"Blessed Quietness"

Scripture:  Isaiah 30:15b (Amp.) - In quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength,..    
  
 As a co-worker and I exited the building several weeks ago, I confessed to her that I loved it when our office was nearly empty and as quiet as a library.  I relish being able to hear my own thoughts and thereby think more clearly.  My co-worker laughed and said that she didn’t especially enjoy being alone with her thoughts.  Solitude with her thoughts, she said, could be “a rather scary place!”  Are you, dear reader, estranged from the concept of “blessed quietness,” or, like my co-worker, more disquieted by occasional periods of solitude?
  
 We are familiar with the Scripture’s commendations of silence—how it prevents quarrels (Proverbs 11:12), how it helps in acquiring wisdom (Job 13:5; Prov. 10:19).  Contrary to viewing it as an undesirable thing to be avoided at all costs, the Scriptures say there’s “a time to speak and a time to be silent.” (Eccles. 3:7).  Oftentimes being silent is purely a matter of obedience, as when the Israelites were directed by Joshua during their conquest of Jericho to remain quiet until he gave the command to shout in Joshua 6:10.

 Lastly, who can dismiss our Savior’s strategic, and eternally significant use of silence in His divine mission to accomplish our salvation?  (Matt. 26:57-67; Jn. 19:8, 9) He willingly remained silent before His accusers who in their interrogations had neither spiritual eyes to see nor ears to hear as He boldly proclaimed to the masses throughout His public ministry the pathway to true righteousness during His brief earthly ministry.   Indeed, our Savior’s holy silence is referenced in Isaiah 53:7---some 700 years before His incarnation as the God-Man!  At times, we too, during these evil days in which we live need to prayerfully consider when silence is the best policy, as in Amos 5:13—“Therefore, he who is prudent will keep silence in such a time, for it is an evil time.”  

Prayer:  Dear Abba, help us to appreciate the wisdom of speaking less and listening more.  Grant us the wisdom to be found through the discipline of practiced quietude.  Thank You, Father; in Jesus’ name—Amen!

(by Denise Diggs)