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"A time to keep silence and a time to speak;"  Eccl. 3:7

My night was quiet, yes, deathly still, For the cross had left my self-life nil, In subjugating me to God's will.

The whole, without, and within the soul, For me was under stillness' control, The inner surges had ceased to roll.

Eerie sounds of night held no terror, for How can they pierce to the inmost core Of that which is dead? To fear no more!

In far off distance there moves a throng Dancing together a wild-wind song, But no more with them do I belong.

And while some might sing, others will sigh, And many a voice be heard to cry, But all my tear ducts are empty - dry.

Entombed in silence as one that's dead, No prayers remaining to yet be said, Nor even praises upward be spread.

No thought to clamor for its release, All carnal thinking now made to cease, Though all is held by His inner peace.

This silence is not dead, just the strife Which once kept the atmosphere so rife; 'Tis stillness filled with God's purest Life

To renew thy youth as morning dew, Turn thy darkness into dawning's hue, His fullness, thy waiting heart to imbue.

Yes, God is in this stillness, and He Shall unfold the ages' mystery, And through silence bring reality.

And then, in time, our God shall speak, A word of hope and joy for the meek, New strength, new life for those now weak.
THE SILENCE OF GOD

"Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, Thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones." (Psalm 83:1-3).

            The manifold graces and inworkings of God are both as manifold and profound, as they are gloriously single and direct. So beautifully blended and harmonized that they form the perfect outworking of His plan of the ages, and yet when we view them by fragments, in their various operations in our lives, we are almost overwhelmed by the complexity and magnitude of His ways. Yet there are some basic principles which should always be kept in mind when considering God's dealings with mankind, and the first of these is that all of His corporate and individual inworkings are motivated BY HIS LOVE. Second, that HE alone controls all that comes our way, be it good or evil, for He is sovereign, and the interplay of good and evil remains in HIS hand. And thirdly, whatever present circumstances might be, He will ultimately work all things together into our good, and for His praise. THE END IS SECURE IN HIM!
            In the beginning of a believer's experience, when the first joys of salvation and awareness  of the inflow of the life of God begin to settle down, and there is a more subdued walk, that sudden awareness of the "SILENCE OF GOD" can be a very alarming experience. What's happened? Have I begun to backslide already. Did I do something wrong? And if there is a hangover of traditional creed, one might even be accused of missing the will of God, and now God is angry and so withdraws. Shame on anyone who might propose such a concept of God. For we repeat, ALL HIS ACTIONS ARE MOTIVATED BY HIS LOVE, and when suddenly He become "silent," ceases to impart a quickening to His Word for a time, and you go along almost in a vacuum, HE is still presently working in your life of His own divine purpose, lovingly, tenderly, patiently, until He has wrought that which He knew was needed in your spiritual development.
          There are two Hebrew words translated as "silence" which we would examine. The first is "DAMAM" meaning to be still, silent, and speaks of a lack of motion. The other is "CHARASH" also meaning to keep silence, but carries the thought of "holding thy peace," implying a lack of voice communication. Combined these together: it gives us the full concept of silence, no sound made either by motion or voice.
            David knew what it was to receive a message from God, via the prophets, or via the inspiration of the Lord upon him directly. Often while He mused, and the fire burned within, truth would surge up. Or, while he played upon instruments and sang, the inspiration would open the dark sayings and mysteries to his own understanding. What refreshing, what quickenings, and what strength they gave.
            Yet David also knew these times of utter silence, and often cried out in keen desperation because of them. "Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; BE NOT SILENT TO ME: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." (Psalm 28:1). How often have you felt the same way, as if, if God doesn't speak - you have nothing left to hang on to, and will fade away? Yet, difficult as these times are, they are used by God in a special way in us.
            "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace (or,  BE NOT SILENT) at my tears: for I am a stranger with Thee, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more." (Psalm 39:12-13).
            There is a real depth of meaning in this cry springing out of the heart of David. He was in a situation that needed some answers, a word of direction, and he was desperate. He reminded the Lord that he was a stranger, a sojourner with Him, or BECAUSE OF HIM, as all his fathers were. The initial word had been given - "Urged on by faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went, although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go." (Hebrews 11:8, Amplified). By faith he also sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
            Time progressed, step by step they were led, a nation was founded, Israel was established, and periodically God would speak through His prophets to give that needed word of direction, and slowly the course was unfolded. But now - Lord, you have brought us thus far, we can't go back, here we are, and we don't know where to go on. We are a stranger, and a sojourner WITH THEE. Lord, YOU have brought us here, now speak, be not silent, tell us what is next.
            This prayer, this desperate heart cry we can understand. What's a little harder to grapple with is that oftentimes the SILENCE CONTINUES, immediate answers are not forthcoming. Then what does one do? Obviously there are no trite answers or perfect formulas to follow. God is dealing with us as individuals, and He arranges the circumstances to fit our own peculiar needs. But one thing sure, this is no time to cast away one's faith, and blindly strike out on their own.
            We are reminded of another scripture concerning David, when he was in a "tight spot" and people even talked of stoning him. He needed a word from the Lord, and in due time He did enquire of the Lord and received an answer. But first we read, "But David ENCOURAGED HIMSELF in the Lord." (1 Samuel 30:6). Here is a special spiritual exercise - it has nothing to do with flesh-works, or any self-realization program of man, but it does require our personal participation David knew how to recall to mind the many ways in which God had worked in past testings, and as He girded up the "loins of his mind," to think upon the mercy and goodness of God, the power and victory of God, his whole attitude changed from the negative to the positive, and then he was ready for God to speak a new word for the pathway ahead.
            "I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people. Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people..." (Psalm 77:11-15).
            "I remembered Thy judgments of OLD, O Lord; and have comforted myself." (Psalm 119:52)
            Sure, we thank God for His messengers, His prophets, His teachers, etc. and as they bring the good news we shall receive it, and rejoice. But in those times when God is silent, and the messengers have no message to declare, then let us REMEMBER, encourage ourselves, comfort ourselves, and discover that there is a spring within "whose waters fail not." Once I thought this was "whistling in the dark," that self-effort which builds up a psuedo-courage while we struggle through a difficult time. But we have come to learn and know that there is a very real experience in just drawing forth a remembrance of God's past dealing, yes, even to remember HIS JUDGMENTS, and how they were correctional chastenings that became a turning point, and how they all worked into our spiritual growth and development. These rememberings become a special encouragement within.
           "Hold not thy peace (be not silent), O God of my praise; for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause." (Psalm 109:1-3).
            This passage is quite parallel with our opening scripture which says that the "enemies make a tumult." Words-voices, a regular tumult spilling out lies, deceit, hatred. But if only God would speak, His voice would silence all these other voices, and we would be exonerated. Their accusations would fall flat. Speak, Lord- "Let the Almighty roar out of Zion." Strange we listen for His shout, but there is none. Why all this silence on Gods part?
           There are praise God appointed times when He shall speak so load and clear it will bring a hush to all creation. But for now, while He develops and purifies and processes His "sons" to bring them to spiritual maturity, He speaks WITH THE VOICE OF SILENCE. Far too long we have followed after the ways of the flesh and the carnal mind. We love to have the demonstrations, phenomena, visible explosions of Divine intervention. Signs, wonders, miracles. These all have their place in Gods operations, but it is also "an evil and adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign…" ( Matthew 12:39 ).
           God would speak with Elijah, and give him instructions which would affect the future of the nation, "And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire A STILL SMALL VOICE." (1 Kings 19:11-12).
           This word "still" used here, is the Hebrew word "damam" meaning: SILENT. And the word "small" is "daq" also translated as dwarf, thin, very little thing. What kind of a voice is this? A GENTLE STILLNESS which is alive with the very presence of God, and out of it comes a consciousness of truth - a realization of what God has set before you, and what He is doing in your life. Amazing!
            No hot flashes, no cold chills running down your spine, nothing to make the hair stand up on your arms - just that permeating silence which speaks deep in your innermost being, until you begin to KNOW WITHIN more of His will for you.
            Have you ever sat in those services where others were shouting their praises to God, but for you personally, God was not in the shout? They sang fast and furiously, but for you, God was not in the song. They prophesied one to another and were blessed, but for you it was like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. What was wrong? Were they "out of order?" Or, were you so out-of-tune that you just couldn't get with it? No! For there were times when for you God was in the shout, the song, the prophecy. But now, for you, in love, He ministers THE SILENCE. This is just as much of DIVINE ORDER as the times when He speaks a message loud and clear to you. Learn to recognize that it is "OF GOD" and you will cease to struggle against HIS silence. Nothing is worse than the clanging, banging of the flesh trying to make it appear like God's voice, where He is actually silent. Nor can we force God to "utter a message" at the whim of our own will. We just need to hold steady while He fulfills His purpose for us, and within us.
            Silence - lack of speech, lack of motion. "And one of the company said unto Him,  MASTER, SPEAK to my brother..." (Luke 12:13). The situation was unjust, the brother was refusing to divide the inheritance. Master, speak! But silence prevailed. And when the Master did speak, it was not to the brother, but to this one himself, a penetrating message on coveteousness. Some wonder why the Lord is so silent when all this evil, injustice abounds. Surely HE could speak words which could bring order out of chaos. Yes, He can! But for now He is speaking to His "firstfruits." Seemingly silent  concerning all the evil about us, while He deals with our own inner being. And without doubt, if we would quit trying to get the Lord to "speak to my brother," we would find that He has been waiting for us to cease our own clamoring, that He might speak to us those things which would hasten our own spiritual development.
            Lazarus was sick. "Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. - When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was." (John 11:3,6). Again we find that the Master is silent. NO MOTION to hasten to heal, no words of comfort sent. Guess the Lord doesn't love us any more! Sure, HE DOES! There is a loving purpose for this silence, it is a part of His divine operation to work in your life a higher purpose, and a greater victory than you could imagine. With the death of Lazarus filling the atmosphere with gloom, against this dark background Jesus declared those glorious, illuminating truths of RESURRECTION and life. "I AM THE RESURRECTION, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26).
           "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy;  He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17).
           He is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice ah, what victory this is, what we like to hear! This sounds like triumph and glory all the way. But tucked into this verse is a statement which has been greatly obscured by the translators. "He will rest in His love." The word "rest" is actually the Hebrew word meaning silent, and so the marginal note gives, "HE WILL BE SILENT IN HIS LOVE."
           THE SILENCE OF LOVE! You thought He was silent because He was angry with you. What condemnation! That is not sound Biblical doctrine. This is but another part of His inworkings of LOVE, while we learn to TRUST Him regardless of whether He speaks to us, or not. God is working in us an abandonment to Him, not dependent on what He does for us each day, nor what He speaks each day, but to Him, for what He is in Himself. When we speak of abandonment to God, there is a specific meaning involved. It means that we forsake everything EXCEPT GOD'S WILL. It means an end to our own selfishness. And this can only be proven through the various tests which He then brings our way. Among which is, and certainly not among the least, this realm of silence.
           We desire to be Spirit led. "They that are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:14). Now, if the Spirit will speak it loud and clear, go three blocks south, turn to your left and go four blocks, and standing by the lamp post is a man with a brown coat and hat, etc. to whom you shall speak - this would be great. Lord, You speak, and I'll be led. And true, there have been times in certain men's experiences when God has so spoken and led. But then without this "voice" they were helpless. If they have no prophecy, no messenger to direct them, what shall they do? Obviously when you do not know what to do, the best thing is to do nothing - while earnestly waiting upon the Lord to make the pathway clear.
            There is also that maturity of development, which Madam Guyon described as "the prayer of silence," so called, not merely because it excludes the voice, but because it has so simplified its petitions, that it has hardly anything to say, except to breathe forth, in a desire unspoken,"- THY WILL BE DONE." This kind of a prayer, so simple, and yet so comprehensive, may be said to embody the whole desire of our being. And believing that this prayer is and must be fulfilled moment by moment, we too, learn to rest in silence, in His love.
            This does not mean that we will not move or act. Usually there is more definite action, with better results, since God  Himself is now the MOVER in our life.  Being led  by the Spirit does not mean that we cease from action, but rather all of our action should be in harmony with, and in subordination to Divine action. This bespeaks a  total dependence upon the Spirit of God as our inner motivation, for it is IN HIM that we live, and move, and have our being.
            The Amplified translation includes another thought for God's resting in His love, and it reads "He will rest (in silent satisfaction) and in His love He will be silent and make no mention of past sins, or even recall them." Here is a beautiful working of silence, when LOVE COVERS ALL OUR PAST SINS WITH HIS SILENCE. What mercy, what grace, to bury our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and cover them over with the silence of love.
            Perhaps one of the beautiful results of experiencing the "silence of God" is when we have finally exhausted all of our own striving, struggling, noise and babblings, and allow some of this same silence to begin to work into us. Thus we read in Psalm 37:7, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." Again we find that the word "rest" means: be silent. BE SILENT UNTO THE LORD, and wait patiently for Him, and not "storming heaven" with repetitious prayers.
           While perhaps the translators stretched their privileges to the extreme to insert the word "rest," yet in a sense it is certainly true. If there be neither sound nor motion, this can only result from a true rest in the Lord, otherwise we will continue our prayer-begging, or our constant motion of trying to gain His attention, etc. hoping that eventually God will hear us and do as we ask. But having come to the end of ourselves, we can literally become a part of the very silence we once struggled against - not in a passive state of despair, but with that undergirding assurance that HE knows and HE will act and speak at the right time. Hence we learn to wait patiently for Him!
            "My soul, wait (BE SILENT) thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him (Ps. 62:5).
             I realize that these truths can be twisted and misunderstood, but the wise will understand, and the rest may lay them on the shelf until their experience needs this confirmation. When the whole of our being is harmonized to that singleness of one prayer, "THY WILL BE DONE," then even this hardly need be uttered, it is that breathing desire which pulsates through us, and we can become silent before the Lord- ALIVE AND IN HARMONY WITH HIS SILENCE, fully assured that His victory shall be revealed in due time.
            Not forever, however, will this silence continue. For when His FIRSTFRUITS have thus been thoroughly dealt with, one in His silence, and then to become ONE IN HIS UTTERANCE, there shall be declared throughout the earth a message that will shatter the silence of the ages - the GOSPEL OF HIS KINGDOM.
            "Our God shall come, and not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather MY saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness." (Psalm 50:3-6).
              "For Zion's sake will I not hold thy peace (be silent), and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." (Isaiah 62:1).
             "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people." (Joel 3:16). In His time, that which was long silent shall spring forth with truth - a message which shall bring HOPE to all men, though it must needs be a time of great shaking and judgment. Well He knows, "A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Praise His holy name!
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(1) Prinzing, Ray and Doris "Gospel Echoes"  Boise, Idaho 83705, P.O. Box 5822

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