Tuesday, October 2, 2018

There is power in Silence


Read Psalm 62.

David was teetering on the edge, just about to fall.  Surrounding him were scoundrels ready to push him over.  But he understood full well "that power belongs to God" (v.11).  So, he waited.  Twice he stated that he waited in silence for the LORD to deliver him.

Waiting in silence may be the most difficult of all the Christian disciplines.  Suffering in quiet can be agonizing.  It is natural for us to gripe and complain, argue and defend, when being mistreated.  We want to bend the ear of anyone who will listen, just to be heard. 

Kenneth Boa in his classic book, "Conformed to His Image" wrote, "Silence is at odds with the din of our culture and the popular addiction to noise and hubbub.  This discipline relates not only to finding places of silence in our surroundings but also to times of restricted speech in the presence of others." (p.83)

Waiting on God is not just being quiet.  Having poured one's soul out to God in prayer, we then must listen with expectation to what He has to say to us in solitude, from the Scriptures, or from encounters with others.  It involves trusting that He is active on our behalf, even when we cannot see any movement at all.  Our hope must be in Him, not in the circumstances that are seen.  The real power belongs to the LORD.

"He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength....but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:29, 31)

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