Sunday Message · Fountain of Grace International · Pretoria North
You're Still in the Story: When It Looks Like God Is Silent
The silence does not mean He stopped. It does not mean you failed. It does not mean the promise is cancelled. Romans 8:28 says all things - not some things - work together for good. You are still in the story. The Author has not closed the book.
Pastor Ricardo Zaal · Fountain of Grace International, Pretoria North · 22 June 2025
Most people can handle hard seasons. What breaks people is the silent ones. When the prayer is not answered, the door does not open, the situation does not change, and there is no clear word from God - that is when most people conclude that either God is not real, or He is real but not interested in their situation.
Romans 8:28 was not written for people in breakthrough. It was written for people in the gap. The promise was given. The fulfillment has not arrived. And in between those two points, God is doing exactly what He said He would do - working all of it, every single part, together for your good. The silence is not the problem. The silence is the process.
Silence Is Not the Same as Absence
Romans 8:28
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." God does not stop working when He stops speaking. A surgeon does not talk to you while he is operating. The silence in the theatre is not evidence that nothing is happening - it is evidence that something precise and serious is underway. The silence you are in right now may be the most active season of what God is building.
All Things Means All Things
Romans 8:28
The word "all" in Romans 8:28 does not come with exceptions. It is not "most things" or "the things that make sense." All things. The diagnosis. The betrayal. The delay. The door that closed. The prayer that went unanswered for years. God is not working despite those things - He is working through them. When you edit out the hard chapters, you are editing out the parts of the story that produce the greatest transformation.
The Story Is Not Over
Philippians 1:6
"He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." The word "perform" means to carry through to completion. What God started in you has a finishing date - and it is not the day the silence started. Joseph did not know in the pit what the pit was producing. The disciples did not know on Friday what Sunday was preparing. You are still in the middle of the story. The Author has not closed the book.
Stay in Your Position
Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith was never built for seasons when everything is visible. It was built for exactly this - the gap between the promise and the fulfillment, the silence between the word and the breakthrough. The practical instruction for a silent season is not to panic or change direction. Hold your position. Stay obedient to the last thing God said. The breakthrough is not delayed because God forgot. It is being assembled.
"God is not working despite the hard chapters. He is working through them. The silence is not evidence that He stopped. It is evidence that something precise is underway."
- Pastor Ricardo Zaal
What to Do in a Silent Season
- Do not change direction based on silence. Stay obedient to the last thing God said. Silence is not a redirect. It is a holding pattern with a purpose.
- Do not edit the promise. When nothing visible confirms what God said, the temptation is to downsize the promise to something more manageable. Resist it. The promise was not conditional on how quickly it came.
- Trust the Author, not the chapter. You are in the middle of a story. The chapter you are in looks like an ending. It is not. The Author does not abandon the story at the hard part - He uses the hard part to write the breakthrough.
If you are in Pretoria North and want to hear messages like this live, join us on a Sunday - Fountain of Grace International meets every week at 323 B Danie Theron Street.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Romans 8:28 actually mean?
Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. The word "all" is the key - not the good things only, not the things that make sense. All things. God is not working despite the hard things. He is working through them.
Why does God go silent sometimes?
God's silence is not the same as His absence. Joseph spent years in a pit and a prison with no visible sign of the promise. The disciples spent three days at the tomb with no sign of the resurrection. Silence is often the season between the promise and the fulfillment - not a sign that God stopped, but a sign that something is being prepared that you cannot yet see.
How do you keep faith when God is not responding?
Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith was built for the silence between the promise and the fulfillment. Stay in the Word, stay in community, stay obedient to the last thing God said. The breakthrough is not delayed because God forgot - it is being assembled.
What does it mean that you're still in the story?
Every story has chapters that look like endings but are not. The cross looked like the end of the story. The empty tomb was the next chapter. When your life goes quiet - when the door closes, the relationship ends, or the prayer is not answered - that is not the final chapter. Romans 8:28 is a guarantee written into reality for those who love God: the story is not over, and it ends well.
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