Silence

Inside the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus so they could put him to death....... Finally two men were found who declared, "This man said 'I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"  Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Well, aren't you going to answer these charges?  What do you have to say for yourself?"  But Jesus remained silent.  Matthew 26:59-63

I have read that when an earthquake is imminent there is silence in nature.  The birds stop singing, dogs stop barking and all of nature is still.  We know that when a tsunami is about to happen the surf stops pounding the shore; in fact the ocean recedes far off the shore in as if gathering momentum for its fearful assault.  On the dreadful day in earth's history that these verses speak of we see another kind of silence.  Jesus chose not to defend himself against charges laid against him.  Instead he stood quietly. Isaiah prophesied of this time saying, "He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth." Isaiah 53:7. What strength it must have taken to stand in the face of twisted truth, words taken out of context, misunderstood. 

Again the prophet explained, "But it was the LORD's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants." Isaiah 53:10.  God's plan was good - it was for us, that we might become the children of God with full and free access to his love, forgiveness and grace because of the suffering of Jesus our Saviour, Son of God, Son of man.

Sometimes silence is necessary when we are faced with criticism, accusation and misunderstanding.  Our suffering will never come close to what Jesus faced during his ordeal but it will still involve pain.  It is a difficult and painful thing to stay quiet and let God defend us - and He will if we allow Him to. 

Often the Lord will allow us to experience the pain of a situation in order to grow us into maturity and if we feel we have to defend ourselves our words may just add to the problem.  Perhaps you are facing a situation right now where you are searching for what to say to defend yourself and make right a misunderstanding.  Perhaps silence and prayer is what will cause the breakthrough.  If offence should rise to test you, remember Jesus, who said, "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." Luke 23:34.  When we walk in love and forgiveness towards those who have hurt us our actions speak more clearly than any words that we can utter in our defense.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the amazing gift of love you gave when you allowed yourself to be crucified for me.  Thank you for your example of standing silent in the face of accusation.  When I am tempted to defend myself, help me to remember that you are my great defender, and to trust my case to you.  Amen