A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers
Week 6: Hadassah's Silence — The Witness of a Hidden Life
Read the chapters focusing on Hadassah's internal struggle between her faith and her fear in the Valerian household. Background Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16; 1 Peter 3:15-16.
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One of the novel's central tensions is Hadassah's agonizing silence about her faith — and Rivers invites us to sit with her in that tension rather than judge it quickly, because most of us know exactly what it feels like.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Hadassah knows the truth about Jesus, and the people she serves are spiritually dying, but she keeps her faith largely hidden for much of the novel. What are the specific reasons — fear, love, uncertainty, trauma — that contribute to her silence? Which of these reasons do you find most understandable?
2.Rivers shows that Hadassah's silent, faithful service is itself a form of witness — that her character, her love, and her peace speak even when her words do not. Is this a sufficient form of witness? What is its value and what are its limits?
a.Peter writes that we should 'always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us.' At what point does Hadassah's silence become a failure of obedience rather than a form of wisdom?
b.When has your own silence about your faith been wisdom, and when has it been fear wearing wisdom's clothing?
3.Hadassah prays constantly — often in anguish, often without apparent answer. How does Rivers portray her prayer life? What does it look like to pray faithfully when God seems silent and the circumstances keep getting worse?
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