“Do Not Be Silent”

“Do not be silent, O God of my praise. For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.” Psalm 109:1-2

Eugene Peterson:

Can people's noisy condemnations ever drown out the voice of God?
Can the rude accusations of human beings ever silence God's acceptance?

The testimony of those who pray is that they cannot.
God speaks — in scripture, in sacrament, in the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).

He speaks; he is not silent.

You know, I wonder about what Peterson says in answer to those first two questions.
His confidence that the testimony of those who pray, well, the condemnations and accusations don’t find their way in.
But I wonder if that’s true. I wonder if, at times, the answer is, in fact, “yes, sometimes they do,” and “no, they don’t have to.”

I’m thinking this could be one of those “both / and” situations.

My own experience is one of great struggle with an internal voice that can be very cruel and condemnatory, a voice that has been with me since I was a small child. Years ago, when reading the Jewish author, Judith Shulevitz, she described perfectly this vicious voice as “a constant inner murmur of self-reproach.” And it is an inner murmur that at times is fueled and made more powerful by the murmurs of those around me whose “mouths are opened against me, speaking against me…”

And I’ll be frank — those noisy condemnations have, in fact, drowned out the voice of God for me at times. Those rude accusations of human beings have very much silenced God’s acceptance.
They prevail. For a season. And it’s painful and difficult, depressing, and sometimes suffocating in the anxiety it brings.

It is in such seasons my bride will often — gently, but firmly — say, “Stop it! Stop listening to the voices. Stop listening to the lies.” And of course, she’s right. She’s so right. But goodness, the voices can be powerful and persistent.

And what Peterson offers is a wonderful complement to my bride’s charge.
You see, I think it’s both “stop listening” and “start talking.”
Ignore some of the words coming in my ears, and get some words going out of my soul.

I heard a great sermon this morning from my friend, Joe Thorn, about prayer, in which he defined prayer as “appearing before God in faith.” That’s so good, and so true, and applies here.

You see, in order to join the testimony of the faithful for whom God’s voice and acceptance are not drowned out, I must pray. I must get in the presence of God, in faith. And there, in his presence, I must listen to the true words, the loving words, the life-given words, that he has to say about me as his child. And I must get in his Word, to hear those words. And I must get in the congregation of the faithful as we observe the sacraments, to see and hear what he has done for me.

It is in these ways that, as Peterson says, “he speaks, and he is not silent.”

Further, it is in these ways that instead of his voice being drowned out by noisy condemnations,
his voice will drown out the constant inner murmur of self-reproach.
Instead of his acceptance being silenced by rude accusations,
his full and complete acceptance will shatter the anxiety such accusations bring.

May it be so, for all of us, dear reader.

PRAYER: Father, sometimes I think that you have stopped speaking, and then I discover that it is I who have stopped listening. Restore the hearing that has grown dull in disobedience, and then repeat the words I need to hear in faith.

Yes, and very amen, in Jesus’ name.

(the prayer also comes from Eugene Peterson)