The Sound Of Silence
“Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:13).
Listening works wonders! Loving silence has no sound but speaks volumes to the one sitting next to you. It says to the hurting heart, “Because I treasure you I am willing to be here and sit in silence with you.”
Job was made a pathetic tragedy . . . a hapless victim of unfair treatment. In one day’s time, Job lost 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, 3,000 camels in a raid by enemies, and 7,000 sheep were lost to lightning. His boil-covered body tormented him as he sat next to ten fresh graves, seven sons and two daughters. Can you even imagine? His distraught wife dared him to cruse the LORD. Why, even God seemed to desert him, letting Satan have his devilish way.
Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come to comfort him. When they arrive they can’t believe what they see. Job is marred beyond recognition. They cry out in lament and dump dirt on their heads as a sign for grief. They then do something stunning. Ready for this? They simply sit not saying a word - seven days and nights no less. They had the ministry of presence and they showed that they cared enough to be there. If only they had remained quiet!! They open their pie-holes and with their accusations become the Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe of friends.
There is such a thing as a ministry of presence and there is also such a thing as a ministry of silence. Ecclesiastes 3:7 tells us there is “a time to be quiet and a time to speak up.” Sometimes quiet compassion is enough. There are times when the sound of silence is love. Jesus not only lived a perfect life for you and raised himself up to celebrate your justification but he always listens when you talk to him. The Psalmist says he bends his ear to you in silence. “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live” (Psalm 116:2).
Can you just sit with a friend in silence? When a person is going through a difficult time, can you let that one vent and spill and cry while you simply listen? Perhaps you feel the necessity to say something but the better part of wisdom would stay silent and perhaps even pray.
Author Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.” My friend, learn to love with the sound of silence.
