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The Quiet Silence of Faith
The Quiet Silence of Faith
The smaller our faith, the more we need to know from God before we obey. When we don’t trust Him, we want to know the who, what, where, when, and why. Consider Moses. When God called him to rescue the Israelites from Egypt, Moses had several objections. “What if they ask me your name? What should I tell them?” (Ex. 3:13). “What if they won’t believe me or listen to what I have to say?” (Ex. 4:1). “I’ve never been eloquent; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Ex. 4:10). “How will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?” (Ex. 6:12). Consider Zacharias. When the angel Gabriel told him he would bear a child, he said, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” (Luke 1:18).
Consider Abraham. When God promised him a son, he asked, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Gen. 15:2). Later, when God reiterated the promise, Abraham fell on his face, laughed and said, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Gen. 17:17). When God told Abraham His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham had a string of questions for God! “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?” (Gen. 18:23-24). Moses, Zacharias, Abraham; all these men grew in spiritual maturity over time. The more they grew in faith, the more silent they became. In Genesis 22, when God came to Abraham with the greatest test of all, his answer was simply, “Here I am.” (Gen. 22:1). Abraham was so silent even his son Isaac had no idea what was going on. Even with the knife over his head, when the angel called out to Abraham, all he said was “Here I am.” (Gen. 22:11).
As for Moses, as the events of Exodus unfolded, his protests to God decreased. In fact, he ends up mediating for the protests of the Israelites. When they freaked out about crossing the Red Sea, Moses, the former champion of protests, said “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent!” (Ex. 14:14). We don’t know much about Zacharias, but notice the punishment for his disbelief. “You shall be silent and unable to speak until these things take place.” (Lk. 1:20). God made him a mute until John the Baptist was born! That’s 9 months! When he finally spoke, all he said was, “His name is John.” (Lk. 1:63). No debate, no protest. May our words be fewer and our faith be stronger. May we all say to God, “Here I am.”
