Practicing Silence to See and Sing

Recently, I have been challenged to be silent before the Lord.  With seven people and another on the way, our home is filled with noise and busyness.  In American culture today there is a lot of noise. It takes work to turn down the noise.  Absolute silence is nearly impossible, even at this hour I hear the hum a computer and a refrigerator, the HVAC air handler, a fan in a bedroom, and even my kids talking in their sleep.  Noise is everywhere yet God calls us to the quiet place; to silence ourselves

Many are familiar with the well-known verse

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”- Psalm 46:10

But there are other verses

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” – Psalm 131:2

“But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” – Habakkuk 2:20

Several years ago worship leader Matt Redman wrote a song called “The Heart of Worship.”  If you have never heard the background of how this internationally known worship song was written, I encourage you to take a listen at this link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01h0y5d

The first lines of the song are as follows:

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart

I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required

There is something that concerns me as I observe the contemporary “worship” service.  In many services today the band’s play, the vocalist sing, and the congregants stand and watch.  Worship is not a spectator sport. What are you bringing that is something of worth to bless your Creator? Now there are numerous reasons why the congregants stand and watch, so this post is not meant to throw stones at any one person or group. There is enough blame to go around, and finger pointing is simply an attempt at excusing oneself.

Have we filled our lives with too much noise?  Have we filled our worship services with too much noise? Does silence at home or in worship make us feel so awkward that we have outlawed silence?  Oh, that believers would quiet their souls and be silent before the Lord.  This will take practice. The reward will be worth it.

The silent soul before the Lord will see and taste things the busy soul cannot.  The Lord uses those times of solitude and silence to reveal more of Himself.  Matt Redman wrote another song called “Seeing You” which appears to me to be the other bookend of “The Heart of Worship.”

Consider these lines:

No one can sing of things they have not seen
God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse
The glory of You, the glory of You
God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse

In the silence, God will reveal more and more of his glory.  When a soul sees more of the glory of God one of two things will occur, either there will be a prolonged silence or praise will burst from the heart with songs of praise.  Silence leads to Seeing which leads to Singing!

Oh, that the congregants would prepare themselves for the worship of God on Sundays!  Oh, that the lead worshipers would discern the Spirit’s direction in the gathering of the redeemed.  If you are a lead worshiper (anyone responsible for ordering or conducting the service) do you leave room for the Spirit’s work or have you programmed and scheduled the Spirit right out of the ‘worship’ service.

Matt Redman articulates some rare spiritual maturity regarding silence when he writes this in his book Facedown

Perhaps when it comes to congregational worship, there are two types of silence.  The first kind is the most sacred of moments, when we sense heaven touching Earth and the Holy Spirit ushers us into an encounter simply too weighty for words.  The other kind is a pregnant pause, which causes us to squirm- and long for a song (any song!) to fill the embarrasing void.  The discerning lead worshipper quickly leanrs to distinguish between the two and to respond appropriately. One reason we seam afraid to embrace moments of prolonged stillness in our congregational worship is that we have not effectively responded to these two types of silence in the past.  Many churches have given up on looking for the moments of sacred stillness because they have been burned by too many unappointed and uncomfortable pauses.  Our culture in general has little time for quietness, and when face with moments of stillness, many of us rush in to fill the space not knowing how to handle it. As congragations , we need to learn to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  As the ultimate worship leader, He will at times lead us into the presence of God through the gift of sacred silence.

Let us Practice Silence to See and Sing!

I leave you with a few quotes from others who have some encouraging words for us regarding silence.

“Only after all the noise has spent itself do we begin to hear in the silence of our heart, the still, small, mighty voice of God.” – A.W. Tozer

“Coming before God in quietness & waiting upon Him in silence often can accomplish more than days of feverish activity.” – A. W. Tozer

“The very thought of God in His majesty and holiness should silence us.” – Andrew Murray

“Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” – Andrew Murray