Some of the most effective weapons in our relationship armories don't involve words or eye contact: They are the cold shoulder and the silent treatment. We've all used them and we all suffer when others use them on us. Home sweet home isn't so sweet when tension and anger pollute the air of a too-quiet house. Friendships become mysteries when people we once trusted suddenly leave us in the chill distances we don't understand. Church isn't the safe place it should be when cold shoulders replace Jesus' command to love one another because "by this shall all men know that you are mine, if you love one another." Shame on us: the deep pain we feel in these moments is the same reason we inflict these tactics on those who hurt us. Praise God, His ways aren't ours. He doesn't return a cold shoulder when we're silent toward Him. His friendship and love don't depend on our performance. He's consistently not moody. His mercy keeps His arms and ears open to us. He watches us and speaks to us, all the more when we're pouting and not speaking to Him. He can't not keep His covenant to us and He can't be unfaithful to His own nature and promises.
"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed,
yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, Who has compassion on you."
Isaiah 54:10
and I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Genesis 28:15
" . . . and teaching them to obey every thing I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20
Dear, sweet Faithful Friend and Father, Thank you that "Cold Shoulder" and "Silent Treatment" are foreign terms to You. Thank You for embracing children, touching lepers, feeding the poor, making eye contact with adulteresses, and rubbing elbows with the rabble of sinners who followed You on earth. Thank You that "the least of these" have always been on Your A-list; forgive us for turning a blind eye to them. Thank You for loving the most unlovable me and for saying "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing," as You suffered with only a few loved ones around You. Forgive us our touchiness and pride. Forgive us for wanting to hurt each other; make us better than that. Holy Spirit, sweep out our armories and refill them with Your fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (and don't let use cold shoulders and silent treatments as substitutes for self-control.)
In the Name of Jesus Who, silent in the face of suffering but never in the faces of people who needed Him
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