Silence is Golden or Is It?
Silence is Golden or Is It?
By Machelle McDowell
Luke 1
The discipline of silence is an art; it is good. It is far better to be a good listener than a speaker, that is straight Bible, (James 1:19), LOL! It has been said that speech is sliver but silence is golden. Sometimes, it is better to say nothing.
I think our friend, Zechariah found in Luke 1 of our Bible reading plan this week would beg to differ?
Zechariah was an (incense) Priest. His job was to burn incense in the temple while everyone outside the temple was praying. It was an honor!
Only priests from a certain lineage could serve in the temple. During this time, there were thousands of priests and they would draw lots to see who would serve.
Listen to this, the priest may have only served in the temple once in his lifetime. So, this honor was probably one of the greatest highlights in the life of Zechariah.
Incense was offered in the morning and in the evening. There were actually (3) priests that were chosen to prepare the incense, but after preparation, two would leave and the incense priest would stay. What an honor! He was left alone in the midst of the holy atmosphere of the Lord.
If this wasn’t enough of a blessing for this man, while he was in the temple relishing the moment, he was visited by an angel of the Lord!
Let’s ponder on this a moment. Zechariah is in prayer in the midst of the greatest honor of his life, serving His God in this manner.
I imagine him being caught up in the spirit and his thoughts and prayers were floating in the heavenly realms!! And then…he opens his eyes and raises his head to catch a glimpse of,“an angel?” Speechless gives a new description to “silence.”
The angel tells him to not be afraid, right? Gabriel continues to explain that the prayer Zechariah had been praying all of his life to have a son had been honored.
He concludes with, “You will have a son and you will call him, John,” “You will have joy and gladness!”
This is where the story takes a turn …..Zechariah began to doubt. Wow, this man was in the presence of an angel, and he doubts?
He began to think about the circumstances in his life and not at what God could do. How many miracles have we robbed ourselves of by this kind of thinking? His disbelief robbed him of the very joy the angel spoke of at that moment.
“I am an old man,” he said, “My wife is well advanced in years.” I love what Gabriel says next and in the manner he says it. “I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this news.”
It is almost like Gabriel was alluding to these questions, “Are you serious?” “God himself sent me!!” “You are in the holy temple honoring your God as a Priest, and you doubt?”
Zechariah was bridled with silence. He could not speak! Disbelief had robbed him of sharing the greatest news of a life long unanswered prayer now miraculously heard and answered in a time such as this.
Was his lot divinely drawn so that he would be in the holy temple to receive the news of the messenger?
The one who would herald the news of the coming Messiah! Zechariah’s son would pave the wave for our very own Jesus!
He couldn’t even share his experience with Elizabeth! Ironically, God had been silent for the last 400 years and now, the silence was not golden but was broken!
God spoke through Gabriel to Zechariah that he too would carry the message to Elizabeth and on to Mary & Joseph. Zechariah’s own son would become a messenger for our Lord and Savior!
The silence was over except for Zechariah in that very moment. But, this did not make Zechariah bitter but only better.
As the months past and he worshiped in silence and waited impatiently for the day of his son’s birth. Can you only imagine what transpired within him during those long months? His doubt turned to praise, gratefulness, thankfulness, and awe.
At the moment of naming his child, God loosed his lips and he was filled with the holy spirit and out from them came praise and He blessed His God! The silence was over!
Join us in reading through the New Testament in 2022! You can find the reading plan on our website. This week Luke 1 was one of the chapters we covered!