Words I’m usually not excited to hear. Say that to me and I’m likely to shoot you a, “what did you just say to me” glance you would get from your momma. How about you?

However, it’s exactly what God told me recently and he told Zechariah too. If you’ve listened to my talk “Don’t Let ANYTHING Steal Your Joy”, ( you can listen here if not) you heard me talk about my friend @hopesnider Instagram post.

God had JUST finished talking to me in the middle of the night about – ‘Don’t say ANYTHING. Stop. Look. Listen” and right when I finished putting it in my prayer journal, I went to social media and BAM! BE SILENT is right there. Top post. In red.

I know Psalm 46:10, “Be STILL and know that I am God.” But NO. Not THIS version. Not right now. God was telling me – Shut up already! Be SILENT and know that I am God! (and for those of you who heard the talk, you know why! OMG!)

Something I Didn’t Share Was This…

As I studied some more that morning, God led me to the story of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father. When his ‘older than child bearing age, formerly barren wife’ (mmmm, I wanna preach my tail off right now on ‘it’s never too late’) became pregnant – God had to PHYSICALLY shut Zechariah’s mouth so he didn’t mess it up.

God knew that if he let Zechariah bump through life and say whatever thing he FELT like saying, he would inadvertently CURSE what God had just done!
‘She’s too old.’
‘I don’t know how this could happen!’
‘I doubt she can carry the baby to term.’
‘Could the baby possibly be born healthy?’
‘I hope she is strong enough to survive childbirth.’
SHUT UP ALREADY!

It’s SO EASY to judge Zechariah, but what about us? What about when God wants to do something BIG in our lives, bigger than we thought possible. OR when God starts moving in a way we don’t understand at all. We want to open our mouths and ask, question, weigh in with our nonsensical two cents that we see in the physical realm.

And yet God doesn’t operate in the physical. God isn’t limited to what we know and understand. And God’s miracles and methods are above all we can ask, think or imagine! Yet we comment on God’s actions as if they were an Instagram post and He wants to see how many comments He can get.

NOT SO!!!

If we are considering speaking words of doubt, God wants us to lock them out! Be silent! Be quiet! Be still! DON’T SAY ANYTHING! Don’t curse what God is blessing. Don’t limit an infinite God with our finite mind!

So today, if you have to buy duct tape to keep your words under control – do it! Let’s not let our words get in the way of the miracle God is doing on our behalf! Can I get an AMEN?!?!?! Now where is that emoji with no mouth???? LOL