Silence Speaks: Listening to Hear God

My father used to introduce me when I was a child this way: “This is my daughter, Beth. She has a speech impediment. She has to breathe.”  While this comment was about the rapidity with which I speak, it seems to me to be an excellent metaphor for our cultural life. It never stops to breathe. We have a silence impediment. If we are not talking, we are interacting with screens of various sizes, such that our senses are constantly assaulted with stimulation. Companionable silences between friends and lovers are often replaced with idle chatter or distraction as we check our email or the latest scores, or text someone who is not even in the room.

Earthquake, Fire, Silence

If silence is less and less a part of our daily lives, it seems even less available in much of our worship. Pauses for silence in corporate worship can feel awkward, as if some mistake has been made. If we try to sit in silence, the cacophony of racing thoughts makes us very aware of what the Buddhists call “monkey mind.”  Yet as we look to the Scriptures, we are reminded that God is present in the “sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:11-18).  Like Elijah, we may discover that it is not in the earthquake or fire that we find God.

To cultivate the practice of silence in our life is to remind ourselves that we are not God. While intercessory prayer is an important part of our prayer life, we need also to cultivate receptivity.  Do we really imagine that we understand the mystery of God? Are we completely clear about what God hopes and wishes for us?  How will we know if we never slow down long enough to listen?

Putting Away Your Own Agenda

We would never dream of not listening to our child, our friends, or our partner. If we did, we would not be in relationship.  If we had friends who never stop to ask how we are, we would grow weary of their encounters, and ultimately the relationship would erode.  This is true of our relationship with God as well.  We have to create times of intentional silence so we can hear that “still small voice of God.”  Like most aspects of prayer, intentional silence requires practice. Start with five minutes of quiet after you’ve read a daily devotional. Allow yourself to put away your own agenda and name your intention to be present with God.

Imagine

If you have trouble settling yourself, imagine yourself as a beloved child of God.  God only wants to delight in you. There is nothing you can do or say that would increase or decrease God’s love for you. His love is sheer gift.  If you allow yourself to soak in that reality during times of silence, you would be amazed by the change it makes in your life.  You might not need to strive quite so hard to assure yourself of your place in the world. You might find yourself not only more receptive to God but to people you encounter in daily life.  When we know ourselves as beloved, we start to see that “belovedness” in the whole of creation and its creatures.  Start small, with just a few minutes of silence a day.  If you do this with intention, you will find you long for longer periods to simply be with the One who loves and created you.