No longer to be silent.

“The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

I was reminded of this verse these past few days and since then it has overwhelmed me. What caught my attention rather was how it is usually used. Mostly during worship, it is used right before a prayer to typically ask the congregation to keep it down because they’re about to pray.

But that’s not the objective of the verse. That’s not what it was meant for. Otherwise, we might as well be silent for all eternity and never say a word.

If there’s any call for silence, it is against the lies, the half-truths, the misconceptions, the false understandings that we tend to promote at times.

See the context of the verse:

“Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it.” (Habakkuk 2:19)

It is to such understanding, such perspective found in verse 19 that the call to silence is being made.

The only thing that can silence the lies and the blindness is the truth.

“Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.” (Psalm 149:1-5)

And also, we the believers of Christ are together the temple of God, not the for walls. And because of such, we can no longer be silent but shout praises and glory to his name for the work of the cross and the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

There you have it, by grace, in the name of Jesus. Amen.