This week, as part of a new series called “Listen” that our church is journeying through, we have all accepted a challenge to sit in silence for 10 minutes each day this week and just take that time to listen to God.
No prayer requests.
No words.
Nothing.
Just silence and listening to God.
I have never once really considered myself a person who is a great listener to God. I’ve met some people in my life who are. But I don’t think I’m one of them. My guess is that is partially just something that some people are better at than others, but my guess is also that I struggle because I quite simply don’t shut up enough. I shared from stage at our campus this week that in my own life praying to God, 99% of my time is spent talking, and the other 1% is me gathering my breath or my thoughts so I can do more talking. But of course, just like in any relationship, if the disparity is that high in communication, chances are the relationship is not very healthy. You would never want to be in relationship with someone who literally never listened to anything you had to say.
Especially if you are God. And the person you are speaking with is not.
So I’ve been making a conscious effort to listen this week. I missed one day, but overall, I’ve stuck with it. And here’s a few things I’ve discovered.
1. I’ve got a lot of noise in my life. I don’t know too many people that would say, “Yeah, my life is pretty much a bed of roses. I’m never stressed, and I’m never too busy.” Everyone’s busy. We’ve got stuff we’re concerned about. I’d certainly agree with that. But stopping to listen has been quite a chore, not so much in finding 10 minutes, but in keeping my thoughts quiet for those 10 minutes. Even after sitting in silence for several minutes, I still find myself struggling to get that song out of my head, or to let go of that thing that frustrated me earlier in the day, or to quit letting my mind wander to (in the grand scheme of things) meaningless, mundane, stuff. It’s incredible to me how much “noise” I have in my life that’s vying for my attention, and is no doubt interfering with my day-to-day activities and relationships far more than I ever realize.
2. God’s agenda with us is always love. This is something that struck me in a big way once when doing a similar silence exercise a while back, and I think it’s just as true here. I don’t know that I’d say I’ve heard from God a lot over the past week, but many (if not most) of the times I feel I’ve caught just a faint whisper of His voice, it’s been an image of love and peace for me, His child. I feel like we often trot out trite cliches about God’s love, but never really let it set in that it’s true… God really does love us. Even when he offers us discipline and correction, it’s done in the image of a loving Father (Hebrews 12:5-6), and it always results in something that is for our benefit in the long run. But I’ve just been really taken aback by how many times I’ll start my time of silence by saying, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and I feel like God’s response is “I love you, and that’s all I want to share with you today. Soak it in. I love you.”
3. God’s got a different time frame in mind than I do. Again, I don’t think this is a revolutionary thought. If the Bible is clear on anything, it’s that God is definitely not bound by our own constraints of knowledge, time, or possibility. But it’s been something interesting at play in my time of silence. I’ll sit down, and I feel like God should speak immediately. As soon as I say, “Speak,” I feel like God should, you know, start speaking. But He doesn’t necessarily. And I think it’s because He works on a totally different time frame. God wants us to enjoy our time together. I’m sure He does. For me, though, it’s an honest struggle. I want to get to the next thing or do the next whatever. And that probably speaks to my own misaligned priorities, but I think it also speaks to the fact that God’s not in a rush. He’ll reveal what He wants, when He wants. But in the meantime, He just wants us to rest and enjoy being in His presence.
Through this whole experience, I’ve been really challenged by something Mother Teresa said:
“When I pray, sometimes I speak. But most of the time, I just listen.”
I truly believe that even though I can’t necessarily feel or detect it, every time I spend a few minutes in silence before God, my relationship with Him grows stronger. It’s my prayer that for those of us who are struggling with that that we might be reminded and encouraged about that being the case.
How about you, Suncrest? How’s your listening time been going?
#1 is definitely true in my case. I’m generally not stressed, but there’s just noise. Then there’s my complete lack of patience, not so much with God, but with completing the 10 minute assignment. I don’t know if you noticed, but 10 minutes is a loooong time when you’re just sitting and listening. That was the most difficult part of the assignment.
I’m thankful for the second part of the assignment: Clarifying. I actually need this part. I DID hear from God, but it was actually a few weeks ago. I need him to explain a bit further. This week’s message helped a lot.
Scott, I totally feel you. There were some moments last week just sitting and listening where my thought was sadly, “Is this over yet?” I just want to skip past the listening and get straight to the talking. But God takes His time.
I’m also really thankful for the clarifying part as well. I didn’t feel like I heard a ton last week in the silence time, but surprisingly, the clarifying exercise has been extremely helpful to me already – I’m feeling like last week poised me for a great conversation with God this week, seeking His will and finding out what’s next!
After last Sundays sermon I was a lot more at ease knowing I was not the only one not catching on. Pastor Greg went over that LISTENING part again and now after he posted your link, it’s sinking in. I am going to try to slow down. I was on an airplane today for 4 hours and I thought, what a better time to listen to God.I was a little closer to heaven. Clarifying is helping with the LISTENING ~~
Sue, I am so glad you have engaged in this! It’s a tough new discipline to get used to, but I think it’s so worth it, even if I don’t see results right away. Already, I think it’s poised me to have a better relational connection with God, more than me just coming to Him so I can ask for more stuff. I hope you find the time this week to sit and listen, and I hope God speaks and clarifies to you in a powerful way this week!
This was a great post Wes. I still have a hard time shutting down my mind. It’s always what is next with the kids: dinner, bath, brushing teeth…so on. When I seem to have free time, I have a hard time getting out of my frame of mind that, that should be my time and not God’s. I am working hard on trying to change this. There has never been a time in my life that I needed God more than right now. Also this week he is definitely clarifying. I have received answers that God knew I so desperately needed. I hope that the things of this world don’t ever distract me again to the point that my truest relationship should be with God.
Maria, I think that’s so true. That’s totally my tendency too. When I’m not at work, I’m always trying to make time at home about me. And that’s all well and good, but that is certainly not beneficial if our goal is to create some space for God. I can only imagine the additional stress when you toss children into the equation!
I’m glad you are finding clarity this week! And I know I’ve not been a good friend, but I’ve definitely seen on fb you posting about having to deal with some tough stuff recently, and I just want you to know that I am praying for you and I hope you find some peace and joy soon!