« But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.» (Habakkuk 2 :20)
In a barbershop, a man named Phocion was waiting impatiently for his barber to summarize the country’s political situation to the customer he was barbering. When the barber had finished, he turned to him and asked how he wanted his hair cut.
– In silence,” replied Phocion.
This simple answer became famous all over the world.
We are victims of a true conspiracy against silence, without which our spiritual life is impossible. We are assailed daily by the noises of cars, motorcycles, planes, radios, televisions, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, fans, not to mention the loud noises of children and the often pointless chattering of adult people.
In some countries, Christians still live for years in the solitude of dungeons and in total silence. When they finally emerge to hear the voices of human beings again, they are amazed at how often their words lack meaning.
If you want to meet God, make a little silence around you. Cut off communication with all intruders. Close your door and teach your intimates to respect your tranquillity at certain times. God intervenes in silence.
If you want to meet God, make a little silence around you. Cut off communication with all intruders. Close your door and teach your intimates to respect your tranquillity at certain times. God intervenes in silence.
But the silence is not entirely silent. Men’s cries of pain, the cries of the suffering, the clamors of true joy, the most ardent discussions, a multitude of sermons, scientific truths will populate the silence around us. Above it all, we will hear the voice of God. For God is always present wherever we are.
God has never told us we wouldn’t suffer. Rather, he said, “I have told you these things, that you may have peace in me. You will have tribulation in the world; but take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33).
The risk of doubt when God is silent is to think that God has abandoned us, that he is not concerned, that he is not powerful enough, that he does not exist, that he does not love us anymore.
It is the risk of comparing God to a human being, when He is something quite different. It is written: ” For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the
LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah55: 8-9). God has a global vision, while we have a partial one.
God’s silence brings us back to our human limitations. Dear Marshallan Brothers, let us do everything we can to believe that God continues to guide us with love, even when we do not understand what going on.
Jesus spent whole nights praying in the silence of the mountains.
Dear Marshallan brothers, let’s try to find a regular moment to be in silence, listening to God.
« But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.» (Habakkuk 2 :20)