Silent Song

From Amy Carmichael's "I Come Quietly to Meet You... An Intimate Journey in God's Presence." These are devotional readings arranged by David Hazard. The book was a precious gift from a precious friend who stayed in our home last year. It continues to bless me on a daily basis. Today...

Psalm 42:5, 7-8
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?... Deep calls to deep... By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.

The son greatly wished to make a "Song of Lovely Things" to sing to his Beloved - but he could not find singing-words.

He heard the voice of his Beloved saying, "You are walking on the road where all who love Me walk. Some of them walked this way singing, and they've left their songs behind them. Find their songs. Sing their words. They will be your song to Me."

But the son became full of grief, because there came a day when he could find no words to sing - neither his own, nor those of others. And yet he wanted with all his heart and soul and mind to ascend to higher places, to stand in the presence of His beloved...

And He who is love eternal whispered, "Then I, too, will approach you, silent in my love."

And the son entered into this silence, to meet the eternal Beloved there...

After a while there was a sound in the gentle stillness, a voice that whispered, "Even your silence is, to Me, a song of lovely things..."

My Father, there are reasons why I could feel downcast. When I think about some parts of my life, it's hard to pray - even harder to worship in freedom...
... relationships that are difficult...
... dreams and goals that are crumbling...
... old hurts that wound me over and over...
Some parts of me feel cold and wordless.
Is the problem that I've buried some things deep inside? Are You patiently calling - through days and months - for me to open up to You at some deeper level?
Today, Father, I trust You to go deeper.

Amy Carmichael, I Come Quietly to Meet You, ed. David Hazard (Minnesota: Bethany House, 2005) 31-32. See it.