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Silence in the Bible and Prayer

Somebody recently emailed me telling me that Silence was not Biblical, as there were no references to it in Scripture. I said this was not correct. So that's what inspired this article. We will start by looking at various instances in Scripture which talk about Silence.

Habakkuk 2:20

"But Yahweh is in His Holy Temple: let the whole earth be silent before him".
This silence is a prelude to Psalm 76:8-9, Isaiah 41:1. God is awe-inspiring. In prayer let us keep a sense of wonder, of awe in His Presence.

Luke 20:26

"They were unable to catch Him out in anything He had to say in public; they were amazed at His answer and were silenced".
Jesus' replies about tribute to Caesar left the scribe's agents dumbfounded.

Luke 24:32

"Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"
Jesus talks to our hearts in Silence as we meditate the Word on God.

Mark 9:6

"He did not know what to say; they were so frightened."
At the Transfiguration, Peter is left speechless. There are times in God's Presence when we have to stay quiet, or we are unable to express ourselves (no words would be adequate).

Matthew 6: 1-6

"Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. ... And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites; they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you."
Prayer is to be an intimate conversation with God who is in our centre first, rather than an outward 'look at me I'm praying' holier-than-thou attitude (without an inner prayer life).

Silence can truly lead us to God. Many in the Bible tell us of the beauty of silence and how it pleases God. Among these are Judith and Esther, Job and Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah In the Bible we do not have the recorded words for Jesus' first twelve years of age. When accused by Pilate and while King Herod's court mocked him, Jesus remained silent.

Jesus often went away to pray alone. (Mark 1:35 "In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there."; Matthew 14:23 "After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray"; Luke 5:16 "But the news of him kept spreading, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their illnesses cured, but he would go off to some deserted place and pray")

During the long hours in quiet prayer with His Father, He also did not speak to men. To recollect one's soul, one must be silent. The purpose of this silence is to enter into communication with God.

Early Christian monastics went to live alone in the desert in the fourth century AD to find and love God. Contemplation also involves silence. Silence is not a method or technique, but an attitude.

Mother Theresa on Silence

Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds.
...in the silence of the heart
God will speak.

    ---Mother Teresa, from No Greater Love

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows
in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.

    ---Mother Teresa

 
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