When expected replies and responses don’t come to me as readily as I had hoped, I occasionally hear the Savior asking me, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” And then it becomes my choice to search and think, and to serve God with all my mind. Most of the answers to our questions were foreseen and have already been written down.
S. Michael Wilcox, "What Seek Ye?", Deseret Book 2020
Many times, when I pray for guidance, for direction, for answers, and then I remain kneeled and just listen, you know, a two way communication, all I hear is silence. Maybe that's because I get distracted with all the many sounds going on around me... and I lack complete focus. Or I get distracted with other thoughts like what I need to do at work tomorrow....and I lack complete focus.
To be honest, that is a bit frustrating for me sometimes. Why is it when I try to do what I should, there is only silence?
Truth is, Heavenly Father is anything but silent in His guiding, directing, and answering me. The silence that I hear is because I can't yet hear Him because I lack focus, or I already have a predisposed answer according to my own will not His, or He is speaking to me through different channels and I'm just tuned in to the wrong one.
His primary channel for speaking to me is through the scriptures and then pondering on those scriptures. He usually waits for me to put in the work and effort to guage my level of desire for those answers. I rarely get any results without fatiguing my spiritual muscles first through exercise.
Point is, the silence I hear is because I, myself, am not in the right position, not because He doesn't care or that He is distracted with someone else who has bigger issues. He is leading me, guiding me, and walking beside me...I'm the one who has the scotoma in my field of view.