Damam (daw-man'): To be silent, to be still, to cease, to be quiet
I feel like every time life gets loud, my first instinct is to get louder back.. maybe I'm crazy or maybe you can relate. Either way, this week's Hebrew word shows us that faith can look like absolute silence in the loud chaos.
This week let's look at the Hebrew word damam, which means "to be still". I first noticed it because David reaches for this exact word when he's most exhausted.
In Psalm 4 he's lying awake at night telling his own racing thoughts to be quiet, then in Psalm 62 he tells his soul to wait in silence for God and God alone, and finally in Psalm 37 he pairs it with waiting patiently. It hit me in a new way because damam isn't just about closing your mouth, it's about actually settling your whole self (even life!) down before the throne of God. Anxieties. Fears. Racing thoughts. All of it before the throne of God.
We like to picture having strong faith as being loud by declaring things, praying out loud, and fighting for a breakthrough with everything in us. Yes, sometimes that is exactly what faith looks like! But David also shows us in these Psalms that there's another kind of faith too. The kind that stops talking, sits still and just waits. That kind of faith is harder for me. But, by doing so you are letting God be the one who moves and so sometimes that can be the most faithful thing you can do.
Is there something right now where you keep trying to talk or fight your way through it, when what God's actually asking you to do is sit still?
Scriptures where we find "damam":
Psalm 4:4 — "ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent..."
Psalm 37:7 — "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..."
Psalm 62:5 — "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence..."
