Silence Is Not Approval

The Court of Heaven Where Manipulation Fails

(Romans 2:2-3)

“If there is God, how can He let these terrible disasters keep happening?” People often direct these resentful questions toward the silent heavens. However, there is a different question we ought to ask: “How is it that a righteous God does not immediately pour out judgment, but instead continues to endure such wretched sinners?”

1. The Pain of Waiting
God deals with mankind through His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. It is God’s truce toward a fallen mankind. By holding back the cup of wrath with His own hands, God suppresses His holy indignation and bears the bitter longsuffering as His own burden. This is not God being a mere bystander; it is an active, agonizing suffering of love—looking away from sinners.

2. Despised Grace
The Jews, consumed by superiority over their chosen lineage and having the Law, mistook God’s patience for an exemption from judgment. Do we not also take God’s nature lightly today, repeating intentional sins simply because we are not immediately punished? Mistaking God’s silence for “approval” is a cowardly attitude that despises and presumes upon His goodness. Behind intentional sin lurks an arrogant heart that disparages God.

3. The Triumph of Goodness
God has only one purpose in granting this time: to lead us to repentance. Repentance is the blessing of all blessings and the only way to turn God’s pain into joy. Let us not look away from God’s goodness that leads us to repentance. By responding to His holy and urgent invitation of love, let us contribute to the final triumph of His goodness.

Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim