THE POWER OF SILENCE

At a recent communion service, we focused on “The Power of Silence.” As part of the teaching, I asked and allowed for fifteen minutes of silence in order to experience God and His truth in the silence. We focused on Psalm 96. The assignment was to pray for God to open our eyes to something He had for us, read His Word in a way to hear His voice, circle thoughts in the text that jumped out at us, meditate on those thoughts, and then to write a prayer.

To be honest, it was a risk. Asking thousands of people, who set aside time and made sacrifices to come to a service, to sit in silence and contemplate God on their own. The risk paid off. In all my years of ministry, I have never experienced sustained silence in the context of a church gathering like that night. (This is noting the one exception of a baby that didn’t fully embrace the idea.) As I remember it, even the normally pervasive coughing that seems to always erupt in moments of silence was kept at bay. From my vantage point, we genuinely experienced “The Power of Silence” in the context of community. It was impacting.

During this time, I not only participated but was impacted by the experience. At the end of my time with God, I wrote this prayer.

“God, You’re the real deal…not a made-up, imaginary, self-serving god like those most people waste their lives pursuing.  No, You are the One true God…the great I Am. Nothing changes this – heaven always declares it…as does Your creation.

“Yet, often I don’t!

“While the sun reveals Your strength, steadfastness, and splendor, my life, words, attitudes, and actions often don’t. Please forgive me.

“Help me to become as faithful at reflecting Your majesty as the rest of Your creation.  Help my life to ascribe to You the glory due Your Name.

“I love You…help me to reveal and reflect this love in and through the way I live.”

My prayer is that you will allow yourself to experience “The Power of Silence” that comes when you take the time to turn off and shut out all the noise in order to spend time with God and His Word. You won’t be disappointed. After all, God has promised that His Word will never return empty, (Isaiah 55:11).