Psalm 39:9

Psalm 39:9

Be silent!

Sometimes it is very wise to resolve to be silent! Have you ever thought about the wisdom in being silent before God? I’m not just talking about those quiet, meditative moments we may spend in the Lord’s presence just wallowing in His glory and love, lost for words and glad to be honoured by His company. No, there are times when we need to shut up! Stop asking the questions, demanding the answers, bewailing the situation and moaning about the injustice of everything. Sometimes we need to stop questioning God and just trust Him. I think that is what David is saying here. “I was silent, I would not open my mouth.”  Despite all that had gone wrong and the numerous problems, described in earlier verses and in Psalm 38, the psalm-writer has now reached a point when he will speak no more. And one of the reasons is the growing realisation that actually, God is the One who made it all happen, even the bad stuff! You see, we are either creatures of fate who lurch from one crisis to another and who just have to accept that there is rough and there’s smooth or, we believe that our lives are in the Lord’s hands and He directs everything allowing good and bad to occur. Whatever the circumstances may be, we have to trust that this is best and the Lord knows how it will turn out and He will not test us beyond that which we are able to bear. Wouldn’t there be a queue to join up to Christianity if all problems dissolved and we lived lives free of any kind of difficulty? Sadly, the world is not like that but what we do have is a Shepherd who walks with us through the valleys. Time to shut up then?  

 

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