I found the definition for the words Solitude and Silence, here they are...
Silence = “The voluntary and temporary abstention from speaking so that certain spiritual goals might be sought.”
Solitude = “The discipline of voluntarily and temporarily withdrawing to privacy for spiritual purposes.”
I was never a big Simon & Garfunkel fan, but I was reminded of a "song of silence" that they penned many moons ago. Do you remember?
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence
Now that is some groovy stuff let me tell you. I'm not sure S & G had any real spiritual goal in mind, but what they wrote seemed to have a subtle connect to the importance and value of silence, especially since we are trying to incorporate the discipline of silence with inward spiritual growth.
We live in a noisy world! There is actually a Noise Awareness Day if you can believe that. I think for some of us, noise is an addiction. My best educated guess for why this seems to be true is because noise tells us that we aren't alone. That is comforting to us - a door slamming, someone driving a car in our driveway. It can also be a little discomforting, for instance, at night when you should be alone and then you hear a door slamming.
Some people try and escape through noise. We crank the music in our headphones so we can't hear the outside world. Truly, however, what we think is escaping is nothing more then moving from one prison cell to another. You see, we live in a world that believes the brighter the sign or the louder the advertisement, the greater the response will be, so everyone keeps attempting to outdo the other and what we have is this tsunami of noise coming at us and pretty soon we lose the power to even think and hear clearly.
Our Creator didn't make us to respond in this way. The creation account of humanity states that God walked with man in the garden. Why? Because God is a God of community and relationship. God wants to have a relationship experience with us. NOISE gets in the way of that relationship. It really comes down to the importance of priorities. Noise in our lives means that we have things going on that occupy our senses, namely our hearing - people talking, TV blarring, employers demanding. All of these things occupy our lives and often leave little room for the Lord to even be a dim thought in the corners of our mind. God wants more then that. He wants your undivided attention and he has the right to make those demands
I like what Donald Whitney says - "Perhaps you need to be alone with God and deal with some doubts and questions. Maybe you have come to a crisis of faith that needs time for prayer, deep thinking, and much soul searching. There's too much at stake to neglect the matter or to deal with it superficially. If your body had an emergency, you would take the necessary time to deal with it. Don't do any less for an emergency of the soul."
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Inward Disciplines - Solitude
My 3rd Grade teacher at Potterville Elementary School and I never saw "eye-to-eye." I still remember her calling my parents in for a "special Parent/Teacher meeting." Oh yeah! You know what I'm talking about don't you. It's the kind of meeting where you have to wait after school, after everyone else is gone, in a classroom with just you and your angry Teacher, until your parent can make it in. Awkward!! It seemed like an eternity of waiting. I mean, really, what are you to do while you wait amidst the awkward silence - "Hey, Ms H., can I clean the chalkboard as an act of kindness because you are my favorite teacher even though you called my parents in for a meeting because you hate me." Or better yet, "Hey, Mrs H., can I clean the chalkboard so I can smack the erasers together over your head and powder your face."
After my mom showed up, I found out what my teacher's issue was with me. She informed my mom and I that I was not a "good listener." Strangely enough, she was correct. I could place blame in many areas, but the reality of her statement actually rings very true today - I'm not a good listener. The occupation of ministry tends to frown on individuals who are not good listeners, but that is not where I am going with this article. I want to look at another kind of listening that calls us to the discipline of silence and solitude.
Most of the disciplines target an activity such as, reading God's word, or praying or serving. Solitude targets being quiet with a purpose and the purpose is developing the discipline of making Christ center-stage.
What I find to be most true about times of solitude is how the time of silence opens up a doorway for the Lord to address problem areas, specifically our attitudes. I spoke on this Sunday and used the story of Elijah on Mt. Horeb in 1Kings 19. I loved the question God asked Elijah following Elijah's 40-day trek to the mountain. The Lord asked him a very pointed question - "What are you doing here Elijah?" Now keep in mind, this is not the Lord asking a question out of ignorance. He is asking Elijah a question examining a problem area. What is so amazing to me was not that fact that the Lord spoke to Elijah, but how the Lord prepared Elijah to hear his voice. 40-days Elijah treked to Mt. Horeb. I am sure in the quietness of his journey Elijah was being prepared to listen to the God of the "gentle whisper."
Our lives are noisy aren't they? Kids screaming, spouses talking and/or complaining, bosses directing, people in general demanding our time and ear to listen to them. All of this monopolizes our time and ability to just chill. You see, no one demands our time more then God. He might be the Creator of the universe but he still demands uninterupted, one-on-one time with us, and he is not willing to scream above all the rest of the noise to get our attention, we have to make time. That time is where the discipline of silence and solitude are spent just listening to hear the Lord's voice, to feel his gentle nudge, to read his word and meditate on it and let it soak into the deepest part of our soul.
This discipline might be the most difficult one yet for you. It may even take longer then 28-days.
Can't wait to hear from you.
Randy
After my mom showed up, I found out what my teacher's issue was with me. She informed my mom and I that I was not a "good listener." Strangely enough, she was correct. I could place blame in many areas, but the reality of her statement actually rings very true today - I'm not a good listener. The occupation of ministry tends to frown on individuals who are not good listeners, but that is not where I am going with this article. I want to look at another kind of listening that calls us to the discipline of silence and solitude.
Most of the disciplines target an activity such as, reading God's word, or praying or serving. Solitude targets being quiet with a purpose and the purpose is developing the discipline of making Christ center-stage.
What I find to be most true about times of solitude is how the time of silence opens up a doorway for the Lord to address problem areas, specifically our attitudes. I spoke on this Sunday and used the story of Elijah on Mt. Horeb in 1Kings 19. I loved the question God asked Elijah following Elijah's 40-day trek to the mountain. The Lord asked him a very pointed question - "What are you doing here Elijah?" Now keep in mind, this is not the Lord asking a question out of ignorance. He is asking Elijah a question examining a problem area. What is so amazing to me was not that fact that the Lord spoke to Elijah, but how the Lord prepared Elijah to hear his voice. 40-days Elijah treked to Mt. Horeb. I am sure in the quietness of his journey Elijah was being prepared to listen to the God of the "gentle whisper."
Our lives are noisy aren't they? Kids screaming, spouses talking and/or complaining, bosses directing, people in general demanding our time and ear to listen to them. All of this monopolizes our time and ability to just chill. You see, no one demands our time more then God. He might be the Creator of the universe but he still demands uninterupted, one-on-one time with us, and he is not willing to scream above all the rest of the noise to get our attention, we have to make time. That time is where the discipline of silence and solitude are spent just listening to hear the Lord's voice, to feel his gentle nudge, to read his word and meditate on it and let it soak into the deepest part of our soul.
This discipline might be the most difficult one yet for you. It may even take longer then 28-days.
Can't wait to hear from you.
Randy
Inward Disciplines - Service Pt. 2
Of all the disciplines, the discipline of Service has to be the most manipulated. What do I mean by that? The discipline of Service characteristically has a primary focus that wavers between the primary recipient: Me or Christ. The discipline of service is one that requires as well the discipline of focus, because it is so easy to divert our attention from the proper recipient - Jesus Christ - and gravitate towards ourselves.
It is also very easy to become "self-seeking" in regards to rewards when it comes to the discipline of service. Most people like to be recognized for service, or at least they like to see results from their service. But what if neither of these were ever promised. I read this story recently that made me think a lot about my own service and my personal rewards.
On an ordinary winter day in 1961, an MIT meteorologist named Edward Lorenz ran some routine experiments and found some unusual results. Lorenz discovered that seemingly tiny and insignificant changes in his data could produce huge differences in the final result. At first, Lorenz and other scientists in the field of chaos theory called this "the sensitive dependence on initial data." Fortunately, later on Lorenz used a simpler term—"the butterfly effect." In 1972, Lorenz presented a scientific paper entitled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas?" According to Lorenz's theory, the butterfly's wing-flapping doesn't actually cause a tornado, but it can start a chain reaction leading to giant changes in world-wide weather patterns. In others words, even tiny, insignificant movements or actions can produce huge changes that affect millions of people.
What if the butterfly effect was also true of our service? Though we would never know the immediate impact, what if our tiny acts of kindness set off a firestorm of activity that may never even happen in our lifetime? That's what I find so amazing about God's sovereignty. He can take our tiniest act of service and use it in amazing and powerful ways, ways which we may never see come to fruition, we are only called to be obedient. You see, Christ is always the recipient of our service. Paul reminded the Phillipian church of their target.
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you.
Philippians 2:12-15 (NLT)
It's truly amazing what can happen to our service when we stop looking inwardly at the effects of our service on "US," and begin examining instead the effects of our service for Christ as it reaches out towards others. This attitude will dramatically change how we serve on Sunday at church, at work and at home.
Love to hear from you.
Randy
It is also very easy to become "self-seeking" in regards to rewards when it comes to the discipline of service. Most people like to be recognized for service, or at least they like to see results from their service. But what if neither of these were ever promised. I read this story recently that made me think a lot about my own service and my personal rewards.
On an ordinary winter day in 1961, an MIT meteorologist named Edward Lorenz ran some routine experiments and found some unusual results. Lorenz discovered that seemingly tiny and insignificant changes in his data could produce huge differences in the final result. At first, Lorenz and other scientists in the field of chaos theory called this "the sensitive dependence on initial data." Fortunately, later on Lorenz used a simpler term—"the butterfly effect." In 1972, Lorenz presented a scientific paper entitled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas?" According to Lorenz's theory, the butterfly's wing-flapping doesn't actually cause a tornado, but it can start a chain reaction leading to giant changes in world-wide weather patterns. In others words, even tiny, insignificant movements or actions can produce huge changes that affect millions of people.
What if the butterfly effect was also true of our service? Though we would never know the immediate impact, what if our tiny acts of kindness set off a firestorm of activity that may never even happen in our lifetime? That's what I find so amazing about God's sovereignty. He can take our tiniest act of service and use it in amazing and powerful ways, ways which we may never see come to fruition, we are only called to be obedient. You see, Christ is always the recipient of our service. Paul reminded the Phillipian church of their target.
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you.
Philippians 2:12-15 (NLT)
It's truly amazing what can happen to our service when we stop looking inwardly at the effects of our service on "US," and begin examining instead the effects of our service for Christ as it reaches out towards others. This attitude will dramatically change how we serve on Sunday at church, at work and at home.
Love to hear from you.
Randy
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