It is believed at least 400 years passed between the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi and Matthew’s account of Jesus’s birth in the New Testament. Those 400 years are known as the Biblical Years of Silence. Four-hundred years that God did not speak to His people. Four-hundred years that no prophecy was recorded. So, why the silence?
Story time. Have you ever tried baking cookies with the little humans you birthed? The ones that you do love so much, but little hands…everywhere! You announce before you open the oven, “The pan is hot, stay back!” Then when you set it on the counter, again, “The pan is hot, don’t touch it or you will get burned.” Simultaneously their little fingers are feeling all around the countertops hoping to snatch a cookie. “Mommy will get you one as soon as they cool.”
But those hands are fast! A piping hot cookie is grabbed up and thrown down just as quickly, and now your little human is crying (because the pan was in fact hot), despite your best efforts to warn him. Maybe you say, “I told you it was hot.” But now there is nothing you can say that will help. It hurt their feelings more than it hurt their hand. He reaches up to you and without saying a word, you pick him up. Let him cry in your lap.
God gave his children “rules” on how to live through Moses, but like a kid wanting a cookie, they could not keep away from the hot pan. So God used prophets to warn them, “The pan is hot, don’t touch it or you will get burned.” The children of Israel did not heed God’s warnings and had to see for themselves. Now, what else could be done? What was left for God to say?
Back to the cookies..
It has been a few minutes, the crying has stopped and the cookies are cool. You offer one to the little fingers who did not listen. As their mom, you know all the ways this could go down. I mean, so many scenarios. He could happily take the cookie from you and eat it (this is what you are hoping for). He could also refuse to eat any of the “mean, mean” cookies. He could accept the cookie, take one bite and say he doesn’t want it anymore because “it’s too cold.”
Do you see where I am going here? God was silent because He had already spoken what needed to be said. He was just waiting on the cookies to cool—or waiting for just the right time, when He could offer the world the gift of His son. Out of the Silence came the cries of a newborn babe, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. God broke the silence with an offer, and that offer extends to us. Accepting His offer is eternal life, yes. It is also abundant life for today. Maybe you have accepted His offer but you feel like you’ve let it get cold and you don’t know why you wanted it in the first place. Ask the One who gave it to you to heat that baby back up. God can and will renew a fire within you. We have all been that little child who was hurt. We have all felt periods of silence from God; but if you listen, out of the silence, He will come to you again and again.
2 Kings 17:13 “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
Luke 2:12 “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
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