When God Is Silent

November 16, 2025

Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "When God Is Silent." A video of today's message is here on YouTube. The discussion that follows assumes you are familiar with the message content.

I found that a little deep dive into the three Hebrew words used leading to Patrick's "Listen, Write, Wait" triplet reveal some interesting nuances. Let's see...

LISTEN

As in most translations (including the one Patrick used), the phrase suggesting "listen" is "look to see what God will say." The Hebrew verb to look is ra'ah (רָאָה). This verb has deeper meanings than what we might think as simply seeing. It can be translated as behold, discern, experience, take heed, perceive, and respect. This suggests a significant amount of understanding, not simply hearing. So the listening can include discernment, fully perceiving, and respecting.

WRITE

The Hebrew verb involved is kah-THAV (כָּתַב). It's used in some quite important circumstances, like when God "wrote" the Ten Commandments on the tablets (Exodus 31:18). Strong indicates the ancient root meant to engrave, describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe, and record. Again, it appears the wording can carry more weight than simply writing down.

WAIT

This Hebrew verb is khaw-kaw' (חָכָה). King James uses words like long (for), tarry, and also wait. Other translations use wait, long (for), and longs (for). The primitive root suggests to adhere to and await (for considerable time, perhaps), and piercing as in being pinned down or pinned to it. This waiting can easily suggest indefinite or for the long haul.

Bonus

Bethsaida Found?

Bethsaida is a location mentioned about seven times in the New Testament. Jesus did miracles there and it was noted as the hometown of disciples Peter, Andrew, and Philip. The Bible suggests that Bethsaida is by the Sea of Galilee.

Here's a 2025 article about the search for the town: Where Is Biblical Bethsaida?.

One of the sites recently revealed a 5th Century mosaic (pictured here) that included a reference to the Apostle Peter which reads "the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the key of heaven".

Bonus2

Biblehound

I realized I'm a Biblehound. I'm also a Starhound, a Rockhound, a Musichound, a Christmashound, a Flaghound. Even a Familyhound. And a hound for whatever other piles of leaves I spot. I thoroughly enjoy sniffing out fun facts and stories.

The shocking part of this realization is that it's all about history. And I hate history. Well, I thought I hated history. And maybe I did back when it was just names and dates on a test. But I've come to realize that the only thing we can possibly know about or use to guide our way is history. The future is not available to be studied, only the past.

A Rockhound knows this better than anyone. What's over the next ridge? What's under that rock? What's in that rock? It's all going to be old. And a bloodhound?... It's all about what that smell is over there, or under there, or around there. It's all evidence from the past. Even music is historical note arrangements and audio recordings - all done in the past. Astronomy is cosmic history, sometimes billions of years into the past.

The trick is to enjoy the digging into the past. In the case of Biblehounding, it's seeing what people meant by this word or this phrase. It's about the attitudes and actions of the past. Sometimes it's about the technologies that were or were not available.

Take today's look at the three words Patrick focused on: Listen, Write, and Wait. It was from the history of these words (thank you BibleHub and Strong's Concordance) that we expand our understanding of passages like these.

Bonus3

Christmas in Vienna (Movie)

We stumbled onto a 2020 Hallmark Christmas movie last night: Christmas in Vienna. It was an enjoyable plot and all, but it was the setting that did it for me. Vienna was a main character in this movie. And it's no coincidence, I'm sure, that our recent return from visiting Vienna played into the fun as well. There is a great deal of amazing Vienna in the movie. And there's a subplot about classical music, too. Love, music, and waltzing go together, you know. And, it's kinda nice not to have a 3rd wheel issue as well.


St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna (my photo)