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Mar.09.07:Light for the Day "In the Valley of Silence"
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-- Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! -- Psalms 62:5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. -- Lamentations 3:25-26 24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. God’s poet is silence! His song is unspoken, And yet so profound, so loud, and so far, It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken, And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star. -- Joaquin Miller Have you not wondered, you who treasure the inspired verse and moving prose, from whence came these creations of hope, faith, love, courage, solace? J. R. Miller, a great man with an inspired pen, proclaims it is not an easy road. "It is only in the Valley of Silence with Christ that we can dream the dreams and see the visions which we -- desire to translate into actual life and character among men. There alone can we get the heavenly inspirations and impulses for holy earthly living. Only in the mount can we be shown the patterns of the sacred things which our hands should fashion in this world." In the hush of the Valley of Silence I dream all the songs that I sing; And the music floats down the dim valley, Till each finds a word for a wing, That to hearts, like the dove of the deluge, A message of peace they may bring. But far on the deep there are billows That never shall break on the beach; And I have heard songs in the silence That never shall float into speech; And I have had dreams in the valley Too lofty for language to reach. And I have seen thoughts in the valley -- Ah me, how my spirit was stirred! And they wear holy veils on their faces, Their footsteps can scarcely be heard; They pass through the valley like virgins, Too pure for the touch of a word. Do you ask me that place of the valley, Ye hearts that are harrowed by care? It lieth afar between mountains, And God and His angels are there: One is the dark mountain of sorrow, And one the bright mountain of prayer. -- Unknown A converted slave trader, John Newton distilled his life's perfume into: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! Pilgrim's Progress was not dashed off in a plush penthouse suite. A broken heart guided Joseph Scriven's pen to exclaim: What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! That the Holy Spirit lives and breathes through the deep devotional writing of Oswald Chambers is no accident. His short forty-one years were spent in reckless abandonment to God; his stature of spiritual giant hood dearly bought. God seems to exact as his price of "best-selling" writing success a diploma from his grueling school of experience. Courses are: discipline, suffering, faith, tests, and self-examination. Bruised, jostled, and mobbed, Charles Wesley sought refuge in a milk house and wrote: Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee. -- Selected -- Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. -- Jude 1:20-21 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life -- Philippians 4:6-7 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -- James 1:19-20 19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. -- 1 Thessalonians 4:11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. -- John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. -- Revelation 8:1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. -- Psalms 52:9; 130:5; 119:165 52:9 I will praise You forever for what You have done; in Your name I will hope, for Your name is good. I will praise You in the presence of Your saints. 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. 119:165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. -- Psalms 23 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. -- Isaiah 32:17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. -- Ecclesiastes 3:1,7 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak. -- Zechariah 2:13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, For He is aroused from His holy habitation! + We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature-trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. . . . We need silence to be able to touch souls. -- M.Teresa My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music; and silence. -- E.Sitwell Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. -- E.K.Ross After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. -- A.Huxley Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. -- Robert Fripp Silence is more musical than any song. -- C.Rossetti Silence is a text easy to misread. -- A. A. Attanasio If you have something to say, then say it. If not, enjoy the silence while it lasts. -- H.Macleod The best answer to answer to anger is silence. -- Unknown Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. -- T.Blair Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts. -- T.Carlyle True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. -- William Penn Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- P.Minard Be silent, or say something better than silence.-- Pythagoras If thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue. -- Quarles I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. -- P.Syrus I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue. -- Xenocrates As we must account for every idle word, so we must for every idle silence. -- Franklin Silence is a virtue in those who are deficient in understanding -- Bouhours Silence, when nothing need be said, is the eloquence of discretion. -- Bovee Silence does not always mark wisdom. -- S.T.Coleridge In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity. -- M.Eckhart That man's silence is wonderful to listen to. -- T.Hardy Silence is as full of potential wisdom and wit as the unhewn marble of great sculpture. The silent bear no witness; against themselves. -- A.Huxley A silent mouth is melodious. -- Irish Proverb. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. - L.Wittgenstein Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- J.Billings In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -- M.L.King Jr. A man's silence is wonderful to listen to. -- T.Hardy Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. -- M.Fraquhar Tupper I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -- K.Gibran Oppression can only survive through silence. -- C.Monteflores In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. -- M.Gandhi Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about. -- S.Pandita The most profound statements are often said in silence. -- L.Johnston When something that honest is said it usually needs a few minutes of silence to dissipate. -- P.Ribon |