Mat 15:23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
It may be a child of God is reading these words who has had some great
crushing sorrow, some bitter disappointment, some heart-breaking blow
from a totally unexpected quarter.
You are longing for your Master's
voice bidding you "Be of good cheer," but only silence and a sense of
mystery and misery meet you -"He answered her not a word."
God's tender heart must often ache listening to all the sad,
complaining cries which arise from our weak, impatient hearts...
Because
we do not see that for our own sakes He answers not at all or otherwise
than seems best to our tear-blinded, short-sighted eyes.
The silences of
Jesus are as eloquent as His speech and may be a sign, not of His
disapproval, but of His approval and of a deep purpose of blessing for
you.
Why art thou cast down, O… soul?
Thou shalt yet praise Him, yes, even
for His silence.
Listen to an old and beautiful story of how one
Christian dreamed that she saw three others at prayer.
As they knelt the Master drew near to them.
As He approached the first of the three, He bent over her in tenderness
and grace, with smiles full of radiant love and spoke to her in accents
of purest, sweetest music.
Leaving her, He came to the next, but only
placed His hand upon her bowed bead, and gave her one look of loving
approval.
The third woman He passed almost abruptly without stopping for
a word or glance.
The woman in her dream said to herself, "How greatly He must love the
first one, to the second He gave His approval, but none of the special
demonstrations of love He gave the first...
And the third must have
grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word at all and not even a
passing look.
I wonder what she has done, and why He made so much difference between
them?
As she tried to account for the action of her Lord, He Himself
stood by her and said: "O woman! how wrongly hast thou interpreted Me.
The first kneeling woman needs all the weight of My tenderness and care
to keep her feet in My narrow way.
She needs My love, thought and help
every moment of the day.
Without it she would fail and fall.
The second has stronger faith
and deeper love, and I can trust her to trust Me however things may go
and whatever people do.
The third, whom I seemed not to notice, and even
to neglect, has faith and love of the finest quality...
And her I am
training by quick and drastic processes for the highest and holiest
service.
She knows Me so intimately, and trusts Me so utterly, that she is
independent of words or looks or any outward intimation of My approval.
She is not dismayed nor discouraged by any circumstances through which I
arrange that she shall pass;
She trusts Me when sense and reason and
every finer instinct of the natural heart would rebel...
Because she
knows that I am working in her for eternity, and that what I do, though
she knows not the explanation now, she will understand hereafter.
I am silent in My love because I love beyond the power of words to
express, or of human hearts to understand...
And also for your sakes that
you may learn to love and trust Me in Spirit-taught, spontaneous
response to My love, without the spur of anything outward to call it
forth.
He "will do marvels" if you will learn the mystery of His silence, and
praise Him, for every time He withdraws His gifts that you may better
know and love the Giver.
~Selected
