Out Our Way: Silent Night - Psalm 46:10

Out our way, the best way to learn some things is to just be quiet. I recall Charlie and I riding fence one day when we came across a lone calf far from the rest of the herd. Usually the little tykes stay close to mama — but this one was apparently a curious and adventurous type … or just plain naughty. Whatever the reason, the herd had moved over the ridge to the reservoir and this guy had been left behind. He wasn’t overly frightened or curious about these two riders coming up upon him — in fact he pretty well ignored us. He just stood stock still, listening.

After a bit, we all heard what he was listening for — the sound of his mom bawling for him to get to home to supper. And then he took off over the ridge and raced to the herd and his ma. Charlie and I rode up to the ridge to see that he made it all the way home and sure enough he did. I take my hat off to the little guy — when he was lost and confused, he had both the trust in his mom to guide him home and the sense to listen. Had a few times I wish I had as much cow-sense as that little tyke.

I was reading Psalm 46 the other day as the Psalmist wrote of our need to both trust God and have the sense to wait on Him. That line, “Be still and know that I am God,” has been haunting me quite a bit of late as I have found myself confused, worried, anxious and feeling rather lost, with my various illnesses and surgery, as well as the sense of being without direction now that I am retired.

I was having a small panic attack in my tiny studio apartment far from home and feeling the emptiness of a life that no longer has a strong sense of call, focus or direction. And the words kept echoing in the dark. “Be still and know that I am God.” Was God telling me to be quiet — stop whining — shut up with the noise? No, looking at the text in context, He was — and is — telling me to simply listen.

I can’t hear Him if my soul is filled with noise of my own making. Like that calf, to be silent is to pay attention. He expected to hear his mom and so instead of moaning and groaning and bawling out in fear, he kept still and listened. Only then could he hear his mother’s voice. Same seems true for me. By quieting down my inner shouting and raging, I began to hear His voice of calm and the reminder — as the Psalm says — that, even in the darkest times, He is still with us.

Of all the Christmas carols we sing in this season, my favorite is “Silent Night.” Some of you may have heard the story of the Christmas Truce in 1914 that nearly ended World War I.

Across deadly No Man’s Land, French, Scottish and German troop had been killing each other for weeks. Back in Berlin, the Kaiser called for small Christmas trees to be sent to all German troops. The German soldiers decorated the trees and, on Christmas Eve, placed them on top of their trenches to the amazement of the Scottish and French soldiers across the way. Then a German soldier began to sing “Stille Nacht” — “Silent Night.” His fellow soldiers began to join him. Then the piper in the Scottish trench began to play it on the pipes and the Scots began to sing it in English, and soon the French troops joined in in French. Then, a German soldier, unarmed, climbed out of his trench, picked up a Christmas tree with its candles shining, and walked out into No Man’s Land. Soon French and Scottish soldiers did the same. Before long, the deadly ground was filed with singing, weeping men who embraced one another. They had listened not just to the song, but to God.

The truce lasted several days until the authorities on all sides demanded these men start killing each other again. They refused. Fearing the Christmas Truce might spread, all of the troops on both sides were replaced and the war continued as London, Paris and Berlin demanded. Imagine what might have happened if the world had chosen to listen as those brave men did. What if the generals and politicians had heard the call of God instead of power, hate and greed? What if we stilled our own souls and listened as well? What might God say to us?

“Be still and know Me.” “Listen and know that I am with you.” “Cease your bickering and rushing about so you can settle down and consider why Christ was born — what He came to do — and for whom He did it.”

Be still. Listen with the heart and hear the message of the manger, the cross and the empty tomb.

Brother John Bruington