Silence

Silence is difficult. There is no way around it. In our culture noise is king. From the moment we wake up until the moment we lay our head to rest we are inundated with noise. We wake up in the morning, turn on the radio, television, or itunes usually and get dressed. For the less disciplined crowd, we don't have time to get dressed because we just slept straight through our alarm clock, so we run out of the house with our hair resembling that or a roosters and our breath bad enough to kill a baby chipmunk, praying that maybe a strong cup of joe will cure all of these ailments. All of us hop in the car and head to our destination, jamming our favorite music or talk radio. Once we reach our destination, our day is filled with phone calls, emails, text messages, conversations, lunch meetings, staff meetings, personal meetings, and meetings about meetings. We then presume to hop back in our car, head to our house while jamming our favorite music or talk radio, and consider what the rest of the night holds for us. Depending upon your age, marital status, and overall lifestyle we choose different things. Some may change clothes and head out for the night. Only to head to more places with more noise. Others will choose to stay home, only to play with the kids, or watch the news, or surf the web, or cook dinner, all the while filling their lives and ears with more noise. Everyone usually finds their way to some sort of resting place for the night, and then it starts all over again; and on and on the cycle continues. Some may say, "What's the issue? I can't have fun or take care of my responsibilities?" The answer is of course you can. Yet, if you're not careful you may lose your soul in the process.

One of the most prominent confrontations that Jesus came across during His earthly ministry concerned Sabbath. Religious leaders of the time had become so traditional and self-righteous that they had forgotten that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Yet, I don't think that Jesus was arguing that one should not observe Sabbath, or that it should not be kept holy, as the Commandments of the law guide us, but rather that the Pharisees had missed the point of Sabbath so to speak.

Countless times in the gospels Jesus turns wakes up early in the morning and prays alone while it is still dark. We find Jesus turning away sick people to get alone and sit in silence with the Father. We see Jesus, when the disciples get back from healing the sick and making the blind see, retreating to a desolate place and commanding His disciples to do the same. We find Jesus, the night before he is to be crucified, getting alone in the Garden to pray and listen to the Father and angels. Jesus modeled this for us perfectly and we have lost it.

As human beings we are very prone to neglect the state of our own soul. It is so much easier to listen, watch, play, sing, etc than it is to sit, be still and listen to our soul. See, if we were honest with ourselves, the truth is that we are all wicked and depraved. We all look out for our own well being before others and we all worship God's stuff before we worship Him. This is pride and idolatry. Yet, if we simply never intentionally address the issue, then it will never really come to the surface because we are, as Romans 1 says, always willing to suppress the truth rather than confront our sin.

So what's the rub?

When we don't take time to examine our own soul, we run the risk of losing it piece by piece. Every day the enemy is willing us to neglect the state of ourselves. He is willing us to fill ourselves with anything that will appease us or entertain us until we are lulled into a spiritual coma. The more and more that we consume ourselves with transient fleeting noise and things, the less and less we pay attention to our soul and the less and less sensitive we are to the prodding of God at our hearts. We wonder many times why we don't feel God like we used to. Well, perhaps it is because we are entirely satisfied with ourselves and with His stuff. The truth is we may say we need him, but at the end of the day our lifestyles call us liars. The reason we never like to be alone, and never like to sit in silence, is because we know that is we do our soul would be crying out and reminding us that we truly are liars and that we truly need the mercy and grace of Christ. Not just lip service, but real heart throbbing devotion. Not just good Christian verbage, but real broken adoration.

In the life and ministry of Christ we find silence, solitude, and prayer woven intricately in. In the beginning, the glorious Godhead wove into creation the beautiful idea of Sabbath. God did not need rest. God never needs. To say that God was tired and in need of a break is near blasphemy. He has never needed. He is all consuming, all powerful, all knowing, and self-sufficient. He has blessed us with a great opportunity to take time, enjoy His presence and reflect on His goodness in His mercy to us. We have been given a chance to get sinked up and in rhythm with the God of all things. A chance to be acquainted with our own soul, the depravity thereof, and the grace and infinite mercy of our God.

Silence is difficult. There is no way around it. Yet, for a Christian.... it is not an option.