"Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God" (Psalm 83:1)
Theology seeks to reduce what may be known of God to intellectual terms, and as long as the intellect can comprehend it can find words to express itself.
When God Himself appears before the mind, awesome, vast and incomprehensible, then the mind sinks into silence and the heart cries out "O Lord God!" There is the difference between theological knowledge and spiritual experience, the difference between knowing God by hearsay and knowing Him by acquaintance.
We Christians should watch lest we lose the "OH!" from out hearts. There is real danger these days that we shall fall victim to the prophets of poise and the purveyors of tranquility, and our Christianity be reduced to a mere evangelical humanism that is never disturbed about anything nor overcome by and "trances of thought and mountings of the mind."
When the calm listing of requests and the courteous giving of proper thanks takes the place of the burdened prayer that finds utterance difficult we should beware the next step, for our direction is surely down whether we know it or not.
The chief thing is not to listen to yourself, but silently to listen to God.
~A. W. Tozer~
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