December 13, 2020
Written by Guest Writer, Joy Mathis Chadwick
Silent night.
For the shepherds in the fields watching over their sheep, it might have very well been a silent night – for a while, anyhow. But can you just imagine all the chaos when the host of angels appeared to the unsuspecting shepherds? I’ve been told that the word “host” actually translates to “army”, so no wonder the angel told the shepherds to “fear not”; they must have been terrified when their silent night was transformed into this great commotion.
It wasn’t very silent in Bethlehem, either. Luke tells us that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn because every available room in the city had been taken by the people coming in to pay their taxes. An overcrowded city and limited accommodations, combined with perhaps a multitude of extra animals, is a perfect equation for rowdiness and noise, certainly not silence. I wonder if all these tax-paying people would have even noticed during all the commotion that angels were here to make an announcement.
But did you ever wonder why God’s words are best heard in the silence of the night? The announcement of baby Jesus was made in a most unassuming location – to a group of shepherds tending their sheep for the night; He got their attention. Many times in the Old Testament, God came to prophets in their dreams; He got their attention.
The scriptures tell us that God is a jealous God. I’m quite sure He won’t even try to compete with television or even our loud and robust praise and worship music; when He really wants to make Himself known to us, we have to be in a place to listen; a place of silence – at least silence within us, with no distractions. When we need to get serious with God, we need to find that closet and spend some one-on-one time alone with Him.
Perhaps my most favorite passage in the Old Testament is found in 1 Kings 19:11-12:
“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” KJV
I love that still small voice. I think that’s the voice that got Mary’s attention when she “kept all those things and pondered them in her heart”. I love that Jesus wasn’t born amid the chaos of the crowds in Bethlehem. I love that it truly was a silent night, a holy night, even in the midst of the loudness of the world.
