Silence

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built…

14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

23 For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. 32 And on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. 34 He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings. (1 Kings 6:7, 14-35, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
I keep asking the Lord to reveal His desire for these verses; to draw out what He sees as important because I am at a loss for words.  And all I hear is crickets chirping.  Y’know, as in nothing.  Nada.  Silence.  Ahh, silence…

The other night I awoke to this clear thought—or maybe it was the Lord—“it is silent.”  Yes.  No fan running, no wind blowing, no snoring (sorry, Max!), no birds chirping, no cicadas whirring, no electronics humming.  Just silence.  It was only an instant but the depths of me cried out to God, recognizing He alone was responsible for the moment of silence and He deserved acknowledgement.  In that brief sleepy moment, God met me and my heart leapt in worship.  Our lives are consumed with noise and whether it’s pleasing noise or jarring noise, we rarely experience the sound of absolute silence.  I remember in Israel when we had finally gathered our luggage and moved to the outer part of the airport.  The first thing that struck me was the quietness.  It’s not that people weren’t talking but there was a muffledness to the noise—the noise was not louder than the silence.  

I wonder if that’s how it was when they were building the temple.  Back in verse 7 it says that there was no sound of an iron tool—a hammer or an axe—while working on the temple.  I’m sure there was the muted noise of people talking, materials being moved, but there was no loud clanging; no pinging noise reverberating off the stone walls.  It’s as if they were all operating with a deep sense of worship.  The kind of worship where you become so aware of how big God is and how very small you are.  I LOVE that kind of worship.  Being in a space where big is allowed to be big and I am allowed to be small is glorious.  This is why I am drawn to the mountains and the ocean/Puget Sound/Gulf of Mexico.  They are vast.  I am not.  It is a reminder that God is even bigger than what my eyes can take in.  When I am in nature I hear only nature sounds; God sounds.  Man-made sounds disappear.  Peace, joy, longing fill my veins.  My heart goes crazy with excitement to be in that space!  God’s still, small voice begins to thunder and my entire being collapses before Him.  I am consumed by the silence and His voice; the enormity and the nearness of His presence.  All around is the shout of His authority.  Worship is pulled from me (willingly, but even I wasn’t willing, worship would still come because His greatness simply commands it).  HE IS GOD ALMIGHTY.  I need no other reason to worship Him.

If I can worship Him in nature, can I step into the 30’x30’x30’ cube described in this passage and encounter Him still?  The temple being built was a magnificent structure, full of the finest materials around.  I wonder what the High Priests thought as they entered the Holy of Holies…

The room is dark—only a few simple candles are lit.  The smells of cedar and incense mix, overpowering my nostrils.  As the light bounces off the golden walls and the smooth gold feels cool beneath my bare feet, my heart seems to barrel out of my chest like a locomotive.  Feelings arise of deep longing, hope, desire mixed with fear—not dread, but just an unknowing of what this time and space will hold.  It is very quiet and I realize I’m holding my breath; the Holiness is overwhelming.  Finding a corner in which to sit down brings steadiness.  I want to sit in this Presence, to not move or make a sound, but simply let the Magnificence consume me.  The two giant Cherubim (the height of two Shaquille O’Neals each) and the Ark of the Covenant are front and center; reminding me again of how big He is and how very small I am.  With this comes comfort.  Full of hope and awe, I wait.  Suddenly, there is an enormous flame over the Ark—the entire room is filled with Light that rains from the ceiling and bounces off the walls.  The floor illuminates and I wonder if it has turned to liquid.  My eyes squeeze shut but the Light pierces right through to my brain.  I have no thoughts and no feelings.  I am grateful to be sitting down because my legs do not work.  GOD ALMIGHTY.  Here.  With me.  Me.  What do I say?  What can I say?  Nothing.  My mouth is glued shut.  Only two parts of my body appear to be functioning – my heart pounding in my ears.  THIS IS GOD.  Holy.  Righteous.  Powerful.  Life.


POINT OF ACTION:
Worship God because He is worthy of all honor, all glory, all praise.  Worship Him because He is holy.  Worship Him for who He is.  Separate out your worship of Him from your praise for Him.  We worship God, not because He loves us (we praise Him for that), but because He is God and we are not.  We are not the focal point.  God is.


PRAYER:
Lord God, You are above all.  You are Creator and Immanuel.  You are holy, mighty, all-powerful.  You are tame and wild; fierce and meek; Alpha and Omega.  May we quickly lay down everything, every person that fills our lives so that we may only grasp You.  Consume us Lord, and enable us to maintain the proper perspective of Your greatness and our smallness.  WE LOVE YOU!


WHO AM I?
I am Beth Peeples and I love to worship the Lord in silence and contemplative songs.  Earlier this month I had the honor of spending the weekend on a relatively quiet retreat in Hunt, TX.  The Lord and I sat for hours just staring at the river.  We were content, although I did miss Max.  I plan on dragging him out there sometime soon.  :) 

Here is a song I wore out during that time (it’s an oldie but goodie).  It’s “Holy Holy Holy” by Vineyard Singers (written by Larry Hampton).  



The lyrics are:  

The earth is filled with Your glory

We stand in awe of Your majesty

Behold the splendour of the King

And join the angels as they sing 

Holy, Holy, Holy

Is the Lamb of God

Honor, Praise, and Glory

Are Yours, O Lord, Forever 

As we gaze at Your beauty

We cannot help falling on our knees

We have come to adore our King

And join the angels as they sing