The Discipline of Silence: Pt. 2 — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

If you were with me yesterday, I spoke about the value of silence and finding time to be alone with God. Now, this is a difficult issue because it’s not something that we do naturally. Most of us want to talk instead of listening, but the experience of many people over many centuries has shown that time alone with God is valuable.

The Discipline of Silence: Pt. 1 — Morning Devotions

In the Old Testament, we come across a wonderful passage called Psalm 46.

And if you read that sometime, it’s packed full of imagery of what our lives are like. Now, for example, it talks about earthquakes and mountains trembling and ocean waves roaring and foaming. Talks about nations being in uproar and kingdoms falling, wars, battles, and all kinds of upheaval. But then suddenly in the midst of all that chaos we find these remarkable words in verse 10. This is Psalm 46. Be still and know that I am God.

Now, for many people, I know it’s their favourite Bible verse. Be still and know that I am God. No matter what life throws at me or what failures or disappointments, stresses, or demands that I encounter, God says to me and to you, Why don’t you be still, and you’ll know that God is there, that I am God. Well, it’s good for us to read and reflect on these words because they do, in fact, bring peace and strength, and sometimes help us to settle down and to take a breath and realise who is God.

But what is silence?

It’s not just about being quiet. It’s not just about the absence of noise, if you like, because you can actually experience silence in the midst of noise, but in order for you to hear from God, you need to get rid of the distractions. And so whether it’s turning off the TV or shutting off the music or even taking a break in the midst of a busy day, try and create some silence in your own environment, create some silence in your spirit and just listen for God. Now I mean we are bombarded every day with distractions with sounds, images, advertisements.

Rushing around from here to there, and they are all kinds of distractions, and we need to settle down and listen to God. Keith Drury says that silence is abstaining from sound in order to open our spiritual ears and listen more closely to the voice of God. That’s true, and it’s also interesting that you can be quiet without actually listening. But this spiritual habit of silence is not about being quiet. It’s about listening, and there’s a difference.

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There’s no point if you’re not going to listen. There’s a helpful book that’s been out for several years now called Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. It’s a great classic book, actually. If you want to delve a little deeper into this, I’d recommend that you get hold of the book.

Talking about the particular habit of silence, Richard Foster says that though silence sometimes involves the absence of speech, it always involves the act of listening. So what do your prayers look like or sound like? Are your prayers monologues? Do you recite to God, or do you allow God time to speak to you? So how are you at listening?

In Ecclesiastes 5, and the first two verses says, as you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It’s evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven. You are here on earth. So let your words be few. I like that. That’s an interesting version there of Ecclesiastes 5:1 to 2. In other words, it’s saying God is God. Let Him do the talking.

We need to hear from him much more than he needs to hear from us. Do you know that in the day of Jesus, the Pharisees, these were the religious elite people, they thought they were doing a great thing by babbling on when they prayed, and they thought that they could actually gain God’s approval with a whole bunch of words and actually Jesus very strongly reprimanded them.

Why? Because God is not looking for people to recite a bunch of words. He’s looking for people who will listen to Him. In Psalm 85:8, it says, I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for He speaks peace to his faithful people. And that’s probably why Jesus said in John 8:47, Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. And so we need to listen to God more than we need to talk to Him.

So you need to listen more than you speak because it’s all about listening.

Let’s Pray

Well, Lord, sometimes we don’t listen to other people, but Lord, sometimes we don’t listen to you. Forgive us, Lord, and remind us to stop and listen to what you’re saying. Amen.

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