Streams in the desert February 9 2007
Title: Trust Amid the Silence
"He answered her not a word" (Matt. 15:23).
"He will be silent in his love" (Zeph. 3:17).
It may be a child of God is reading these words
who has had some great crushing sorrow, some
bitter disappointment, some heart-breaking blow
from a totally unexpected quarter. You are
longing for your Master's voice bidding you "Be
of good cheer," but only silence and a sense of
mystery and misery meet you --"He answered her
not a word."
God's tender heart must often ache listening to
all the sad, complaining cries which arise from
our weak, impatient hearts, because we do not see
that for our own sakes He answers not at all or
otherwise than seems best to our tear-blinded,
short-sighted eyes.
The silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His
speech and may be a sign, not of His disapproval,
but of His approval and of a deep purpose of
blessing for you.
"Why art thou cast down, O…soul?" Thou shalt yet
praise Him, yes, even for His silence. Listen to
an old and beautiful story of how one Christian
dreamed that she saw three others at prayer. As
they knelt the Master drew near to them.
As He approached the first of the three, He bent
over her in tenderness and grace, with smiles
full of radiant love and spoke to her in accents
of purest, sweetest music.
Leaving her, He came to the next, but only placed
His hand upon her bowed bead, and gave her one
look of loving approval.
The third woman He passed almost abruptly without
stopping for a word or glance. The woman in her
dream said to herself, "How greatly He must love
the first one, to the second He gave His
approval, but none of the special demonstrations
of love He gave the first; and the third must
have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word
at all and not even a passing look.
"I wonder what she has done, and why He made so
much difference between them?" As she tried to
account for the action of her Lord, He Himself
stood by her and said: "O woman! how wrongly hast
thou interpreted Me. The first kneeling woman
needs all the weight of My tenderness and care to
keep her feet in My narrow way. She needs My
love, thought and help every moment of the day.
Without it she would fail and fall.
"The second has stronger faith and deeper love,
and I can trust her to trust Me however things
may go and whatever people do.
"The third, whom I seemed not to notice, and even
to neglect, has faith and love of the finest
quality, and her I am training by quick and
drastic processes for the highest and holiest
service.
"She knows Me so intimately, and trusts Me so
utterly, that she is independent of words or
looks or any outward intimation of My approval.
She is not dismayed nor discouraged by any
circumstances through which I arrange that she
shall pass; she trusts Me when sense and reason
and every finer instinct of the natural heart
would rebel;--because she knows that I am working
in her for eternity, and that what I do, though
she knows not the explanation now, she will
understand hereafter.
"I am silent in My love because I love beyond the
power of words to express, or of human hearts to
understand, and also for your sakes that you may
learn to love and trust Me in Spirit-taught,
spontaneous response to My love, without the spur
of anything outward to call it forth."
He "will do marvels" if you will learn the
mystery of His silence, and praise Him, for every
time He withdraws His gifts that you may better
know and love the Giver. --Selected
"He answered her not a word" (Matt. 15:23).
"He will be silent in his love" (Zeph. 3:17).
It may be a child of God is reading these words
who has had some great crushing sorrow, some
bitter disappointment, some heart-breaking blow
from a totally unexpected quarter. You are
longing for your Master's voice bidding you "Be
of good cheer," but only silence and a sense of
mystery and misery meet you --"He answered her
not a word."
God's tender heart must often ache listening to
all the sad, complaining cries which arise from
our weak, impatient hearts, because we do not see
that for our own sakes He answers not at all or
otherwise than seems best to our tear-blinded,
short-sighted eyes.
The silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His
speech and may be a sign, not of His disapproval,
but of His approval and of a deep purpose of
blessing for you.
"Why art thou cast down, O…soul?" Thou shalt yet
praise Him, yes, even for His silence. Listen to
an old and beautiful story of how one Christian
dreamed that she saw three others at prayer. As
they knelt the Master drew near to them.
As He approached the first of the three, He bent
over her in tenderness and grace, with smiles
full of radiant love and spoke to her in accents
of purest, sweetest music.
Leaving her, He came to the next, but only placed
His hand upon her bowed bead, and gave her one
look of loving approval.
The third woman He passed almost abruptly without
stopping for a word or glance. The woman in her
dream said to herself, "How greatly He must love
the first one, to the second He gave His
approval, but none of the special demonstrations
of love He gave the first; and the third must
have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word
at all and not even a passing look.
"I wonder what she has done, and why He made so
much difference between them?" As she tried to
account for the action of her Lord, He Himself
stood by her and said: "O woman! how wrongly hast
thou interpreted Me. The first kneeling woman
needs all the weight of My tenderness and care to
keep her feet in My narrow way. She needs My
love, thought and help every moment of the day.
Without it she would fail and fall.
"The second has stronger faith and deeper love,
and I can trust her to trust Me however things
may go and whatever people do.
"The third, whom I seemed not to notice, and even
to neglect, has faith and love of the finest
quality, and her I am training by quick and
drastic processes for the highest and holiest
service.
"She knows Me so intimately, and trusts Me so
utterly, that she is independent of words or
looks or any outward intimation of My approval.
She is not dismayed nor discouraged by any
circumstances through which I arrange that she
shall pass; she trusts Me when sense and reason
and every finer instinct of the natural heart
would rebel;--because she knows that I am working
in her for eternity, and that what I do, though
she knows not the explanation now, she will
understand hereafter.
"I am silent in My love because I love beyond the
power of words to express, or of human hearts to
understand, and also for your sakes that you may
learn to love and trust Me in Spirit-taught,
spontaneous response to My love, without the spur
of anything outward to call it forth."
He "will do marvels" if you will learn the
mystery of His silence, and praise Him, for every
time He withdraws His gifts that you may better
know and love the Giver. --Selected
posted by betty chan at 6:34 PM
1 Comments:
Amen. I'm going through a similar trial in my life currently. Not a single whispered word, a single intimation from the master, but with the will that he imparts in me, as in the image of my creator, so shall I worship Him regardless of my uncongenial circumstances. What a lesson to learn! Is it not our duty to worship Him as a product of the Lord's creation, even if I am sorrowful and despondent? Even if all people reject and leave me, yet I still have the Lord! Even though all be against me, who shall separate me from the love that is in Christ? In all things giving thanks, for God is good. I will praise Him, though for now I do not know why the circumstances be as they are.
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