some silence required.

"Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!'

To a mute stone, 'Arise!'

And that is your teacher!

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

And there is no breath at all inside it.

But the Lord is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before Him."

(Habakkuk 2:19-20)

I just read this tonight.

It's appropriately overwhelming to think of who God is -- both in and of Himself and in reference to humanity. It's so easy for me to read this passage and scoff at the idolatry...wood awakening, ha! Stones arising, ha! But as I read the last two lines of this passage, I feel quite humbled.

There are so many things in my life that have no breath, no life, no knowledge to give, and yet I'm so quick to give those things my attention. Not just to give them attention, but to give them attention over the Lord. So frequently I look to these things to help me, to self-medicate, to cheer and guide, and yet to fail to seek the only true God.

Secondarily, as I picture this one true God sitting in His temple, living, existing eternally and without creation, all-powerful in His rulership of every facet of existence I see and know, I feel ashamed at how lightly I treat Him. Is He a block of wood that I carved, or a stone that I found, that I would say to Him, "God, DO something!! Come on! What is going on right now? Wake up! Arise!"

Yikes. He is not a created being that can help me to exercise my will. He is not a breath-less object that can magically conjure whatever desire pops into my head.

He is the Lord. He sits in His temple -- His ways far above mine, His holiness far beyond what I can grasp, His existence before mine and after mine, His power unimaginable to me -- and I cajole Him? What an erroneous response.

"Let the earth be silent before Him."

That's more like it. Lord, You are holy. You are worthy. In Your grace, please help me understand and know more.