When the service was about to begin in my childhood church the choir
would sing a few lines that went like this: “The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silent, keep
silent before Him.” Then, before the sermon they would sing: ‘Speak Lord in the Stillness, while I wait
on Thee. Hush my heart to listen, in
expectancy.’ And these melodies with reverent tones, really did serve as a
reminder to quiet our heart to worship and to be instructed…to meet with God.
It has been some time since I have been struck speechless
at His brilliant holiness and have allowed that brilliance to fill me. This practice of Silence needs exactly that: practice. For me, the difficulty is going offline and
shutting down the phone. Do I really
need to see my friend’s granddaughter’s first missing tooth? Will the world stop and would she never speak
to me again?
Just as it takes many long hours to learn to play a
difficult piano concerto—so it takes practice and time for us to learn to be
silent and to let that deep peace and silence fill us and may we find the Lord
in that place. To “Be STILL and Know.” In this stillness before God, as we
deepen our skill in the practice of finding silence, may he heal wounds, calm
fears, speak truth into our dishonest hearts. May he slow our frantic
pace. May he consume us with power to do
his work here and in heaven.
Prayer Focus:
Lord, open the eyes of our spirit. Open, too, the ears that are in tune to and
listening for Your voice. Quiet our hearts
and in the silence may You commune with us…receive our love and may we be
filled also with the enormity of Your love for us. Help us to look “over the
shoulders” of the thoughts that come to distract us. Give us tenacity and persistence because great
will be the reward as we sink our roots deep down in to the knowledge of You. Amen.
· An
interesting book I just finished on silence in the pursuit of contemplative
prayer, is called “Into the Silent Land” by Martin Laird OSA. It is well worth
your time and is available on Kindle.
No comments:
Post a Comment