The Danger of Silence

The less we are mesmerized by human voices, the more we are able to hear the Divine Voice.  Richard Foster in Prayer 

 “My soul waits in silence for God only.”

Psalms 62:1

What do we make of the move to include the contemplative discipline of silence into the life of the believer? Is it godly or is it ungodly?  Can we trust that we will hear the voice of God or will it be another?  Can the young in faith enter into silence or should we protect them and keep them from it?  While this emphasis on bringing silence into the spiritual life is as ancient as King David, and Jesus and the desert fathers some today look at it like it is something out of the new age.  But really, is it so dangerous to be silent before God?     

When I was 18 and finishing high school I heard someone say, “You know, so often when we pray, we just ask and speak out to God and then go our way.  Why don’t we ever wait and listen?  Why not listen?” That simple question stirred something in my heart.  I think I had always believed in God, I just didn’t really know Him.  I wanted too.   I wanted to hear from Him.

So, as I lay in bed one night I said this simple prayer: God if you are there, speak to me…then I was quiet.  I was still.  Minutes began passing by and no voice spoke out, and yet with this passage of time I became more aware of a feeling that God actually could speak.  I had a growing sense (and fear) that there would be an audible voice…that God’s voice would fill my room.  I continued to wait.  I wanted to hear from God, but was also hoping not to hear, if that makes sense.  More time elapsed but there was no voice.  Finally I began to feel my eyes grow heavy and I drifted off to sleep. 

Many skeptics might say “Ha! See there is no God”.  Or others might say, “very dangerous to have unguided silence in your spiritual life”.  It didn’t bother me that God didn’t speak out loud that night (Ok, I was actually a little relieved He didn’t).  But the next few weeks provided significant events.  I was drawn to check out the Bible.   I wondered what it said about God and Jesus.  Of course I started at the back and began reading the end of the story, the Book of Revelation.  What a place to start for a young seeker, right? Then one day, soon after, I came across a friend, and for some reason I shared with him that I was reading Revelation.  He shared something rather significant and mysterious.  He shared He he became a believer and gave His life to Jesus.   Something grabbed at my heart.  I didn’t share with Him my frightening night of silence waiting for the voice of God, but said I was trying to understand. 

He then suggested I go to a Bible study in town for high school and college kids.  He couldn’t make it that week but gave me the address of the house.   What made me go by myself to a place of strangers in a strange home to hear a strange message?  What drew me?  Something inside me opened up to the message.  It was a message of love and forgiveness.   It was not from this world.  I heard the gospel of Jesus.  The good news of a life eternal and that life here and now could forever be changed.  I reached out and accepted this invitation.  I asked how I could really know I was in His kingdom, how I could hear His voice and truly know Him.  A pastor who was visiting this gathering said you will know more and more as you keep walking with Him.  You will know His voice, you will hear His voice.  This relationship will grow deeper and more and more fulfilling. 

Thirty years have now gone by since that summer night, but the depth of joy in the Lord has grown ever deeper.  I recognize that this spiritual journey I have been on all started because I prayed and then waited to listen.  I asked God to speak to me and I listened with my heart.  I didn’t hear that voice that night in my bedroom but what happened in the following days and weeks showed me that God truly responded to my prayer.  I can’t even begin to imagine what might have been mobilizing in heaven during my quiet prayer, but I am grateful for what happened soon after. The silence truly was dangerous, at least in a different way than those concerned with the new age might suspect.  It forever changed my life. 

Over these past three decades, when my life gets difficult or things seem out of control (and there have been plenty of those kinds of moments) I have a reminder of how God first spoke to me.  He spoke out of the silence much like when he spoke to Elijah…not in the  great wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but as it says in I Kings 19…the voice of the Lord came out of the sound of sheer silence.   The New Living Translation called it the sound of a gentle whisper.   We don’t have to be so smart and have all the right theology to hear His voice.  We have to be humble, quiet and willing to listen.  

Finally, I must encourage all to commit some time each day to be silent and to listen.  This may not be easy because we face in our society an addiction to noise and busyness.  We don’t listen very well.  We don’t sit still very well.  But only when we can quiet our striving heart and mind will we be able to listen to that Divine voice.  Be silent and let God speak.  I know He will.

scott for Wellspring copyright 2008