“They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.”
Psalm 19:3
The other night, as I prepared to go to
bed, I shut down the lights, the television, and the fan in my office. What
caught my attention in that moment was the silence. It is unusual as I live
near I-85 in Montgomery. But for that brief moment there was no sound.
Have you ever had times in your life
where you felt that you were receiving static or silence from the Lord? That
your “spiritual wi-fi” was in a low bar? Or that you were alone?
You are not alone. Many a soul struggles
with what theologians’ call “divine silence.” To make it worse, it can drag on
for days, weeks, even months. Following a calamity, the victim crawls out,
cries out, and expects overnight relief. It doesn’t come. When someone loses a
partner or suffers from a lingering illness, they turn to God for relief, only
to be met with silence. That awful silence! No prayer seems to change anything.
Believe it or not, Psalm 19, a song that
turns our attention to the skies, has something to say about those anguishing
times of silence on earth. The lyrics to this psalm of David fall naturally
into two sections with a sharp line of division in the middle. So obvious is
the dividing line that some folks have theorized it was written by two
different people. However, I have every confidence that David composed the
entire song and that the sudden shift is deliberate.
The dividing line falls between verses 6
and 7. Verses 1-6 deals with the world God created. It describes in great
detail the fact that His creative work displays His power and glory. The second
section, verses 7-13, deals with the truth God has communicated. It describes
some of the benefits derived from the Scriptures as well as the discernment it
can bring to one’s personal life. In verse 14, we see David end the Psalm with
a prayer. The composition as a whole brought David much- needed relief during
the Lord’s long silence and has given hope to many generations of people who
have struggled through the grind of divine silence. Throughout the Psalm, David
reminds us that the Lord is not only close to His creatures, He cares for us as
well.
Even when the silence can be deafening,
the Lord is there and takes care of us in times of turbulence and pain, as well
as the good times!
Glory Be!
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