THE POWER OF SILENCE

HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

“ Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10).

Is there any note of music in all the chorus as mighty as the emphatic pause? Is there any word in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one word, Selah (Pause)? Is there anything more thrilling and awful than the hush that comes before the bursting of the tempest and the strange quiet that seems to fall upon all nature before some preternatural phenomenon or convulsion? Is there anything that can touch our hearts as the power of stillness?

You may hear the saying that there is a calm before the storm and that has a very great and significant meaning. It is a very calm moment you will experience and it alerts you that something tragic could take place. It is the final time for preparation and everyone should get ready to move or take shelter. As in the natural so it is in the spiritual. Here in this portion of Scripture God is warning us through His servant David to be still. He has something to do and He needs utter silence.

There is for the heart that will cease from itself, “the peace of God that passeth all understanding,” a “quietness and confidence” which is the source of all strength, a sweet peace “which nothing can offend,” a deep rest which the world can neither give nor take away. There is in the deepest center of the soul a chamber of peace where God dwells, and where, if we will only enter in and hush every other sound, we can hear His still, small voice.

Here I recalled little Samuel in the stillness of his surroundings when the voice called him. He thought it was Eli the Priest and he went to the manservant to inquire. After the second call and inquiry of Eli, the young lad was instructed to go and wait and if the voice calls again to answer “speak Lord Thy servant heareth.” It was the only way for the two to have sweet fellowship and communion. Just like in the beautiful Garden of Eden when God visited Adam and Eve in the stillness of the evening. Therefore we are reminded that God loves to communicate in silence. It is the most powerful time for Him to minister to His children and have that sweet one and one fellowship.

There is in the swiftest wheel that revolves upon its axis a place in the very center, where there is no movement at all; and so in the busiest life there may be a place where we dwell alone with God, in eternal stillness, There is only one way to know God. “Be still, and know.” “God is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

“All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or moonlight or sunrise. The sullen blackness gloomed above us as if it would last forever. And out of the dark, there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.

“But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps. It was Thy ‘still small voice’ that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard. We looked and saw Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life came back to us as life comes back to withered blooms that drink the summer rain.”

So this morning I am here to encourage you in seeking contact with your Lord and Saviour to find a place of quietness and stand still and wait. Let the silence of your surrounding penetrates your soul until you are in the awe of silence and wait. In that very moment, something miraculous can happen. All the Lord wants from you is to obey Him and stay in silence.

I pray Almighty God will take us to that place where He will meet us and reveal the mysteries of these last days to us. Amen