When God seems silent

Pete Greig, a world leader in the 24/7 prayer movement, has written a compelling book called God on Mute about his struggles with God as his wife Samie was ravaged by a life-threatening illness.

Grieg was shocked to the core of his being when his 29-year-old wife, mother of two small boys, was suddenly struck with seizures.  Doctors discovered the cause - an orange-sized tumour in her brain.

The tumour was removed but Samie was unable to shake the seizures which were often frightening.  Over time, the illness hovered over the Greigs, ready to strike at any moment.

Very honestly, Greig writes about how his prayer life suffered as he watched his wife suffer.  He began a long process of trying to understand why God did not heal his wife the way others had been healed.

I appreciate this deeply personal book because it voices the questions we "prayer warriors" are reluctant to raise.  We prefer to talk about the many times God says "Yes" to our prayers.  Yet we are all aware that often our prayers are not answered the way we wish they were.

Over the centuries, people have offered various reasons for God not giving us the answers we want.  Among these suggestions:

• We don't have enough faith;
• A "yes" answer would be bad for us; and
• God cannot give us what we want because there is sin in our lives.

But suppose none of these reasons explains the situation?  For example, Job was a fine, upright man with no discernible flaws.  God was pleased with him.  Yet he lost all his children and his wealth and was stricken with disease.  Through it all, he remained loyal to God, although he eventually asked questions of the Lord.

In Job's case, God essentially told him that he - God - knows what is right and good and man cannot put himself in the Lord's shoes.

Grieg talked to a lot of people about prayer and Samie's illness and he shares their answers and their experiences in his book.

He navigated this trial with his faith intact.

Towards the end of the book, he says: "The greatest miracle in the world - greater than any healing or any revelation - is the grace unleashed by a life refined through suffering."

As he notes, it is the grace unleashed by Jesus on the cross so that others might live.