Monday June 1 - The Voice of Silence

DAILY BYTE

The Book of Job is not a frequently perused, nice-to-read-at-bedtime or cheery-greet-the-beautiful-morning text… Most people tread lightly around it. There’s too much suffering in it and too much shouting at God.

But it seems to me that this text brings exactly the kind of hope and light that we need because our lives, as we encounter many people and places of both pain and hope, seem often to mirror Job’s.

And so, although it’s slightly intimidating, let’s venture into these waters this week and think seriously about the ways we, as people who desire a deeper relationship with God, engage with one another and with God in the midst of suffering.

We’ve just celebrated Pentecost, a time when we are awed by the ways that the Holy Spirit has moved through speaking in many different tongues. We praise people who can articulate what they hear and see through proficiency with language. Preachers and writers, of course, are the first ones to prize communication through speaking and conversing!

But we seem to be missing something crucial about our communication with God and with one another if we forget about how the Spirit of God has worked in the midst of silences.

I thought about simply leaving this Monday’s devotional blank – allowing for, perhaps, a welcome silence in the relentless drone of the day. However, I thought the better of it, since it seemed slightly awkward and confusing to receive a devotional with nothing in it…

So even though this message is full of words, take a few moments today to reflect on what you hear and see in moments of silence.

Because if you’ve ever been present in the midst of suffering or pain, you know that silence has a voice of its own.

What does God’s voice in the silence say to you today?


GUIDING SCRIPTURE

Lamentations 3:25-28 (NRSV)

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it…