September 1

Think about your most intimate relationship. Sometimes your conversations are as trivial as "How's the weather?" Other times you share your deepest feelings. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your longings. Your pain. Your failures. Your joys. Your tears. Your laughter. Regardless of the topic, the time, or the season-you are "in touch." Hearing that person's voice, sensing their care, and feeling their touch in your life has become like oxygen to breathing lungs.

 

Now think about how you would feel if suddenly you didn't hear from this friend, this person in whose relationship you found intimacy, comfort, guidance, security, accountability, and direction. You call and there's no answer. You check your answering machine several times a day. Nothing. E-mails? Nothing. Mailbox? Nothing.

 

Days become weeks. Weeks become months. Months become years. No word, just the sounds of silence. How would you feel?

 

This hints at how the nation of Israel felt at the close of the Old Testament. For almost two thousand years they experienced the intimate presence of God-relating to them in a number of ways. You've spent the past two hundred and forty-four readings listening in on that relationship.

 

But here at the close of the Old Testament, the heavens are mute. For four hundred years the nation of Israel would not hear from God.

 

There is no Bible reading for today. No word. Imagine 146,000 days with no word. Imagine living the rest of your life crying out toward heaven but getting no answer. And as you do, consider this: How significant do you think the first word after such a lengthy period of silence would be?

 

You'll read about that "first word" tomorrow when God breaks the silence.