Silence!

I have been teaching through several of the Minor Prophets since the beginning of the year and am currently covering the book of Habakkuk. Consider the emphasis on speaking vs. listening toward the end of Chapter 2:

Hab. 2:18 “What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it,
The molded image, a teacher of lies,
That the maker of its mold should trust in it,
To make mute idols?
¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
Yet in it there is no breath at all.

²⁰ “But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

 

The gods we make "idols" are created according to our will, in our image and at our disposal to say and do what we want, at least that is the goal of idolatry. So we speak and demand our gods act on our behalf, yet for all our efforts they remain silent!

 

Before the true God, the one who made us and all things, we will be silenced.

 

Isaiah experienced a silencing before God:

 

Isa. 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

⁴ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”

 

Isaiah realised he had nothing to say in God's presence, he was undone before the Lord! Only God could make Isaiah able to be useful to Him, as He cleansed him of sin, so he could be sent to do God's will.

 

⁶ Then one of the seraphim which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Will we demand the idols we make in our image serve and glorify us? 

 

OR

 

Will we be undone before the God of the universe, be silenced by catching even a glimpse of His holiness, and then purged from our sin by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, go and tell others of His great glory! 

 

 "Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."