Daily Devotions

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. Zechariah 2:10-13

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion…be silent, all people, before the Lord.

There is a time to sing and rejoice…and a time to be silent. The problem is that the world seems to conspire against both.

As much as we long to sing along with the songs of the season we are constantly being pulled back by the craziness around us. Where will the guns be blazing today? What vile statements will make today’s headlines? What nagging worries, sneaky anxieties, and faceless fears will try to overwhelm us today? We want to sing but fall into silence.

Yet there is no silence. There is always background noise, white noise, street noise, internal noise. Schedules to keep, deadlines to make, obligations, duties, chores, errands, responsibilities. Where is the silence? Where is the peace? Where is the quiet?

I have always loved to sing. I have never been very good at it but I’m entirely capable of doing my best. As I type these words my computer is open to Pandora, to the Traditional Gospel channel. It isn’t the kind of music we hear in church on Sunday but it is the kind that never ceases to raise my spirits. Sometimes, when I can’t find the words to pray, I’ll go here or to YouTube to look up certain favorites. As I listen to the words, as the music touches me more deeply than words, I consider it all prayer. It works.

I never walk through a week with a phrase from last Sunday’s sermon dancing in my mind…but the music always does that for me. There is a time to sing and rejoice.

Silence. No, I can’t count on the world to give me silence any more than I can expect the world to give me peace. There is no money to be made in peace and quiet. But I don’t need the world to give me silence.

Right now, one click and the music stopped. It is far easier not to type than to type. I can rest my fingers. I can close my eyes. I can be silent right here at my desk just as easily as you can be silent right there at yours. We can be silent. We can be still. And in that silence, in that stillness, we can know that the Lord is near, here, now.

There is a time to sing and rejoice…and a time to be silent. Each and every day, let’s make time for both.

Let us pray: In the stillness, the silence, may we rest in you, O God. In the demands of our day, the brokenness of our world, may we know that you are active and present, a very present help in time of every trouble and every need. Hear the song now playing in our souls, the song of our praise and thanksgiving. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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