Silence: Its Power and NecessityNäide

Silence: Its Power and Necessity

Ecclesiastes 3:7 - There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.

Psalm 131:2 – Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

In the modern world with its constant noise, the disciples of the Lord Jesus must learn to practice and live the discipline of silence. The answer is certainly not to go and stay in the desert as an ascetic without uttering a word for the next forty years. However, it is essential that every disciple makes time for silence.

We all need silence in different measures. When frequent periods of silence are absent from our lives - periods where we wait on God and allow Him to work in us - we will find that we lack the strength to stand firm against the things of this world. These things include the onslaught of the evil one, the flood of words that often break over us like waves and the constant, relentless power of the world that is always trying to suck people into a vortex of despair. Without silence we will not be able to penetrate into the deeper dimensions of the spiritual life and we will find it difficult to grow in intimacy with God.