There are over 100 verses in the Bible about silence. Sometimes the author was the one who was silent before the Lord, but most times the verses were lamenting about God being silent. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and Scripture states that after that time Satan approached Him with taunts, noises and temptations. So, we are to assume that the 40 days Jesus spent alone in the wilderness was time spent with God. The only voice that would have broken the silence would have been Jesus talking with God. I wonder what Jesus asked Him for? I wander what whisperings God shared into the ears of His Son? What beautiful words and fellowship they must have shared before Satan broke the silence. I am convinced that the success of Jesus against Satan was the time spent seeking God in silence and stillness.
“Humility is impossible unless we quiet the chatter and the noise and sit with Jesus…Silence, in itself, is the most basic and intimate form of humility. We lay down everything and just stop…We recognize our spirals and naming them is the first step to interrupting them. That’s why the enemy wants to fill our lives and our heads and hearts with noise. Because silence with God is the beginning of every victory.” Get Out of Your Head, Jennie Allen, p. 62.
So, I ask myself these questions today… ‘Is God being silent on some of my concerns because I’m not being still and posturing myself to hear Him? Must I go out into a wilderness and neither eat nor drink just to hear His voice?’ I can sometimes picture myself approaching God in prayer like the little girl 50 years ago who was constantly wiggling in church, turning my head around to see the things behind me, or checking off the things on the church bulletin that had occurred.
There has never been a truer statement than ‘Silence is golden’ when our silence is a result of our stillness. Silence ushers in praise, prayer and power. It teaches us the person of God and fills our lives with the benefits from God such as rest, comfort, wisdom and weapons against the noisy tempter.
Silence IS golden when God is the one who is speaking. May we turn our ears to Jesus and embrace the silence and solitude.
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