I used to think the silence meant God wasn’t speaking. Now, in the silence, he’s all I hear.
As a young man I would look to the stars, overwhelmed by the beauty of the night sky. I knew from Psalm 19 that the heavens declared the glory of God. I could see his greatness, but could not hear his voice. Even in their majesty I would wonder why God was so silent. My prayers, especially at night, were filled with requests and concerns. I would list my needs one by one, unaware that my greatest need was stillness.
Of the many needs of North American believers, silence is among the greatest. Silence is the blank page on which God writes his word. Our noisy world scribbles on the page continually, overlaying sound and word on top of word and sound until the page becomes black. Unless the page is clean we cannot read what God has written.
The pathway of modern life has been hardened, trampled by words. Back in the day you had to visit Times Square; now Times Square visits you. The sower sows the seed but it falls on the path and is carried away by SportsCenter, YouTube, NPR, FoxNews, and our ubiquitous earbuds. Quiet is an aberration. When Maxwell Smart uses the Cone of Silence, the point is that everyone simply has to shout louder. Drop any comedian into a monastery and he’ll have the monks doing hip-hop before it’s over. Even our Bibles are cluttered with sidebars and graphics, pictures and celebrity interpretations.
But what if God is in the silence? He wasn’t in the whirlwind or earthquake for Elijah. The “still, small voice” is still a whisper. Perhaps the Father has his reasons for not raising is voice. I suspect it’s for our good that we find him in the secret place, well away from Times Square. This week’s meditation is actually quite, well, meditative: why not create a secret place each day and give him just three minutes of blank slate? The Father doesn’t need a podcast to reach our hearts. If we find his presence in the silence it will be enough.
It is in the silence that the Holy Spirit speaks volumes to me. I have commented on a number of blogs where people ask the question: "What do you do when God is silent?" I personally have never had a time when God was not speaking to me via the Holy Spirit, HIS Word, or through others and/or circumstances. If there ever has been a perceived silence, it was because I had broken the connection though sin/rebellion. However, I do believe that God deals with us on a case by case basis...thus, I can only speak for myself.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed day!
Hi Mark: I certainly rejoice with you that the voice of the Spirit is so fresh and available in your experience. I think it's God's nature to speak: he created the world by speaking, and he "spoke" His Son to us.
ReplyDeleteSo many Western Christians either limit his voice to the Bible (where he does, indeed, speak!), or have never been discipled in the how-to of hearing God's voice. Dallas Willard has a wonderful book, "Hearing God."In the book WIllard encourages us that because God is speaking we *can* tune our hears to him. Blessings to you, Mark!
I've been thinking of this one all week, Ray. Just staying with me for some reason. Thank you for writing it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, of course. What's amazing is that a Mum of three little ones could find any space and time for quiet. You could certainly teach me about the preciousness of such time. Blessings.
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