How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven. – From “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
God creates masterpieces in silence.
Genesis describes, “… the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep …” and from this stillness God spoke the universe into existence (Gen. 1 NIV). But even before He created the earth, He had your genesis in mind. King David writes “[God] created my inmost being …” in the warm quiet of his mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13 NIV). Think about that for a moment. If God appropriated seven days to establish the entire universe, how much greater did it give God pleasure to craft your being, for which He took nine months?
What can we say to such goodness?
Especially in busy seasons full of expectation and anticipation, to reflect on the greatest gift, we can simply “be still, and know” (Ps. 46:10). The Bible tells us there is “a time to be silent, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). When we cease striving, we recognize the unchangeable power of God’s character and are then able to receive the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of all wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
Especially when we are in the midst of a busy season, it’s easy to read “be still and know” and miss the layers of meaning. We can read it as “be still and [think about what you] know.” But is it possible that what we are able to know is directly connected to how silent we can be before God? Whatever effort we make to understand God can only be measured by our natural, human capacity. But by however much we will submit to the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, then we are able to receive His wisdom which surpasses all knowledge (John 16:13). Paul talks about this in Ephesians 3:18-19 when he prays that we might be may be empowered, “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (NIV).
God’s power is made evident in our weakness. In our stillness we make ourselves weak so that He might make us strong in the knowledge of His limitless love (2 Cor. 12:9). And it gets even better, because God is not some existential concept defined in abstract terms; He’s Jesus! And the Spirit of Jesus lives and breathes in you. This is the miracle of Christmas—that God sent Himself to this earthly realm so we might know Him through experiencing relationship with Him.
The holiday season is a hectic time, but this Christmas, let’s worship God by giving Him the quiet, submitted heart which so pleases Him (1 Pet. 3:4). God wants to create in you new life, new dreams and new hopes. He wants to impart to you the fullness of His love. So take a moment this Christmas to be still, and let God be the first to break the silence.
