To Seek In Silence

 

 

by

Meriam Matthews

6/28/2008

 

I seek you in the silence

where noise hides from my ears.

You come amid the hidden glances

my soul's eyes stir.

 

The noise abounds in hazy fog

of people, machines and decisions of life's choices.

All seem so meaningless without the silence

wherein breathes Your holy voice.

 

Master's silent voice, a shout of velvet,

a command of gentleness

telling me, arise and do Your work.

I cannot breathe, I cannot live without Your work.

 

Who commands my thoughts when I am otherwhere?

Who drives my actions when I want to do another thing?

My soul rests only in silence where He speaks

and gives me peace amid the riches, astride the blessings.

 

Oh, Jesus, Master, Messiah, God!

Who but you can calm the inner man

when outer noise creeps in, corrupts?

Who alone says that thing that puts a soft blanket

over my fears, my sorrows, my memories?

 

Why me, oh, Lord?

Others seek You but do they seek in the noise of life,

in the drama of the binary world?

Are they doomed to follow a shadowed world

where You can only be found inside church walls?

 

How I love your peaceful silence, the silence of Creation,

the closet of prayer, the den of the mirrored Spirit.

Where do I search when silence cannot be?

Surely not inside the thunder of each day.

Surely not in the whirl of simple, daily drives.

 

If you say, "Be still", I will.

For in the stillness is the voice of my God

who lifted me from dead dust to glory,

Who saved by grace this most mortal creature of no account.

Why me, Lord?

Surely I can give no thing of value to Perfection.

Why me?

 

In the silence I hear You speak,

a heart's breath to the child inside

who still cries, "Abba!". And who found Him…

You alone embrace the stillness, the silence,

the sureness of my heart.

 

When I am with You, I am alone in You.

We are one but only in the silence.

For it is only there I know the meaning

of being still and knowing You are God.