Silence Can Be Golden

December 2nd, 2009 |

The words of the psalmist “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” took on a whole new meaning for me last Sunday night as I struggled through the worship service.  The song selection was excellent, the setting was beautiful, the praise band was gelling, the crowd was pretty good for a rainy Sunday night, but I was having difficulty singing.  The problem was not spiritual, but physical.  I literally did not have breath, or more precisely, the voice to sing.  My sinuses had been in a mess all weekend and what little voice I had was used up doing a funeral on Saturday and preaching twice on Sunday morning.  I had anticipated this problem, so I had already given Bro. Grant a heads up on Saturday that he might be preaching Sunday night.  I wanted to be at church, but I knew that I really couldn’t do church that night like I normally do.  That’s how I ended up sitting on the front row on a Sunday evening with no responsibilities other than a desire to worship.  As most of you know, what I lack in quality I make up for in quantity.  I love to sing, and I sing loudly.  But this particular night, I had nothing.  A whisper resembling something like a squawk was all I could muster.  It was so frustrating.  I had a night free from the stress of preaching.  I could praise the Lord but had no voice to do it.  In hindsight, two important lessons emerged out of my “silent night”. First, use all you have.  Don’t hold back when given the opportunity to worship.  Use all you have today because who knows what you may have tomorrow.  The second lesson is to use what you have.  Before the night was over, I realized that the lack of voice should not keep me from worshiping Him.  I might not have my usual avenue for worship, but I could still have an attitude for worship.  So I ended up mouthing the words and using what little breath I did have to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Silence can be golden,