The Forgotten Discipline of Silence

Maybe you've read one of his books. The author is Pastor

A. W. Tozer. He was known for spending long stretches in total

silence before the Lord, based down on the floor of his study

for hours. He wasn't speaking or reading. He was just listening.

His wife and staff knew not to disturb him. In an era before

smartphones and constant notifications, Tozer was already

warning that busyness and noise were choking out the spiritual

life of believers. He once wrote, God never hurries. There no

deadlines against which he must work. When the world needs to

hear the truth from God, why would a busy pastor choose to

spend hours saying nothing at all?

Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger, and

I've been a pastor for over 40 years. And in that time, I've

done a lot of talking. I'm sure you've spent a good bit of time

talking or surrounding yourself with noise and activity. When

was the last time you just spent time in silence? We live in a

world that seems to be allergic to silence. We feel every gap of

time with podcasts, music, notifications, and dings, and

just simply noise. But throughout Scripture, God meets

people in the quiet. People like Elijah in the cave, and Jesus in

the wilderness, and Moses on the What I think silence can be is

an invitation for God to speak. When we practice being still, we

train our souls to recognize the voice of the shepherd above the

roar of the world. 1 Kings 19: 12 says, "And after the

earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper."

The context of this verse, I believe, is very important.

Elijah had just won one of the most dramatic victories in all

of Scripture on Mount Carmel. Kings 19: 13 says, "Fire fell

from heaven. The prophets of Baal were defeated. It should

have been a mountaintop moment. But right after, Elijah ran for

his life. He was exhausted and depressed. He ended up hiding in

a cave, wondering if God had forgotten him. And that was

where God met him. But not in the way you'd expect. There was

an earthquake, but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake. There

was a fire, but the Lord wasn't in the fire. And then, there was

a wind so powerful, it shattered rocks. But the Lord wasn't in

the wind. God instead was in the gentle whisper." I believe that

tells us something important about how God often speaks. He

doesn't necessarily speak through loud, dramatic,

attention-grabbing moments, but instead in the quiet and the

stillness. in the whisper you can only hear when everything

else gets turned down. The problem is, most of us never

turn anything down. From the moment we wake up to the moment

we fall asleep, we're surrounded by noise. Noise like alarms and

notifications, podcasts, always playing, music and news and

conversations, and the ever-present social media. Even

our quiet moments are filled with scrolling. to constant

input that real silence feels uncomfortable, maybe even

threatening. But silence is where God has always done some

of most important and deepest work. Jesus regularly withdrew.

He's been so consistent. That's the only place to pray. When we

focus on the prayer of the prayer of prayer. Before every

major decision, before every major moment, he got quiet. What

he needed was his Father's voice. And he could only hear it in the

stillness. And if Jesus needed silence to hear the Father, how

much more do we? Practicing silence doesn't mean exiting

your mind like some kind of spiritual vacuum. What it means

is turning down the noise so you can turn up your attention to

God. It means creating space where his still, small voice has

room to be heard. It might feel awkward at first. You might sit

in silence and feel restless or bored. And you probably will get

distracted. That's normal. Because you've trained your

brain to expect constant stimulation. Retraining it will

take time. But if you'll stay with it. Even for five minutes

to start, something begins to shift within you. You will

notice God's presence in a way that you can't when you're

rushing. You start to hear his voice in scripture differently.

You start to sense his nudges more clearly throughout your day.

believed that most Christians hear so little from God, not

because God isn't speaking, but because we never get quiet

enough to listen. Those long, silent hours on his study floor

became the soil for books like "The Pursuit of God", works that

have shaped believers for decades. Tozer's life, I believe,

is a living picture of 1 Kings 19: 12. God wasn't in the

earthquake or the fire. He was in the gentle whisper. I don't

believe silence is a waste of time. Instead, I believe it's an

invitation for God to speak. And when we train ourselves to be

still, we learn to recognize the shepherd's voice above the roar

of the world. And that voice is always speaking. We just have to

get quiet enough to hear it. You don't have to spend hours face

down on a study on the floor like Tozer to practice this, but

you do need to start somewhere. What would it look like to carve

out even a few minutes of genuine silence in your day,

where your phone is turned off, You'll need to start to make me

slow, and you'll need to do that. No music going, not listening to

a podcast. Just you and God. Here's today's challenge.

Sometime today, set aside five minutes of complete silence.

Turn off every one of your devices and sit somewhere quiet.

Don't try to say anything and don't try to accomplish anything.

Just be still and invite God into the silence. You might pray

a simple sentence to start with. "Lord, I'm here. Speak to me."

And then wait. Listen and let the quiet do its work. If five

minutes feels impossible, start with just two. The point isn't

for you to view it perfectly. The point is to practice. Train

your soul to be still. And over time, you'll begin to hear the

gentle whisper above the roar. Lord, we confess that we fill

our lives with noise and rarely make room for silence. Forgive

us for crowding out your voice. Please teach us to be still and

help us to turn down the roar of the world so we can hear your

gentle whisper. Meet us in the quiet and speak to our hearts.

In Jesus' name. Amen. If this podcast has been an

encouragement to you, would you consider supporting it? Your

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dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support . Thank you for partnering with

me in this ministry. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions

for Busy Lives. Remember, God's voice is always speaking; you

just have to get quiet enough to hear it. Come back next time for

more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.

Until then, God bless, and have a great day.