I’m not sure when it became popular to use the sound of crickets to symbolize the dead space of nothing happening.
You’ll hear it on television ads and programs. Someone is expecting something to happen or someone to say something, and instead, all they hear is… the sound of crickets.
I hear crickets in my prayer life sometimes. I’m sure I’m not alone. I pray and pray for something and expectantly listen for the answer and…nothing.
Crickets. Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.
I think I’ve shared these quotes by Oswald Chambers before, but they bear repeating. For me, anyway. From his book, “If You Will Ask”:
“God’s silences are His answers. If we only take as answers those that are visible to our senses, we are in a very elemental condition of grace. Can it be said of us that Jesus loved us that He stayed where He was because He knew we had a capacity to stand a bigger revelation? Has God trusted us with a silence, a silence that is absolutely big with meaning? That is His answer. The manifestations will come in a way beyond our comprehension.
Are we mourning before God because we have not had an audible response? Mary Magdalene was weeping at the supulchre -what was she asking for? The dead body of Jesus. Did Jesus give her what she asked for? He gave her something infinitely grander than she had ever conceived – a risen, living, impossible-to-die Lord.”
“God has trusted you in the most intimate way He could trust you – with absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure because He saw you could stand a much bigger revelation than you had at the time.”
“His silence is big with terrific meaning that you cannot understand yet, but presently you will. Time is nothing to God. Prayers were offered years ago and God answered the soul with silence. Now He is giving manifestation of the answer in a revelation that we are scarcely able to comprehend.”
I can’t be bothered by the sound of crickets anymore after I’ve prayed and nothing seems to happen. God wants me to trust Him with the silence.
Crickets may just be the sound of God doing something. Something big.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. John 11:5-6
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isaiah 30:18
After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Hosea 6:2
Anticipatience 
This is lovely, Sharon. Over time, I’ve grown to look forward to and sit within silence, a quality or practice that is not fully promoted or supported these days with all the noise and activity coming at us 24/7. In my work with my coaching or consulting clients, I ask them to practice being comfortable in silence, to “let silence do the heavy lifting” when they are grappling with the unknown. Often, in silence, the most valuable answer and guidance emerges. Thank you for offering up a moment for me to reflect on silence this morning, Sharon. I read your blog as the early morning crickets sang outside my window, ringing in the morning sun. Cheers ~ Renee
Thanks Sharon once more. You bring us to think more profoundly about God’s silence in our lives …..even when that silence hurt so much, we must trust Him because He knows better and He is good…