In the mid-1960’s Paul Simon wrote a song that became popular entitled “The Sound of Silence”. If you are old enough, you may recall it being played on pop radio stations back then. The lyrics paint a dim view of silence and perhaps reflect what causes us to feel uncomfortable with silence many times.

Before you dispute experiencing discomfort in the midst of silence, consider times when you are with a friend or small group and it suddenly gets silent. Most often someone (or you) feel compelled to fill the silence with words. Only in the most intimate relationships do we tend to relax with periods of silence. It is in those relationships that we feel safe, secure, relaxed, and assured of the love of those persons.

How do we respond to silence in our spiritual life?

When we very much need or want to hear from the Lord about something and He appears to remain silent, we all can struggle with His delayed response. We want the reassurance of His presence even if He is not giving us the solution we desire.

But what does it feel like when you sit with the Lord? Are you at ease being silent or does it feel more comfortable to keep speaking to Him whether in prayer or a journal? For many of us, silence when we are with the Lord can feel awkward or even frightening. We are wired to doing in our relational connections with people and also with God.

When we are sitting in silence with the Lord we can have two competing fears assail us. One…He will not speak to us. Two…He may speak to us.

But there is also something else that sitting in silence awakens in us. We begin to get in touch with the noise inside that our busyness drowns out much of the time. Silence can shock and overwhelm us with the amount of cacophony happening within us; then again we can begin to discover more about ourselves. We might learn what is making us so irritable or feeling so isolated and disconnected.

Sitting in silence means discovering how tired we truly are. It means setting aside our agendas for a bit to allow ourselves to experience a deep breath and consider what would nourish us again.

I love the quote I ended my recent post with by Gunilla Norris in Sharing Silence:

“When we make room for silence we make room for ourselves…Silence invites the unknown, the untamed, the wild, the shy, the unfathomable – that rarely has a chance to surface within us.”

When we sit with the Lord in silence, we allow Him to lead.

Perhaps we fear that more than we realize because it means letting go of what we think our relationship ought to be and letting Him make it into that level of intimacy that can only happen when we allow Him to lead.

Be assured to choose to sit for even ten minutes in silence with the Lord will be a battle. Depending on how tired we are and what season we are in, we may find it harder to do than we expect. Even so, I think He is often waiting for us to do just that…sit with Him without praising, petitioning or pleading.

After all, if we are His, we are betrothed to Him as a part of the Bride of Christ. If you have known intimate human love, it was not hard to sit in deep contentment with that person and have no need to fill the space with words. Should it not be true when we are with Him? He is the lover of our soul and companion as well as Savior, Lord, King of Kings, Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Son of Man.

In her book Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence Ruth Barton says it best:

“Solitude, then, is all about desire. It is about lovers desiring each other enough to finally take the leap into trust, uninhibited expression. It is about friends saying, ‘I want to be with you so badly that I’ll rearrange everything so that we can see each other.”

I cannot recall when I first came to grips with how much I wanted the option to choose something for myself. I am confident it began in early childhood. It usually does for all of us. It can be those pesky things about what we play with and whom we play with or what we want to wear or don’t want to wear, and so on. Early on in our lives that desire to be unfettered by the choices of others pokes its head up above the surface.

What I didn’t recognize for so much longer was the responsibility that was mine when I was allowed to choose. I couldn’t blame anyone else when I was the one choosing.

After that began to dawn on me, I think that most days I went along making choices and not thinking a great deal about them. So many daily choices can seem inconsequential at the time and many of them truly are, but not all. Sometimes the consequence of the choice does not show up for a very long time so it can be easy to forget my part in it.

I can choose to eat only the things I like and only go to bed or work when I feel like it. The first day I make such a choice is easy. It is even easier to do so a second day because I usually experience no consequences for it at the time. I won’t notice the effect on my health for perhaps a long time. I won’t notice that I actually reduce how many options I increasingly must choose from if those patterns aren’t healthy.

Small choices develop patterns of choices over time that lead to results I never bargained for.

I can easily forget that choice was first of all a gift from my Creator at the very beginning. It was and is a powerful gift! He wants me to choose to love Him and devote my life to Him. He could have made it a mandate for His creation, but He didn’t. And choices are often not easy.

“Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.”

J. K. Rowling

An easy choice seems to cost me nothing. An easy choice fits in because it agrees with everyone else’s choice. An easy choice looks good on the outside.

I wonder if God gives us so many opportunities to practice choosing because He knows that at some point the things we must choose between will not be at all easy. Some of those things will come from small things we thought had no meaning or consequence. Some of them will come as a bolt out of the night and expose our cowardice when we try to avoid the choice that has come to us.

Each choice will finally highlight what we believe. It will also expose whom we believe and whether we are willing to risk being identified with Him, risk following Him, and risk trusting Him when it isn’t easy. Each choice will expose areas of unbelief as well.

In every great story, every great movie, the character in the story learns of a choice that is set before them. The tension in the reader or the audience grows steadily as the character grapples with the choice. In The Matrix Neo is offered the choice between the blue pill and the red pill without clear assurance for what will happen with either choice.

Frodo chooses to accept the ring and the challenges that come with it, but as he comes to realize how difficult that path is in The Fellowship of the Ring he says, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” The ever-wise Gandalf responds, “So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you.”

I think one thing is certain. The choices I make today will prepare me for the choices ahead. The truth that I bury in my heart will form the foundation of what I believe. That foundation will help me face the choice between what is right and what is easy.

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I must confess that I have a struggle with limits more often than I wish. I suspect that you might also even if the limits that you face are not the same as mine.

What do I mean by limits?

I’m talking about those things that restrict me, slow me down, and stop me in some way from doing or being able to do something that I wish I could do. They are boundary lines and some of them feel restrictive and some I wish were not necessary.

Limits seem to pop up in our lives from the time we arrive on earth.

Think of all the limitations of an infant as well as their lack of determining how quickly or when they might be fed, changed, cuddled or put to bed. Mom and Dad make those choices depending on their endurance, values, schedules, and so on.

As an adult, I face other limits. Before I retired, my time and spending habits were limited by my working hours and income. The speed I could drive to work was limited by how many risks I would take to exceed the speed limit. My energy level had limits as well and working often affected those and could get in the way of the things I wanted to do such as read, bike or hike, do something creative with photography and a long list of things I might wish.

The truth is the categories and lists of limits or potential limits can be quite long. 

The categories include, but are not limited to:

• Money and economic opportunities
• Physical health and energy
• Mental acuity
• Emotional health, skills, and intuition
• Time
• Family situation
• Where I live or work

I’m sure you get the idea and can add more categories than I have noted here.

 But there are also spiritual limits I need to recognize.

What are those?

I am limited spiritually by what I know of God, my response to Him, and all things spiritual. These are impacted greatly by my life experiences, my church experiences, and the amount of time I spend seeking to know and understand God.

The Lord loved me (and you) so much He gave me choices from the very beginning. He didn’t force me to accept Him, love Him, spend time with Him, and pursue His heart. He didn’t force me to read the Bible or spend time in worship. He wanted me to choose to do those things out of my love for Him.

That was His design from Genesis to Revelation. He, who had no limits, put limits on His creation to prevent chaos and keep balance. What would happen if the speed of the rotation of the earth varied each month or each week or day? What if the sun didn’t come up in a pattern or rhythm? Every living thing on the earth is connected and would be damaged without the boundary lines God put in place.

He put them there for man as well. I’m sure you remember the freedom Adam and Eve had except for one tree. They didn’t seem to like or accept limits either as a result of Lucifer’s ploys. Lucifer never accepted his own limitations with God. It is little wonder that we have all gotten tripped up with boundary lines and limits. Even when we are told the consequences of violating them, we periodically try to ignore what will happen to us and violate them.

Some of the limits or boundary lines we deal with are fixed by choices between obedience and sin, light and darkness, life and death. Most of us discover those realities through painful practice. There are seasons when we might be tempted to rail at God for the difficulty we face in limiting ourselves to make the best choice, the wise choice, and the one that honors Him.

You see, I think we can easily forget that God did not set up limits and boundary lines to make us miserable, but exactly the opposite.

He was well aware that we were finite and as such, we would deal with a multitude of limitations. He also knew if we violated them we might become unhealthy, get sick, lose relationships, miss out on Him and all He had in His design for us.

He gave us limits and boundary lines out of His love and care for us, to protect us.

When I retired, I began to hear many comments about how fortunate I was because I could now do anything I wanted. Of course that was not really true.

Limits and boundary lines follow us into each season of our lives.

I doubt I will ever totally stop disliking some of the limits that I face no matter what the season, but I am persuaded I need to adjust my perspective about their purpose, their value. I need to keep in focus why a loving, gracious, and merciful God has placed them in my life, in your life.

Then I can abide with the psalmist when he writes:

“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”  Psalm 16:6 (ESV)

When I was completing my undergraduate degree in elementary education, one of my courses required each of us to create a collection of poetry for children. Of course, the result would also provide each of us with a resource for a future classroom. That collection in a wooden covered “book” still sets on one of my bookshelves. It is a treasure trove!

There are many poems in it that still resonate with me. It is also true that many of these poems are as significant for adults as for children.

One of my many favorites is a poem by Rachel Field entitled “Some People”. It continues to illustrate a powerful observation and as I was reading my scriptures for today, the poem came to mind again. Let me share it with you.

Some People

by

Rachel Field

Isn’t it strange some people make

You feel so tired inside,

Your thoughts begin to shrivel up

Like leaves all brown and dried!

But when you’re with some other ones,

It’s stranger still to find

Your thoughts as thick as fireflies

All shiny in your mind!

I so agree with Rachel Field’s words and description!

I most enjoy being with people like those described in the second stanza of the poem. They bring energy, refreshment, and passion into any conversation. (None of us are always that way, but if we are never that way???)  I am also aware I desire to be that kind of person to others as well.

I think that can only happen when the Lord and I are intimately connecting, and He is growing me in Him and opening my eyes to see possibility and open doors that I would miss too often without Him.

When I am spending time with Him, personal intimate time with Him, I think it should show and be evident but not because I tell someone I have been with Him.

The connection of the poem to my scripture reading today came from two passages I was reading. The first passage was in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18. I often read a passage in more than one translation. Today The Message translation arrested my attention near the end of the passage noted. It reads as follows:

“All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so, we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (MSG)

I felt as if the Lord was highlighting this part and challenging me about what I reflect. Unlike Moses who veiled his face so the Israelites could not see when the shine faded after he had met with the Lord, we speak to the Lord face-to-face and the Holy Spirit keeps us in communion with Him daily versus periodically as it was with Moses.

I am not suggesting I (or any of you) should go around daily with a photographic smile plastered on my face. I’m sure you know what I mean.

Nevertheless, if I am spending time with the Lord in communion with Him, something of Him should be reflected in me.

That reflection may be in my demeanor, my attitude, my speech, my imagination, my creativity, my peace, my love, and so on. I think it is what would make others hungry or thirsty to know what the source of that reflection was.

A bit later as I was reading in Proverbs 4:18-19 the theme seemed to connect again from The Message translation especially:

“The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker—travelers can’t see a thing; they fall flat on their faces.”

Proverbs 4:18-19 (MSG)

If I am spending time with Him, even though I am imperfect and shot through with humanity, I think He was reminding me that it will and should show.

I should also be more like those in the second stanza of Rachel Field’s poem. Something living and vibrant of His life in me through the Holy Spirit should be reflected in me.

This isn’t new news, but it is the Holy Spirit reminding me that each day I reflect something or someone. I reflect the gospel, or I don’t. The reflection comes more from my behavior, my attitude, and my demeanor than from my words.

Who am I reflecting?

Who are you reflecting?

How many times have you heard someone say, “They are a natural.”  When they use it they are telling you that person is gifted in that skill or area and it looks like it comes easy for him or her. That may or may not be true but it seems there are quite a few things that can be natural for most of us. 

It’s natural to be anxious in a new situation unknown to us. It’s natural to jump at a sudden loud sound. It’s natural for us to feel uncertain when we approach an animal that is not ours. It’s natural for us to dislike going to see the dentist. It’s natural for us to get frustrated about traffic jams and delays and to be impatient about a great many things. It’s also natural for us to doubt and fear, feel discouraged and weary. 

But it’s also natural for us to rely on our lived experience to guide our choices and decisions year by year as we grow in knowledge and wisdom. It’s natural for us to feel more secure if we feel in control of a situation and ourselves in it.

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If you think about it you will likely think of your own more personal list of things that are natural for you.

My list includes living in the Midwest because except for brief periods of time, I have always done so. It’s natural for me to deal with four distinct weather seasons and change my clothes closet to accommodate the seasons. It’s natural for me to head out the door to church on Sundays because I have been taken to church since infancy and not to be in church on Sunday is decidedly unnatural for me. It’s natural for me to enjoy reading as a leisure activity as well. That would be just a few examples of what I consider natural for me.

Another thing that is natural for me is to feel I need to be responsible and do things the right way in the right time and always do my best no matter what. That may sound laudable but there are major glitches with that. None of us are able to do that all the time in every situation so in such times it can be natural to be discouraged and fall prey to negative self-talk.

How do these things play out for any one of us in our spiritual lives? 

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We tend to live in cultures that focus on our merit and what we earn or deserve. If that is true, what do we do with grace that is not natural at all?

Grace doesn’t fit with our thinking or mindset. It has nothing to do with merit or any good thing that might seem to come naturally to us. As a result, when we approach Christian faith there is a hurdle for us because we simply cannot wrap our minds around grace. It makes no sense to us and if we decide we want to believe in this offer from a perfect God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and have a tiny drop of faith to accept it, what happens with this lifelong habit of trying to do right (especially if we have received such a magnanimous gift)?

What happens for far too many is we try hard to be as perfect as we believe God wants us to be and get confused about how grace works after we initially say yes to it. Perhaps that’s why Paul is so passionate in Romans 8. He was aware of all his mistakes and knew even after Damascus Road and his encounter with Jesus that he would never be able to be all he should be. The last verses of this pivotal chapter should encourage us all.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)

I revisit those verses often when I am aware that I have once more messed up. There is also another quote I found helpful when I read it first in 1998:

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

Jerry Bridges from The Discipline of Grace

Make no mistake about it, the enemy of our souls knows grace is not natural and doesn’t want us to appropriate it first or live by it after we do. 

God doesn’t forget us or go back on his promises. If you accept his grace, He will continue to help shape your character and path because He knows what we sometimes have trouble accepting – our natural gifts, skills, resources, knowledge and wisdom will never get us to where we are meant to be.

“Next time you face the unexpected, a moment of difficulty you really don’t want to go through, remember that such a moment doesn’t picture a God who has forgotten you, but one who is near to you and doing in you a very good thing. He is rescuing you from thinking that you can live the life you were meant to live while relying on the inadequate resources of your wisdom, experience, righteousness, and strength; and he is transforming you into a person who lives a life shaped by radical God-centered faith. He is the ultimate craftsman, and we are his clay. He will not take us off his wheel until his fingers have molded us into those who really do believe and do not doubt.” 

Paul Tripp

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