Bulletin February 2021
by Bruce Billington
Experiencing God Through Silence
This month, as we continue our theme on exploring who God is, we are going to deal with the theme of silence – oh dear – yes, I did just write that! Being silent before God is somewhat of a lost art, but an important one to recover if we are going to truly experience who He is – after all – God Himself is often silent.
Most of us are uncomfortable with silence, wonder and not-knowing. We tend to think it should be reserved for monasteries, not the real world. In his book The Divine Dance, Richard Rohr states,
“Most of us do not know the ground of silence before speaking, the spaciousness around words, the inner repose after words, the humility that words should require.”
We place huge confidence in the ability of our speech to achieve whatever it is we want to do or get us to where we want to go. We tend to take this into our prayer room with us – using our prayer as a one-way attempt to influence God in all matters concerning us. But this is futile – it just won’t work. The key to prayer (and worship) is actually entering into a mutual relationship in a loving way with the Father. God accepts us into His presence, we greet and praise Him (at least we should), we present our petition, He then responds in whatever way brings Him the greatest glory and satisfies His heart’s desire.
Of course, that may well include just blessing us for the sake of it – after all, He is our loving Father. But the whole goal is that His heart is able to join with our heart – and this is not achieved by the number of words we use.
A key question that should be asked every time we approach God is “what do you require of me today?” Of course, then we need to stop and listen. It is too easy to finish going through our prayer list and then to walk off when it is God’s turn to speak. If someone did that to us we would consider them very rude.
How often do we just come before God to listen, saying nothing? A good opening comment is just simply “show me where you are working today Lord, so that I can get into harmony with You.” Then we wait, silently.
Although God is present with us in all situations, withdrawing to a silent place, away from all the noise and busyness of life – with no music, people, talking, no cell phones, no books or distractions – just peace, quiet and meditation, is powerful. It breaks us away from the endless mindset of activity and allows Him to engage with us in a way that is not possible when our mind is set on so many other things. It will eventually bring us to a place of peace – something that can be rare in our current lifestyles.
Once there, we should stay in this place until all our urgent thoughts and anxieties disappear and we begin to settle and focus on all that is pure, good, reasonable and of good repute. It is during such times that we will get an honest evaluation of all things.
I have come to treasure these times. In fact, I long for more of them in the busy life that I, like most of you, lead. I often begin with Psalm 16 – it is hard to complain when we realise, as this Psalm reminds us, what we have been given. I spend some time thanking Him for this, then I just rest in Him, enjoy the silence and see if He has anything He wants to impress upon me. Often it is nothing, but I never leave empty handed. I always feel refreshed and renewed as a result of spending time with Him in this way.
When did you last come away, rest with God and just wait? I totally accept that this takes discipline. Maybe try it for ten minutes occasionally and then build it up from there. My prayer for you is that it will become a rich experience that nothing else in the busyness of life can offer you. May you then consider it one of the most important parts of your life.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington