When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. ~ Rev. 8:1 I have often wondered what was happening in heaven the moment that Christ declared, "It is finished." We don't always know what is happening in the land of eternity, where there is no more sadness. No more death. No more time. No more, no more... There are moments that rob us of words, of our breath. Images flood our minds each day that bring us to silence. A young black man lays lifeless on the street of a Midwestern community, leaving us silent. A doctor tells a mother of three that she has a terminal illness, leaves her silent, as she looks to heaven for help. There are those moments that we all know, where there are simply no words. The expression is one of a spirit that simply groans. There are no words to express what the mood was like in the earthly hours that must have seemed like an eternity to Jesus. The taste of sweat, blood, and the dirt in which all humanity had been created from, filled his mouth until he cried out that he thirst as he hung, dying, before a crowd that was anything but silent. The skies grew dark, and heaven rumbled. But what was the mood of the great cloud of witnesses who worship God, the Creator of all, as the Son was crucified? Where did the heavens turn their focus when the Son declared that He had been abandoned? There are no descriptions of what God was thinking. God is silent. It is a sacred place to stand at the bedside of a child, as her parents surrender to the idea that she is dying, and watch as her final breath leaves, and she dies. There are no words to describe the silence. Heaven surely must have been silent. For many of us, we can point to a time when we were left silent. I have to believe that in heaven, a place where eternity has no timeline, there is that moment. May we discover the sacredness of a moment this day, that leaves us simply standing in our steps. A moment that we meet God. May we be reminded that there was indeed a moment, when Jesus breathed his last breath, and in that moment, humanity and heaven were forever changed. Dear God, in the moments when we have no words, let Your voice be heard. Help us, when we find that we feel a need to gasp, that we instead learn to call out and seek You. Amen. Comments are closed.
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AuthorRev. G. Todd Williams is the author of the book, "Remember Me When..." and is a former hospice chaplain and pastor. Archives
February 2024
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