Several years ago when I was a pastor I was attending a non-traditional seminary program. In this program I stayed on campus for 4 weeks of intensive study. The first day of class one of the teachers challenged us to spend the rest of the day (till class the next morning) in silence as a practice of Christian Discipline. I gladly took up the challenge and only slipped one time when I told my room-mate "good morning" the next day (oops). It was out of my mouth before I realized it. Anyway, I learned some things in that process that I would like to share with you—some things about honoring God.
Several hours after accepting this challenge of silence I was sitting in a beautiful courtyard--enjoying God's creation and praying and reading the Bible when I had a "light bulb" experience. (You know, like in the cartoons when they have an idea and a light bulb appears over their head.) I had noticed some things in the Word that I got excited about and also in my prayer time I felt God "speaking" to me. I started to get anxious and immediately tried to think of someone I could talk with when the light bulb started to glow. I was trying to share what I was learning about myself with someone, anyone, but, I had not taken the time to share them with God. I started to think about that. How often I have rushed to tell someone some important detail, thought, or plan but never even thought about sharing it with my Lord and Savior.
I recorded some of the thoughts I had in this time of silence in my journal:
7/14/98 "I am still in silence though I slipped once-told Tab 'good morning.' Silence is like retreating into a prayer closet where it is just you and God. Silence forces you to spend your best moments with God. God deserves our most precious moments though they are often shared only with others. Silence forced me to make a decision about how important it is for me to be serious about a vow that I make to God and if I break that vow it requires repentance. I believe my voice is a gift from God to use for ministry—this silence has helped me appreciate how often I use this gift for non-ministry related things. I am not saying I should only speak in a ministry situation but that I should use my voice to do what God wants me to do with it. Silence is isolating myself from human conversation—setting myself apart for fellowship with God. Silence makes us uncomfortable as humans but it comforts us spiritually. The things of the Spirit are foolishness to the world. In silence you notice every noise around you and within you. I noticed in this how often I tried to explain or "fix" things but could not while silent."
Obviously, I am not trying to say that you have to be silent to hear from God but I am saying that it helped me understand some things that I never thought of before. Most importantly, it brought me closer to God and helped me put my relationship with God in the right perspective.
Normally, I have trouble with silence. I am a musically minded person. I am always thinking about music. For example, I usually wake up in the morning with a song going in my head and if I don't replace it with noise of some type—music or whatever, it will continue and actually distract me. My wife doesn't understand this. She can go all day and never listen to any music, which doesn't make any sense to me.
This silence challenge was an amazing, eye opening experience for me. I wonder if you have had any experiences like that in your Christian walk. Maybe it didn't have anything at all to do with silence but it was something that was out of your "normal" activities. I would encourage you to step out of your box and try something different and see if God has a message in it for you.
Silence is a challenge for me but God used it for His glory. Through this process I learned some things about honoring God with my life.
Why don't you tell us something that God has used to teach you about Him and your relationship with Him.
Until next time, may God's richest blessings be yours.
Tim
