Silence of the Lambs (1)
Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. Lamentations 3:28 NASB
Since – Consider these words from Buechner: “What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought.”[1] Aren’t they so true? Most of the time when we try to enter that rest (as the author of Hebrews suggests), you know, the rest that requires work, we just hear ourselves blabbing on and on about everything. It’s as if the Tower is really inside us. We can’t seem to stop the need for noise, the constant distraction that keeps us from silence. Have you wondered why silence is so difficult? Do you suppose that the emptiness of silence invites God to speak, and since we are not sure what He will say or how He will say it, we would rather keep our own conversations going inside our heads?
Lamentations is probably the most unlikely place where we find biblical insight into silence. It is a book rarely read, perhaps because it is characterized as a book of intense mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem. After all, who wants to read poetry about sorrow, despair, and ruin? It’s also rarely read in Christian circles because it is quintessentially Jewish—it’s about Jewish agony over Jerusalem’s destruction. But in the midst of this woeful tale are some extraordinary verses.
22The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
26 It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
It seems that understanding the silence God puts on a man will first require understanding such terms as ḥesed, raḥămay, ʾĕmûnâ, ḥēleq, yāḥal, qāwâ. Then we encounter dûmām (silence). And salvation. All of this comes with consequences—the bearing of the yoke of youth. Now we are old enough to enter into that rest. So let’s proceed and see what this silent world says when we stop talking. Tomorrow. Today you can think about it.
Topical Index: dûmām, silence, Lamentations 3:28
[1] Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life (HarperOne, 1992), p. 332.
