Society is geared to respond to sound. To pick up cues for their entry into conversation, often layering personal comments over those of a companion. Interrupting one another and oneself. Call waiting, the modern brother of a kid tugging at his mom’s sleeve while she chats with a neighbour on the phone.
CD’s can be purchased not just of music but of background noise. Traffic, nature, the general bustle of life provides a sound track for our existence.
In this busy atmosphere silence gets little respect. It is labelled awkward, icy or dead. The song “Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel highlights themes of isolation, lack of communication and lack of intimacy. Likewise when we approach God and hear silence it is often misconstrued as getting a celestial cold shoulder.
Life has not prepared us to receive silence as a gift. Silence is presented as idiocy or punishment combined with a callous disregard for our need for immediate affirmation. But if we cannot believe that the intention of God’s silence is to distance Himself, then we must suggest that silence is a message.
The classic translation is “wait.” An instruction to believe that God’s answer will be apparent shortly. A statement that God already knows our needs and may require us to wait on the timing of an answer that is being arranged to present itself. It is both reassuring that God is active yet disturbing as it does not articulate His timeline.
Silence from heaven could also be an unspoken cue to review a past message and act on that. This involves an instruction the Lord has given that we shrugged off in hopes of other, better directions. But the Lord will sometimes wait on us to obey before the next message becomes appropriate.
And God’s silence sometimes holds a mirror to our own spiritual silence. When we are arrogant, proud and independent, affronting God with our agenda. The Psalmist recoils from the results of idolatry. Charmed by works of their own hands which have “mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (Psalm 115:5-8) A warning resounds in the silence of God.
Similarly, silence is a gentle rebuke, patiently listening for us to be real with him. Offering up a straw-man in the form of a fake persona will not spare us rejection. God will wait for us to approach him honestly as ourselves, regardless of the baggage we carry or feelings of unworthiness.
Within the right setting, silence may be viewed as a depth in relationship. The amiable, comfortable quiet of an aged couple drinking tea together. Comfort drawn from an awareness of the other’s presence without need to fill space with words. Pray-ers might tune themselves to be aware of effortless, silent nourishment from God. Medieval mystic Teresa d’Avila proposed these devotions were the elevation of a soul.
God is silent when we need him to be. Moments when suffering is to great to bear the weight of words. The hand over the empty womb puzzling over a heart that won’t beat again. The empty space between the last shovel of dirt and the tears which water the fresh turned grave. Struggling through an unbearable betrayal... When we can't bear to hear him, we rarely do. Leastways, we don't recognize that we do, though he gently speaks incognito.
God silently allows us to rage, weep, mourn, absorbing our hurts and needs, graciously giving us full expression of our emotions before responding. He will not interrupt. He will not turn his face from our sores and filth. He will not marginalize our experiences. The book of Job offers us the difficult lesson that God is fully aware and present in our situation, allowing difficulties we would never choose for ourselves for reasons we may never understand. It is a backdoor to understanding Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” His respectful silence imbues value to our individual struggle.
This list is likely incomplete. While we struggle to understand God’s words we are further behind in exegeting his silences. I'm not convinced that His silences are all the same, nor that His silences are a default in a communicant. Silence is not merely the pause in speech—sometimes it becomes the continuation of the message on a different level.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” (Prov. 9:10) Fear, being better translated as our awestruck, gob-dropping response, is an inspired drawing in of our breath instead of blurting something out. Openness to silence may be our first step to wisdom.
Erin is a member of the Agora think-tank and currently resides in Selkirk, MB with her husband, Braden, two children, Isabelle and Thomas, and dog, Toblerone.
The practice of silent prayer is part of the Anglican Order of Julian of Norwich. Silence as a practice of awaiting, allowing, accepting, and attending to whatever God chooses to reveal or not.
Posted by: henderrob | September 03, 2006 at 03:09 PM
I wish that this topic would be welcomed by church leadwership to bring about unity and hope when churches struggle through hard times. Most of us as individuals have experienced some or all of the above scenarios shared. You can,t hide a corpse forever, but there is often the attempt to disguise an elephant as if it really belongs in the house. nh
Posted by: nancy | August 29, 2006 at 06:25 PM