When Shutting Up is Godliness

A Lenten Reflection from the Desert

by Tim Lien

Lent should never be morose—

an annual ordeal during which

we begrudgingly forgo a handful of pleasures.

Instead, it ought to be approached as an opportunity.

After all, it is meant to be the church's springtime,

when out of the darkness of sin's winter,

a repentant, empowered people emerges.

from Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter

After the first Passover, Pharoah’s first son was dead, along with many other first-borns. In a fit of grief and good riddance, Pharoah decided to relent and permitted his cheap workforce to get out of his sight. The plagues had been effective.

The Hebrews didn’t wait too long. They left with all the gold and goods they could haul and carry. Ostensibly, God had done what He promised. He had procured full emancipation.

But an impending massive economic recession had a way of postponing Pharaoh’s grief cycle. Both he and his advisors realized that cheap labor is an addiction hard to quit. Rage quickly replaced grief, and he ordered a fully-armed military to forcefully persuade a return.

The Hebrews had eyes; they saw the advancing force. They were not brainless, either; they had done the calculations in their head. A stick-armed militia against elite martial units would be a massacre.

And so they were scared. Let’s give them a break. You would have been scared, too.

Their fear has them say and do crazy things. You and I do the same kind of thing.

They sarcastically gave the business to Moses: “Look, pal, we had free cemetery services in Egypt. We didn’t need to come all the way out here to find any good deals on burial sites. We were allowed to die without taking a long hike, buddy. Being abused by the Egyptians was still better than dying out here near the Twenty-Nine Palms Motel. If this is what you call ‘deliverance,’ (this where they shadow-quoted Moses for full effect) then we’d like a full refund.” (that’s The Unauthorized New Living Lien Translation)

Moses is new to the job, but he delivers a powerful devotional that lasts less than thirty seconds. It sounds more like General Patton in the desert and less like Oswald Chambers.

“Stop being afraid, because you are about to see the Lord show up. Today.

That thing that makes you fear? God is going to handle it.

The Lord will do the fighting; the only thing you have to do is shut up.”

The English Standard Version softens Moses’s speech to: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:14)

A Lenten Reflection:

When we get in jams and complex, difficulties start to pile up, we get afraid. Our minds get busier than ever. They tread and re-tread over all the problems. They spin out endless eventualities, solutions, moves. We love the work of our minds, the work of our hands, the work of our mouths to convince, cajole—if not others, then ourselves. Especially in the desert. Especially when we are trying to eradicate the problems that threaten our peace. We love our new fixes, our new strategies, our new fan-theories about how God hates us or how we need to bustle and hustle to make His work, self, church, workplace, spouse, children, city better. Or, how other people need to hustle and bustle and better themselves into satisfactory performance. For us. So that the scary things approaching do not get to us.

If you have not been brought to the place of silence, you have not yet seen what God can do.

This is Lent. This is the place where we finally understand that His work is the only work that saves, fixes, heals, renews. It won’t be your work. It won’t be the work of other people doing better. Only God can do it.

I’ll soften it for you—more Like Oswald Chambers and less like General Patton: you have only to be silent. And watch.

God’s Invitation to You:

To go deeper in His Word, read Exodus 14. Reflect on what the Lord did for his people and what He asked them to do. Which list is longer? What did God promise to do for them? What promises of God bring you rest for your soul?

“The LORD will fight for you,

and you have only to be silent.”

Exodus 14:14