Silence

“They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” - Job 2:13

In the book of Job, Job and his family go through tragedy after tragedy, and it breaks Job. His three friends go to comfort him, and they just sit with him, in silence, for seven days. And then they open their mouths and the real conflict of the story begins. The friends argue for 34 chapters about whether Job deserved the suffering he has endured. They go back and forth, trying to tell Job that he must have done something to deserve these cascading disasters.

It gets to be so much that eventually God speaks up.

There’s a lesson here for all of us: when tragedy comes, as it inevitably does, trying to logic it out and figure out exactly whose fault it is isn’t actually that helpful. When the worst happens, what we need is presence, not blame. Sometimes, the best thing to say is nothing.

Is there a time in your life where you can remember being grateful for someone just being there, being present with you, without having to say anything? Or a time you were there for a loved one going through a terrible time?

Where might God be speaking through silence? How might we silence the voices of shame and guilt so we can hear how God is present with us in the middle of our every day?

May we give each other the gift of presence and silent understanding when we need it most. May we hear the voice of God, spoken in silence or in the storm of the whirlwind. Amen.