Silence

Luke 19:37-40 "37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

We were created to worship God. (Isaiah 43:7, Colossians 1:16) That's it and that's all. The week before Christ voluntarily took the cross, He rode into town on the back of a donkey. The crowds gathered and waited for Him to pass by. When Jesus did pass by they shouted out praises to God for the King who had come. This upset the teachers of the law, the religious elders and they told Jesus to silence His worshipers. The Creator's response was if they stop, the stones will sing my praises! You see, all of nature declares the beauty of the Lord. Without even trying, flowers, trees, a beach, and a sunset show us the magnificence of God. The trees, flowers, and pretty sunsets were give to us by God, as a gift. We, the people of Earth, mankind, were created to do the worshiping, not the stones and flowers!

As I was singing a praise song the other night at church, this fact dawned on me. (perhaps I should say it was revealed to me) The people of Jerusalem were exalting Jesus as He rode into town and Christ said "IF they keep quiet......." They key is in the "if" I realized that we talk about nature revealing the Glory of God because we don't! It's not the purpose of the flowers and rocks to sing God's praises, it's ours!! If, however, we don't do it, then nature itself will because God not only deserves worship, but requires it! We have become a generation of "quiet worshipers". We go to church and listen to the songs; we listen to the sermon, but when was the last time we SHOUTED in church for the glory of God? We should be "raising the roof" when we enter into the church building, not sitting comfortable on our butts! We've turned to putting up pictures in our presentations of wheat fields and galaxies because we've been silent so long that the ROCKS and PLANTS themselves are singing God's praises. Our purpose for being created is being fulfilled by rocks!?

On the 7th day, they blew their horns and gave a loud shout and the walls of the enemy collapsed. The people of Israel did exactly what God told them to do! Imagine if we started giving God a large shout of praise; would the walls of our enemies fall down? Could we defeat our adversary simply by praising God?

When I finished singing that song (Let Me Sing-Todd Fields), I prayed with the congregation. I prayed, "God, I don't want a rock to do my job. Teach me to praise You so that the rocks don't have to!"

Ask yourself; Am I letting a rock do my job?