Day Twenty-Nine

Day Twenty–Nine // March 22 // Holy Silence

“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.” – Josh Billings –

His voice was powerful: healing the sick, calling the lost, raising the dead. And He had spoken of such lovely things. He’d spoken of love and mercy, of freedom and release and pardon. Undoubtedly, He was His Father’s Boy – for He was there, and He had heard almighty God speak creation into existence. Jesus was there when the Father had framed the heavens and flung the stars across the inky black expanse of newly created sky. He was there, and He had heard His Father bring the land from the seas and grant flight to the birds.

God’s words were powerful. God’s words are powerful.

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Jesus’ words were powerful. Jesus’ words are powerful. … and so, too, is their silence.

“But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?’ But He gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed” (Matthew 27:12-14).

They were amazed – not by what He had done, but by what He chose not to do. There was no vociferous defense. No begging for His life. No pleading for the very mercy He’d die to offer them.

The same voice that had once calmed the seas, now let the tempest rage. He endured. He endured all the pain, all the sorrow, all the humiliation; He endured the injustice of it all. And He remained silent… letting His actions, letting a holy hush speak and teach a truth transcendent of words.

As Isaiah had foretold: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Our Savior’s silence was as potent as His speech. Indeed, years later, as Philip approached the Ethiopian eunuch, it was this very passage of Isaiah that God used to draw his curious heart towards Home (Acts 8:26-38).

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Do we know the sacred power of silence? Silence that convicts, silence that confronts, silence that compels our broken hearts towards Home. Just because we don’t hear the Lord’s dulcet voice does not mean that He is absent. It just means that He does not move amidst the noise – the noise that distracts, the noise the deters, the noise that would deaden our ears to wonder. It just means that we must train our souls to heed the silence, for it has much to say.