Read: Psalm 37:1-7

Be still before the Lord. (v. 7 NRSV)

Music contains both notes and rests: sound and silence.

We address God with “sound” whenever we use words in prayer. But silence punctuates these times of verbal expression. In silence we go to a deeper place than any words can express. In silence we enter the experience of God profoundly. That is because love, while it can sometimes be expressed in words, is often expressed nonverbally. In close human relationships we express love with an embrace or a kiss. A couple in love spend time simply being together without words. So it should be in our relationship with God. Love of God goes beyond anything that words can express. In mystery God becomes known to us. In a deep awareness we experience the presence, love, and grace of God.

Of course, wired as we are for a fast-paced culture, we find this difficult. Many people today can’t stand silence. When we try to sit in quiet our minds start racing. But stillness allows us to experience the love of God. Try using the practice of centering prayer–choosing a word that expresses your desire for God–to let go of other thoughts. Christian tradition calls this “contemplative prayer,” by which we enter the love of God that is deeper than words. In silence we let ourselves be drawn into communion with God. –David Muyskens

Prayer: Triune God, give us silent moments in which we become profoundly aware of your love. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: 2 Chronicles 20:5-17

O Lord, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? (v. 6 NRSV)

Messengers came to King Jehoshaphat one day with the terrifying news that an enormous army was gathered against the people of Judah. So Jehoshaphat prayed. First, he reminded God that God is almighty. (Perhaps he was reminding himself even more!) Second, he reminded God that God had already acted for the chosen people. God had given the land to the descendants of Abraham and driven out the competing inhabitants. On that basis, the king prayed urgently for God to save the people from destruction. Because God had been faithful in the past, Jehoshaphat dared to hope and dared to ask for God’s continued faithfulness. God answered the king’s prayer for deliverance and the people were rescued through an amazing twist. Incredibly, the enemy armies treacherously turned against each other and were completely destroyed.

When we pray to God with sorrow in our hearts, it may help for us to remind him of the faithfulness we have experienced from God in the past. Because of who God is, we pray. Because of what God has done, we pray. This is the pattern of faith we learn from the remarkable story of King Jehoshaphat. –Leanne Van Dyk

Prayer: God of might and God of constant faithfulness, hear our prayer now again as you always have in the past. Be always our rock and our salvation. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: Psalm 46

Be still and know that I am God! (v. 10 NRSV)

Have you ever had the problem of your mind wandering when you are trying to pray? Who hasn’t? I have found a method called “centering prayer” to be helpful. It helps me become aware of the presence of Christ dwelling at the center of my being. The result is a greater awareness of God the rest of the time. It is a way of dealing with the many distracting thoughts that come when I take time to be quiet with God.

There are always many thoughts that come to mind when I am in silent prayer. I disregard them by repeating a word that says, “I want to be with you, God.” For a long time the word I used was my favorite name of God. I would let distractions vanish by recalling that name. I now use a word that expresses my desire to be open to the presence of the Triune God. Instead of trying to chase random thoughts away I gently return to that word. Rather than resisting or reacting to my various thoughts I simply restate my intention to focus upon the presence of God.

Twice a day I take twenty minutes for this centering prayer. The practice helps me know that God is near. –David Muyskens

Prayer: Help us, O God, to be still enough to know your loving presence. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: 2 Samuel 12:15b-23

David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. (v. 16 NRSV)

Any father would pray with a broken heart over his dangerously sick child. King David was no exception–even for this baby, the son of an unholy union. David fathered the child in an act of reckless arrogance, which he then tried to cover up with lies and murder. Yet David loved this baby and pleaded with God for its life, still so full of potential. His sorrow for his sin was great. His love for his child was equally great. And so his prayer to God scraped all the way down to the very bottom of his soul.

But God did not answer David’s prayer, at least not in the way David so urgently desired. His little boy, nameless in the story, died. The very first thing David then did was to get up and worship God. Even in his terrible grief, he remained connected to God.

There are times in our lives when we know David as a brother in pain and sorrow. He is also a traveler with us under God’s mercy, no matter what our circumstances. –Leanne Van Dyk

Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: 1 Kings 19:11-16

. . . a sound of sheer silence. (v. 12 NRSV)

The great prophet Elijah, whose prayers on Mt. Carmel were answered with fire on the altar and rain for the parched earth, was cowering in a cave. After defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah had fled from the wrath of Queen Jezebel. Now he is hiding dejectedly in the wilderness. Loud displays of thunder and lightning did not arouse him. But he stepped to the mouth of the cave when a profound silence let him know that God was there. Then God gave Elijah directions for the next stage of his life and ministry.

It is often in deep silence that I become most aware of the presence of God. Being silent before God I am able to hear what God wants to say to me. I need to pray that my intuition will be used as an instrument for Christ to speak to me. Just as my conscience can be tuned to moral law, so my intuition can be tuned to promptings of the Spirit.

In a quiet, listening mode I can receive the gift of discernment. Then Christ becomes my guide in all I think and say and do.

In every issue of the “Friends of Silence” newsletter, author Nan Merrill asks, “Is there enough silence [in your life] for the Word to be heard?” –David Muyskens

Prayer: Living Word, give us ears to hear what you say to us. Amen. 

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: 1 Samuel 1

But Hannah answered, “I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” (vv. 15-17 NRSV)

The story of Hannah is one of grief turned to joy. The biblical narrator emphasizes the long duration of Hannah’s sorrow and pain at her childlessness. “Year by year,” we read, Hannah’s husband Elkanah went up to Shiloh to worship the Lord, sacrificing an animal and bringing a portion back to his family. And “year by year” Hannah wept and would not eat any of the gift her husband brought to her. Hannah’s infertility was a continuing, persistent anguish for her. Year after year she prayed to God, and year after year nothing happened. Prayers of distress and sorrow sometimes last a long time.

Hannah’s anguish eventually came to an end. Her prayers were answered. She gave birth not only to Samuel, but also to three more sons and two daughters. In God’s wise timing, Hannah’s wait was over. Our prayers of sorrow and pain are also, at times, lengthy, and we say with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” –Leanne Van Dyk

Prayer: God of faithfulness, in our darkest times give us the persistence of Hannah, who prayed through her pain, year by year. Help us to look to you both in our need and in our joy. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: Judges 16:23-31

Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God. (v. 28 NRSV)

Is it possible for someone to pray an authentic prayer that asks for revenge? That is exactly what Samson prayed for. This is a difficult prayer for our ears, one that does not seem to reflect Jesus’ teaching about how we should pray for our enemies. He hardly meant that we should pray for the strength to kill them!

It helps a little bit to notice that Samson wants not only to take revenge on his enemies but also to vindicate God as the one true God. It helps a bit more to notice that Samson has learned something through his sufferings, and is much less arrogant and brash than he once was.

But this is still a difficult prayer. It is, however, an honest prayer.

Samson reveals his own deep need and his own deep connection with God in this prayer. We recognize ourselves in Samson when we realize that situations of grief, of betrayal, of great loss sometimes wring from us prayers of honest pain and anger. God is able to hear and understand our most raw and ragged prayers and accept them in divine love and faithfulness. –Leanne Van Dyk

Prayer: We pray for your help at all times, O Lord, but especially when we are at the end of our own strength, remember and strengthen us then. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: Matthew 1:20-23

God is with us. (v. 23 NRSV)

One summer my wife Donna and I visited cousins in Gig Harbor, Washington. We stayed overnight with our relatives and the next day we wanted to visit Mt. Rainier. It was a clear day. The mountain was dramatically visible from the kitchen window. Since it often is cloudy in that region there are many days when the mountain can’t be seen. My cousin encouraged us to take the trip because, she said, “Today the mountain is out.”

Like the mountain, God is always there but he isn’t always “out.” Sometimes when we try to pray the mists of distraction–the many things that demand our attention–make it hard to see God. Or the clouds of suffering make it impossible to feel God’s loving presence. The problem is not that God is absent. God, who gives us life at every moment, it surely present. The Triune God is always with us and at work in every moment.

The light of Christ is what dispels the mists that keep us from knowing God’s presence. By grace the clouds are lifted and we know that God is near. When the fog of our anxieties and attachments is cleared we look in faith and love. We see that God is with us. –David Muyskens

Prayer: God our Maker help us to see through the clouds that you are with us. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.

Read: Exodus 32:15-20, 30-34

But now, if you will only forgive their sin–but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written. (v. 32 NRSV)

What should have been a wonderful time of celebration and joy for the people of Israel turned into a disaster. Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the precious tablets of the Law in his hands. But the people had become impatient waiting for him, and fashioned a golden calf to worship. When Moses returned, sheer chaos broke out. In despair and anger, Moses turned to God and prayed for him to forgive the people’s sins. But then Moses added that if God would not forgive the people, he could go ahead and erase Moses’ name from the book of life as well.

This, of course, is not how God works. God does not have a cosmic calculator by which he adds some and subtracts others. Mercy, according to God, is not a zero sum game. God’s steadfast love endures forever, and was steady enough to uphold both Moses and the people. Perhaps there are times when you feel so discouraged that you think God should just forget about you. Moses’ prayer–and its answer–is yet another reminder that God will never forsake us. –Leanne Van Dyk

Prayer: Forgive us our sins, O Lord, even sins of rebellion against you. Assure us always of your faithful love. Amen.

Words of Hope is an international media ministry, founded and owned by classes of the RCA, dedicated to building the church in the hard places. The Words of Hope devotional encourages readers to grow spiritually through daily Bible readings and prayer. To subscribe, please visit: woh.org/word/devotionals/.