email : Webview : Duane Brooks - Every Day with Jesus

December 7, 2018

Zephaniah 3:14-17
Sing, Daughter Zion;
    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
On that day
    they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

New International Version (NIV)

   When our sons were little I made up silly songs to sing to them to try to quiet them. I’m not sure the songs worked, but they gave me something to do. One son would rest only if we took him for a ride in his car seat. Then someone reminded us that putting the car seat on top of a working dryer has about the same effect. This worked like a charm.

                God quiets us in his love. Zephaniah may have lived in a loud world as we do. He urged the people to be silent before the Lord (1:7). His contemporary Jeremiah wrote, “It is good to wait quietly for the Lord." God’s first language is silence. In commenting on this beautiful, rich insight of Saint John of the Cross, Thomas Keating, in his work Invitation to Love, writes: “Everything else is a poor translation. In order to understand this language, we must learn to be silent and to rest in God.”

                 How will we practice being silent today? In the silence of the desert, God spoke to John the Baptist. What is God trying to say to us today? Unless we are still before him, we may never know. Good news: God is still speaking to us. Are we listening?

Pray with me:

Father, forgive us, we have been loud. We think we have to say something even though we have nothing to say. Show us how to be still. Like children listening to a long sermon, we squirm. Help us to be quiet enough today to hear the gentle whisper of your voice. Speak Lord. Your servants are listening. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This year we focus our Every Day with Jesus readings on Jesus’ story. With references to Tallowood's Read Through the Bible in 2018 daily reading plan, let's focus our undivided attention on Jesus and follow where he lead. He will not fail. Neither will we!
Joyfully,
Duane

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