“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)
I suppose the best answer is simply to raise one’s own hand. I am the one who darkens counsel by words without knowledge. I rush to speak where I should be silent, to explain where I do not know, and to offer my opinion where God’s Word is better. For what are my thoughts compared to God’s?
Every Christian should pause and sit with this reality for a bit, taking it to heart. Many people extol the virtue of being still and silent for meditation, but we’re not truly silent until we have pondered the futility of our own thoughts compared to God’s—yes, even our pondering of our ponderings is a chasing after wind. Until we extinguish our love for our own opinions and discernment, we’re still yakking away in the arrogance of our hearts, however still our mouths may be.
Yet once we have confessed our ignorance and said, “Your thoughts, O Lord, are higher than my thoughts,” then we are truly silent, however much we may speak. Those who make God’s Word their counsel are quiet and still before Him, even though they may make a great noise, because they have silenced their minds in favor of God’s mind and refrained from exalting their judgments over His. Here is the joy and gift of the Church: always having a better Word than our own, because it carries so much greater consolation and wisdom.
LET US PRAY: Silence the imaginations of my heart, O Lord, so that I may truly speak and speak the truth. Amen
Pastor Steven K. Gjerde
Zion, Wausau
