13/04/2024
**The Power of Silence**
Part of a work that I am doing on Contemplation and Prayer
In the silence
You are speaking
In the quiet I can feel the fire
And it's burning, burning deeply
Burning all that it is
That you desire to be silent, in me
Jason Upton, In The Silence
I understand that most people are not very good at sitting with themselves in solitude and silence. However, … I am not one of those. As is my custom, I rise daily before dawn’s first light and welcome the silence as my guest. Now this can be frightening for those who fear what they might face in the shadows of quietness. Hopefully I can change your mind. You see, there is a great reservoir of clarity and strength to be discovered as we sit alone in the presence of God.
David the Psalmist unearths a very important aspect about this:
Psalm 39:1~2
So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased;
my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned.
In the furnace of God’s love there is a holy fire that burns for us. It is only by means of this fire that we can experience transformation. This experience that I speak of is unmediated and it cannot be replicated by theology, preaching, or though another’s relationship with the Divine. The longing you may be feeling within is the longing for God Himself. This sacred space with Him is the place where no one else can fix you and where you can’t fix yourself. Only God can! You, yes, you have a special invitation to the audience of ONE.
This holy fire has been burning since the ages began. It is not to be feared, for it is a place where your soul is safe. A place where no one else is invited but YOU! A special place set apart for you and God alone. No one will know the secrets that you share with each other. What happens in this space is between the two of you.
What are you waiting for?
Maybe you are lost, and you want to desperately find yourself. Perhaps you want to discover what is most real within yourself. That which is more solid and enduring than what defines you externally. Are you tired of all that seeks to squeeze the life out of you?
There is a place within your soul where deep calls unto deep (Psalms 42:7), that place is the very center of your being that is known by God, that is grounded in God and is one with God.
One of the greatest challenges and obstacles to experiencing union with God in our generation is the effect of technology. It has done more to create a superficiality to our spiritual formation than anything else. We really need to think about this very deeply. I am concerned that technology has somehow constrained our ability to be present, not only to God, but to ourselves and to each other.
Our life is filled with noise … Computers, Phones, TV, social media. We are at a place in history where there is an overabundance of noise. Most people suffer from noise pollution.
One of the lessons that my grandson has taught me is about sensory overload. You see my grandson Jayde is autistic. I have learned by watching him to recognize the signs that cause his senses to get overwhelmed (He is also nonverbal). It affects his behavior and his social interactions. One of the best ways to help Jayde with his autism is to avoid overstimulation. This means his parents are proactively reducing the amount of sensory input in his environment.
Now I know that we are not all autistic, but there is something deeply powerful to learn about quietness and reducing the noise in our life.
It wasn’t by chance that Jesus’ preparation for ministry was a 40-day wilderness experience in seclusion (Matt 4:1-11). Jesus also often withdrew from the crowds to a place of silence (Luke 5:16, Matthew 14:13). He found strength and renewal in the place of quietness. The Apostle Paul spent 3 years in the desert after his encounter with the resurrected Christ (Gal 1:17~18). So, let us not underestimate the power of solitude.
Isaiah 30:15
For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And ye would not:
I believe that many of us avoid silence and solitude because our identity is bound up in our busyness. We are like Martha …
Luke 10:38~42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,
but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I know that we talk a lot about sitting at the feet of Jesus but very few people do. This is a great departure from the early church. When the Desert Fathers realized that Christianity was interspersed with the cult of emperor worship and then later recognized as the official religion of Rome they departed into the desert.
John Climacus (570-649), a Desert Father, wrote in his classic the Ladder of Divine Ascent, “The lover of silence draws close to God. He talks to him in secret and God enlightens him.” Humble silence opens the ears and causes the listener to hear that “sound of sheer silence” in which God so often speaks.
Until We Meet Again …
