I Believe in God, Even When He is Silent
I recently shared one of my favorite poems with my church congregation:
I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining
I believe in love, even when I feel it not
I believe in God, even when He is silent
These words were anonymously carved into the walls of a World War II concentration camp. They were not discovered until the end of the war.
Whoever wrote them was surrounded by unimaginable darkness, yet somehow found hope, peace, and faith in God.
We do not know if that person survived. Their name has been lost to history. But their testimony remains.
As I reflect on these words today, on September 11, I am reminded of a meaningful experience from my own life. In 2018, my high school choir stood outside the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City and sang Even When He Is Silent, a choral work by Kim André Arnesen based on this poem.
Standing near the memorial, I felt the deep power of these words. The poem was written from one of humanity's darkest chapters. And here I was, standing in the very place where an act of pure darkness had been committed. I thought of the victims of the concentration camps and the unimaginable suffering they endured.
Both events in history point to the same lesson written in the scriptures:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1
I have come to believe that God is always beside me, even when I cannot hear Him.
Today, my thoughts are with the victims of the Holocaust, the lives lost on September 11, the first responders who sacrificed so much, and all those who continue to carry the weight of these tragedies and the many tragedies going on in the world today.
No matter what we encounter in life, we choose to believe anyway.
Perhaps that's the greatest lesson that life can teach us.
"No day shall erase you from the memories of time." - Virgil
Taken by Tom Hennes in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum
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