they were on.

Grief of losing not only their Teacher but their Friend.   
Fear of their own possible arrests. 
Confusion as they try to wrap their heads around what just took place.  
Devastation from Judas' betrayal of Jesus all for 30 pieces of silver.
Despair in the midst of a bleak and Silent Saturday. 

Friday had been full of noise from the crowds, Jesus, and from God Himself.

The loud voices from an angry mob yelling, "Crucify Him!"
The lashing whip against Jesus' back.
The pounding nails in His hands and feet.
Hurling insults and mockery from the Roman soldiers.
Cries of pain and anguish from our beloved Savior, His precious mother, and all of His followers. 
His outcry to His Father, "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?" 
His final shout... "It is finished!"
The ripping of the temple veil from top to bottom.
And the graves of the saints rumbling open.

Yes… Friday proved extremely loud but now the remaining eleven found themselves sorting through a Silent Saturday and trying to make sense of it all. 

Sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of our own Silent Saturday where all hope seems lost and nothing makes sense. Where our prayers feel like they’re falling on deaf ears and all we can seem to focus on is what we think God’s not doing on our behalf.

Then it’s easy to view His silence as a punishment because surely we must’ve done something wrong for Him to remain so quiet. 

It’s hard to digest our Silent Saturdays especially when those Saturdays last for a while and we’re desperately seeking the hope of a Sunday. But friend His silence doesn’t mean His abandonment.

God is in the silence with you. He is fighting for you. You are not forsaken and He is bottling your tears.

His silence is where we learn to have faith which bolsters a deep trust by laying down our human weaknesses in exchange for God’s supernatural strength.

So why doesn’t God always answer our prayers immediately? If He did, our reliance would be on the prayer itself and not in the power of our God who answers them. We’d never learn this trusting faith and the hope in God it produces.

Are you in the middle of a Silent Saturday seeking the hope of a Sunday? What mess do you feel God cannot make a message out of?

Friend, there is the hope of a Sunday when the tomb of your trial is gonna be empty. When your eyes will open to recognize that Jesus is not only walking with you now but has been all along. But most of all when hope is restored. When you’ll see there was a purpose in the quiet because God is a God who works in the silence.

Don’t give up on praying for whatever it is you’re going through. Don’t let Satan swoop in on your Silent Saturday causing you to doubt the goodness of God’s Sunday. There is hope in the silence.

Because we serve the God of miracles. 
We serve the God of turning messes into messages.
The God who trades our trials and testings and make them our testimonies. 
He is the God of taking a hopeless, Silent Saturday and turning it into the hope of a Resurrection Sunday!

Praise His Holy Name! Praise the Risen Savior! Happy Easter Friends!

Love,
Traci