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Picture this scene: There was an eerie silence among the townspeople as a vast army invaded their city. No doubt the people feared for their life as this army marched around the walls of their city without a word.
Sitting up in the window of one of the buildings in the city was a woman they all recognized from her occupation. But today, there was something different about this woman. As the townspeople peered from behind their windows watching the scenario unfold before them, they could tell she looked peaceful and content as the army marched. And what was that thing she was holding in her hands? A long red thread? Wonder why she is holding that?
You see, the lady in the window had, shall we say, CONNECTIONS with the commander of the army, and was just following his instructions. “Sit still and be quiet, and when the walls of the city are all down, we will come in and rescue you. But——-if you go out into the city to try to save yourself, your blood will not be on our hands.” (Joshua 2, paraphrased.)
Yes, Rahab—the harlot, one whose name ended up in the Hall of Faith for her obedience of wielding her Sword of Silence as the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
Let’s go on down to the bonfire and learn more about this Sword of Silence from my girlfriends.
Teresa:
Some of us are “basket cases” and some of us are “cool cucumbers” as we face major trauma. If we look at Jesus’ example, we will find He sought silence to be alone with the Father before His major battles.
- He was fasting and praying when He was confronted with Satan in the desert. (Matthew 4:1-2)
- He sought silence and seclusion after the death of His best friend, John the Baptist. (Matthew 14:10-13)
- After ministering to the crowds and pouring Himself out, Jesus sought solitude and quiet in the mountains. (Matthew 14:23)
- Jesus dealt with His popularity and the crowds by taking times of silence to reconnect with the Father.
- He dealt with this fear and anxiety through quiet time with the Father. (Matthew 17:1-3)
- Before Jesus faced his death, He went alone to pray to His Father and ask for the coming events to be taken from Him. (Matthew 26:36)
- When questioned by the Pharisees, Jesus was controlled, reserved, and thought before He spoke.
- When Jesus appeared before Pilate, He was asked very direct questions which would cause Him to be put to death and Jesus remained silent. (Mark 14:61)
- “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
If we follow Jesus’ example, we will seek the Father BEFORE we get into hard and traumatic situations.
Jennifer
Wielding the Sword of Silence is very tricky, especially when the battle we are fighting is personal. There is so much wisdom regarding quarrels, friendships, and revenge in Proverbs as it relates to wielding the Sword of Silence during our individual struggles.
1. Quarrels and Gossip
- Proverbs 26:20 – – – Fire goes out without words and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.
- We have to make a choice to stay silent, to not be angry, and to entrust the situation to our God.
2. Friendships and Strife
- Proverbs 16:28 – – – A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.
- We must recognize that “we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against the powers of the dark world” (Ephesians 6:12).
3. Revenge
- Proverbs 28:29 – – – Don’t testify against your neighbors without cause; don’t lie about them. And don’t say, “Now I can pay them back for what they’ve done to me! I’ll get even with them!”
- Revenge is the way of the world; it is not God’s way. Jesus was arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death an innocent man. During the course of His trial and conviction, He had many opportunities to plead His case, but He remained SILENT. He knew that His Father was taking care of everything.
We all have our individual struggles, but we were not created to handle them on our own. God is right there, waiting for you to call on Him. He wants to change our hearts. Be still; be silent. Let God speak to you and then do what He says.
Tonya
The sword of silence seems too heavy to bear when we have been wearied by altercations of life, relationships, and responsibilities. As Lisa said: The trick is choosing to allow those critiques to refine, not define us.
Keys to remember:
- God alone establishes houses.
- When we live under the directive of God’s Spirit, God protects us.
- God knows how to settle matters with our enemies.
- We should never use our position with God to protect ourselves.
- We are not to take judgment or salvation matters into our hands; both of these matters belong to our God.
I remind myself to step back in prayer and allow God to handle the situation; I’m supposed to bite my tongue.
Kim
I’ve never thought of silence as a weapon, but I can think of countless situations where silence would have definitely been my best weapon.
- As a mom, when that precious child you’ve nurtured, built up, loved and protected comes home wounded by the words of her friends.
- When a husband isn’t doing things the way I would.
- Because of my past, I was the topic of conversation at many dinner tables even after I had a few years of a transformed life under my belt, rumors and yes, the facts were still spoken about me, hurting my children and me.
As much as I wanted to set the record straight, as much as you may want to set a record straight, we are to be different and choose a different weapon!
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14
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Let’s Pray:
Father God, how wonderful it is that You have given us a sword to use for every battle we face. How I thank You for the Sword of Silence. Though it is our natural tendency to want to “fix” our problems. May we allow You to train us to be still, hold our peace, knowing that You are the one fighting the battle for us. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
About Martha Bush
Martha, thanks for pulling it all together. I love reviewing the whole week in one sitting, it solidifies it better in my mind. 🙂
As I was reading, I kept thinking of the verse “Be still and know that I am God.” When I looked in my concordance I found a number of verses that tell me to “be still”. I selected Psalm 37 to read and immediately saw how well it spoke of this week’s study, verses 1-20 especially. “Do not fret because of evil men…Trust in the Lord and do good…delight yourself in the Lord…Commit your way to the Lord…He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn…BE STILL before the Lord and WAIT PATIENTLY for Him…Refrain from anger…the Lord upholds the righteous…The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.” Verse 14 even talks about the wicked drawing their sword, BUT their own swords will pierce their own hearts. That’s the work of the Lord when we let Him fight our battles. PTL
Clella, the thought just occurred to me that we all have seen those verses on being still probably numerous times; but this was the week the Holy Spirit really gave us a big nudge to pay attention.
I agree, Martha. I love the way the Lord will “surprise” me as I’m reading with a verse that I’ve “never seen before” even though I have read and studied His Word for many, many years. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for giving us this nudge this week. 🙂
As I was reading the recap, it struck me as funny, how many words we used this week to ‘be silent’. Clella is right, as we look back through the scriptures, ‘be still, be silent’, is used MANY times. Many words were spoken to teach us to be silent when the time of testing comes. I pray we have taken this truth a little deeper into our hearts so that when our trials come, we will have peace in the only One who offers it. Good job bringing us Rahab’s example of faithfulness.
love rahab…one of God’s beloved, faithful ‘bad girls!’ i hadn’t really ever thought about her ‘silence’ before; thanks, martha, for that perspective! (thank You, Holy Spirit!) <3
Beautiful recap Martha. I was so hoping I could have found the perfect Rahab graphic for you!!!! 🙁 We have had an amazing week this week, learning about keeping silent when we want so desperately to speak!! Next week is going to bless us even more!! I can’t wait!
Love the recap!!! The Joshua 2 paraphrase amazed me. Thank you Martha.
You know when the Lord gets your attention, you always remember it. And Sister Rahab was the way in which He got my attention, as I told Christi, years ago when I was going through a very hard time. I have never forgotten it, and still have to review the lady over and over again and the position she took in the widow when the walls were coming down around her. The part that also stood out to me was “if you go out in the street, your blood is not on our hands.” And I caught how I’d better not try to save myself. Hope this is a picture that will ring true, as did all the other scriptures this week when we need to hold our tongues and keep silent and still.