Whenever we are faced with challenges and it seems there is no way out, things are becoming difficult, a time will come that the greatest thing that we need is a divine direction. A word from the Lord. Let us take saul as our example, 1 samuel 28:5-6 " And when saul saw the host of the philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when saul enquired of the LORD and the Lord answered him NOT, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by Prophets". In the New Testaments, Mattew 15:22-23" And, behold, a woman of canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of God; my daughter is grevously vexed with a devil. But he ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us". So, we can see that sometimes God in his sovereignty can decide not to say or do anything about our predicament.
Another example is in 1 samuel 17:1- end. Goliath terrorized God children for forty days, and God kept silence. Until David came to kill Goliath. This same thing is happening in Nigeria today, Boko haram is terrorizing us everyday, and God remains mute.
Now,this particular question come to our minds; can God keep silence about our tribulations? We are very close to the answer.
Psalm 83:1 " Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God". Another lamentation from the book of Jeremiah 14:8-9 " 0 the hope of isreal, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot SAVE? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not". These two verses are clearly telling us that the same God who is mighy to save, the great deliverer can sometimes become silent in the midst of trouble. It is not a silence of unconcern, heaven can hear but for some reasons, he may decide not do anything, just as some people react to situations around them, some will keep quiet when they are angry, others may keep quiet because they want to take care of other things that are more important, some may not have time for idle talk, while others are not interested in whatever is going on.
God's silence does not mean approval, it may mean that God is working on your request. God may want you to persevere in prayer, the case of the syrophenician woman in Mark 7:26-28. The woman persisted by showing a good reason why her daughter should be healed and she received answer. Also God's silence may mean that God is testing you to see how you will react, or God might have spoken to you before but you did not listen or you have forgotten. God can also decide not to speak. Let God be God.
The truth is that we cannot time God and say if you don't do anything about my situation at so so time, i will backslide, NO. What we need to do is to thorougly analyse our lives, whether we are doing the wrong thing or we are not even in tune with the wavelenght of heaven. It is high time to examine whether there is an unconfessed sin hindering our prayers and to also discover if there is a particular restitution we ought to have made and we forgot to do it.
Moreover, modern day gadgets have the capacity to hinder us from hearing from God, for example, over addiction to various internet websites or forums e.g, nairaland, naijapals, nigeria best forum, facebook, twitter, punchng, thisdaylive, dailytrust newspapers and so on. All these are capable of blocking our hears or hinder us from receiving from God. Do not get me wrong, i am not saying we should not browse the net, what i am saying is that too much of anything is not good, i will not forget to mention television, especially Dstv, the Lord will help us.
Spiritual bondage as well as the cares of this present evil world can contibute to God's silence.
Lastly, there are some few facts i would like to share.
1. Do not be proud, a proud man will find it difficult to hear from God, James 4:6, God resisteth the proud.
2. God is sovereign, he can decide to be silent. Let God be God.
3. Do not compare youself to other, we are not the same.
4. Present your case again and again before God, do not stop praying, be persistent, show good reasons, wait upon the Lord.
5. While praying, try to listen to the still small voice of God, it will hit your heart, you will know it. I have exprienced it before.
6. Criticize yourself, examine yourself, do a through analysis of your life.
7. Has God ministered to you before about an issue? Hold on to it. God bless you. God2man.

Sometimes it may not be about God speaking , but about us hearing. When we get distracted with things and activities , our spirit man may not be able to recieve from heaven .hearing from God is something we learn. But I observe that some people are trying to get God to speak when God rather wants to get them to hear.

@ Joagbaje, you are correct sir, i agree with you. God2man.