Silence or Eloquence

Verse for Today: Saturday, October 30, 2010

Psalms 39:2 - But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased.

Silence before man is a policy often adopted by God's people in their times of adversity. This was the leading many children of God received of the Lord as we see it in the Bible. Our Lord Jesus is the best example of silence when He stood before Pilate and Herod before crucifixion. David was silent before Abimelech, king of Gath. So was Jeremiah several times throughout his ministries. Even though they were silent before men, all of them spoke to their Heavenly Father about their situations. It is a great lesson for us to learn to be silent before men and tell all that we have to our Father who is able to do great things for us. Keeping silent before men in times of adversity is strength and not a weakness. At the same time, keeping silent before men is not easy, because we would be tempted to justify our cause. Our natural faculties would prompt us to speak and cry before men for help. Throughout Biblical and church history, we find great men of God keeping silent in times of great adversity. When we keep quiet, and leave the verdict to the Lord, it is likely that our grief and burden might increase because of the heat of the suffering we undergo, as in the case of David while he wrote this Psalm. In trying times, God's children spoke to the One who really mattered most. They spoke to the Father and received assurances in their souls that He knew what was going on and will handle their cases in a divine way. This is why in the solitary confinements, many saints cried to the Lord. They found the presence of the Lord a place to unburden themselves. They shed their tears before the One which mattered most. Whether they were exonerated before men was not important for them. They never considered their lives to be more important for them to take their own efforts to get release, but left it all to the Lord. They continued their ministries in the shadow of confusion created by the enemy, as that of Paul who used the time to write letters and to strengthen the believers.

It is likely that someone who reads these lines might be going through situations similar to that of David, Paul or Jeremiah. When all are against us and no one wants to understand us, there is a Lord who awaits us to speak to Him. He wants us to express our grief to Him and tell Him all our difficulties. He wants us to give Him all our burdens so that He can carry it for us or come to help us carry it ourselves. Our appeal courts are not the people of this world or even the fellow believers who might have already misinterpreted our motives. Perhaps the truths about our situations might not be revealed on this side of eternity. But that is alright because our Lord knows the truth about us and our motives. How He sees us is the only important matter. The kings and leaders of this world might not understand us. Perhaps they are under the influence of the enemy of our souls and are already purchased by the enemy to take a sadistic stand against us. We are sometimes thwarted of our rights, privileges or even our jobs, seniority, promotion, or property. Perhaps no one is willing to give us credit for the toils that we have undergone for the Lord even in the ministry front, or for other members of our families. But that is all OK if we know that the Lord considers us credible in what we have done for Him or for our dear ones. It is alright for us to have grief because of our situations, and our anguish might increase in such circumstances. But we have the freedom and privilege to express it before our Father whose heart melts with compassion as He sees our tears. He wipes our tears and keeps comforting us. His Spirit is there to strengthen us to keep going to do what He wants us to do for Him which is our primary concern. Our responsibility is to speak about our Lord and He in turn will speak at the right forum about us.

Psalms 9:10 - Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, O Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.

Thought for Today
To who we are eloquent indicate where our trust is.

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