This devotion is part of a series of devotions on how to grow in your walk with God. If you have not already done so, you may find it helpful to read the introductory devotion, Growing in God: Mommy Edition.
Our house can get pretty loud and crazy at times. I bet yours can too. Whether the noise comes from your baby screaming; your kids chasing each other through the house while they’re supposed to be getting ready for bed; or any of the myriad toys and games they have that all make noise, life with kids is sometimes loud. Very loud.
On first hearing the idea of “silence” as a spiritual discipline, you may very well be tempted to roll your eyes and say, “Wouldn’t that be nice.” It would, indeed. And it’s not only nice, but possible. Maybe not as much silence as we’d like, and maybe not even at the times we’d like. But if we desire to make silence a part of our spiritual disciplines, there are ways to make it happen.
Before we talk about those ways, let’s answer the question “Why silence? What’s the point?”
The point of silence as a spiritual discipline is to hear God speak. When we are constantly talking, listening to the radio, or watching TV, God doesn’t have room to get a word in edgewise. Sure, He could raise His voice and drown out all the other voices we’re listening to. He could even do something more spectacular, like a burning bush. But why in the world would we want to so clog up our ears with all the other things we’re listening to that God has to do something drastic just for us to hear Him?
I guarantee you…we don’t. Because if our lives are so busy and so loud that God has to shout to get our attention, that’s a situation we don’t want to be in.
Fortunately, silence can occur almost anywhere and at almost any time. It’s not limited to a particular hour or location. But we do have to carve out time for it if we want to experience it, lest the voices of this world (including our own voice!) rush in to fill the empty spaces. In order for it to happen, all we have to do is tune out the other voices competing for our attention. I’d like to suggest three voices we can tune out if we want to focus on hearing God’s voice.
First, we can silence our own voice. Even if we’re not very talkative by nature, there’s a lot of talking we have to do in order to run a household. What if, instead of talking our way through the day, we tried to see how few words we could get by with? If all day won’t work, maybe a few minutes will work. Perhaps some days, instead of calling a friend, we could choose to be silent for a few minutes (or longer, if your conversations tend to run as long as mine). Maybe instead of chatting at the dinner table, we could choose to listen to our family talk instead, with an ear out toward hearing what God might say to us through their conversation. You can probably think of ways you can silence your voice that will work particularly well for you in your circumstances. You probably can’t get by with going 24 hours without talking. But even if it’s 5 minutes, that’s 5 minutes more than what you would have had otherwise.
Second, we can silence media voices. Most of us spend far more time listening to music or playing around on the computer (Facebook, anyone?) than we do being silent and listening for God’s voice. Instead of playing your favorite online game, why not take those minutes and listen for God? Why not turn the radio off on your daily commute and listen to God instead of a DJ? True, it’s hard to get away from media input. But we have far more control over how much media we allow into our lives than we think we do. Media are not necessarily bad in and of themselves. But anything that steals time that would be better spent with God should be eliminated or reduced.
Third, we can teach our children to keep their voices silent at times. I have four young children, and believe me, I know it’s hard for kids to be quiet. But even young children can be taught to be silent for a minute when Mommy tells them she is listening to God. The length of time they have to allow you to be silent can be gradually increased as they get older. Obviously, if they have a legitimate need, you would need to tend to them and have your time of silence later. But it’s also a need for children to see their mother honoring the Lord and seeking to hear His voice above all others.
Once you decide to make silence happen, and you actually follow through on achieving silence for a brief instant, your thoughts are probably going to wander. It’s hard to keep focused when you don’t hear anything going on. But you can train yourself to stay focused in silence for longer periods of time by practicing. I’m not nearly as good at this yet as I’d like to be; my thoughts wander easily. Fortunately, I have help—the same help available to you. God will help me train myself to be silent yet actively waiting on Him, and He’ll help you too.
He may not speak to us every time we wait silently before Him, but even so, that time is never wasted. It’s good training for future silence to come. In addition, it shows God that we’re serious about wanting to hear from Him—so serious we’re willing to eliminate even some of our favorite distractions. And it blesses His heart. After all, how would we feel if our children came to us and said, “Mommy, I’m just going to stay hear and be silent as long as I can, or until you speak. I don’t want to miss anything you have to say. Your voice is what I most want to hear”?
Let’s make God’s heart glad this week by showing Him how important He is to us. And in the sweet communion we’ll have together—or even just the delight of being in each other’s presence—our hearts will be glad, too.
Psalm 27:8—My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.