‘As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God’. (Psalm 42:1)For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. (Psalm 62:5 ESV)
My world seems to be full of sound. When I’m in the car invariably the radio or a CD is on. During the day I’m talking or other people are talking to me. As I move around the city there’s the noise of the tube, cars sounding their horns, workmen using electric drills. Even when I come home in the evening and put my feet up to relax there’s the lure of the television. Sound comes from every direction; oh for the occasional sound of silence.
When we lead busy lives it’s difficult to make time for silence, just silence where you are alone with God in his presence seeking his mind and guidance for the next step of your life. But when we take the time to be alone with God and silence breaks through, shattering the noise around us, that’s when we are going to be ready to hear what the Lord has to say to us. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the words ‘listen’ and ‘silent’ comprise the same letters?
It is in this place that we will find ourselves in awe of this great majestic being and yet marvel at how close and intimate he is as we spend time with him. It is here that we have access to the peace that passes all human understanding and find spiritual rest for our weary souls.
There is no shortcut to this activity, but we have everything we need: Time, silence, and God. The difficult part is scheduling this space into our busy diaries, especially when we have work and family responsibilities to take care of. That’s why we have to be purposeful about carving out time to sit in silence with God, making it a regular routine so that it becomes a habit.
It can seem strange to us to sit silently before God, it can seem like a waste of our time when there are so many things that have to be done. Yet as we wait in silence before God we are preparing to meet with him and our hope is restored as he comes to us in fresh and deeper ways. I can’t think of a better thing to do than ‘waste time with God.’
The Tremeloes once sung, ‘Silence is golden, but my eyes still see.’ Being silent before the Lord is indeed golden, and as we do so we will see him, ourselves and the world around us much more clearly.
Why not try it?
Prayer
Father may the noise of this world not keep us from hearing your voice. As we approach you in silent awe may we know you more deeply and see you more clearly.
Amen.
Have a good week waiting for God in silence.
Pastor Barry
