Peace, Be Still

Genesis 18:17, NIV Then the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" Note that the Lord "SAID"; He truly didn't ask anyone for their opinion, He wasn't doubting or unsure. He knew his friend Abraham, their friendship was intimate, true and sure. Without waiting for any response from anyone, He then proceeded to speak over Abraham his future. All this time good ol' Abe said nothing. He didn't goad the Lord to disclose what He was talking about. He didn't beg, "Oh, pretty please? Tell me?" Abraham waited to let the Lord speak His peace. Sometimes when my husband of 21+ years is sharing his thoughts with me or telling me a story he takes longer than I'm comfortable with, just getting the words out of his mouth seems to take a long time because he is forming them in his head before they are spoken. Yet, knowing him as an intimate friend as well as wife I can pretty much know what he's about to say and if I'm really impatient I will say it for him. That just kills the moment. His eyes will ever so slightly twitch and I'll see a frown out of the corner of my eye, and I realize that something is now lost in the sharing. I've learned over time that if I want to be his partner in the telling, I need to keep quiet, listen and let him speak his peace. It's a difficult thing for me to do but I've discovered that this way he tells his story his way and he is honored more by my respectful silence than my impatient slap-in-the-face blurting out of his thoughts for him. My heart desires to claim the above bible verse over my own life and many times I want to help the Lord speak the words over my life like He did Abraham. I may even give him suggestions. However, I'm learning that if I want to be His partner in the prophetic words, I need to keep to be still and let my heavenly Father speak to me in His way and in His time. My intimate desire is to honor Him whom I love above all things and He is worthy of my respectful silence.