It
is hard to stay silent when the world is against you. We normally want to
defend ourselves, to stand up and fight. In fact, protection is one of the
deepest wiring circuits in our brains. Safety bypasses and overrides many other
circuits in the brain. When safety and security are so wired into our brain
that they take over, we run on autopilot, taking whatever action we need to make
it through.
The
problem with this kind of autopilot is that sometimes it can get triggered when
there is no real emergency. Because some current event is like a previous
dangerous event, our brain may treat the current event with the same intensity
that the previous event needed. There can be an overreaction in the present
moment based on this past experience when safety and security was threatened.
David
was in a difficult situation. His son Absalom was trying to kill him and take
over the government. Absalom wanted to be king in his father’s place. He had
poisoned the hearts of the people with lies about his father. He had raised
their fear level in order to manipulate them. Their emotions were in charge. And
emotions can change in a moment. Emotional energy can easily be shifted and
redirected. And David knew this.
I
think that is why right in the middle of this Psalm David wants to press the
pause button. He wants to get them to slow down, to think about what they are
trying to do. He knows they are running on adrenaline, and he wants to bring
them back down to earth. He wants to ground them so they will make more
righteous decisions.
So
David wants them to relax. It is OK to feel fear. Fear is a God-given emotion.
But to stay in fear, to live there, is not a good thing. David wants them to
purposely slow down. He wants them to not sin when anger is in charge.
One
of the biggest difficulties with getting anger out of the driver’s seat in your
life is the multitude of voices that keep angry responses as the first and
perhaps only response. But when the survival trigger has been pulled, it is
almost impossible to stop. So David pulls their attention to when they are
alone, in bed. God designed sleep as a time of restoration of balance in our
brains. The chemical cocktail that was released as a result of the dangerous
situation works its way through the system and our bodies and mind can settle
back down into a healthier state. We return to homeostasis.
So
David wants them to use the time in bed to quiet their hearts and minds. This
requires purposefully focusing on the LORD rather than on the issues at hand.
And order to do this we must learn to be silent. We must turn off the voices
that push us to immediate action. We must examine the autonomic thought
process, those thoughts that automatically arise and push us to do something. That
is why we search our hearts. We look at the thoughts and take them apart, piece
by piece. We don’t answer them or defend them. We just look at them. We are
silent. We don’t stir them up. We just look at the video footage and let the
tape roll.
We
then take responsibility for our role in the activity. We might need to confess
our sinful attitude and actions. Pride might have crept into our lives.
Independence from the LORD might have taken hold. We offer a broken and
contrite heart to the LORD. This is the sacrifice of the righteous person, the
person in right relationship with the LORD. We step off the podium of
importance and humbly take a knee before Him. We acknowledge His position of
being in charge of our lives. We yield our will to His, our actions to His
approval. We give up the illusion of control and surrender.
But we must remain silent in order to hear the
LORD in those moments. We must quiet the voices and allow His voice to become
the primary voice we hear. This requires trust. We must believe that He will
protect us, sustain us, provide a way for us. If we are going to hear His
voice, we must learn to be silent before Him.