SUNDAY SERMON: Silence is key to knowing God intimately

Have you ever noticed how quiet God is? He can overwhelm us when necessary, as happened to the people of Israel when Moses led them to the holy mountain in the Sinai desert. His power and glory will overwhelm us again when the seventh angel sounds the last trumpet to announce the beginning of the End Times: “The sanctuary of God will be opened in heaven and the ark of the covenant will be seen inside.”

Normally God seems to prefer silence. The Book of Revelation also says that, when “the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

Without silence and periods of silence in your life, you will never get to know God. The same happens with your friends and relatives. If you cannot sit calmly with someone and enjoy their presence in silence, you have a long way to go before you can talk about being good friends. It is that much more important when becoming friends with God. That’s why a church is a holy place where silence ought to be commonplace.

AN ELEMENT IN THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

One of the wise men of modern times wrote: “Silence is an element in the communication process. It opens up moments of reflection that allow us to filter information and give an adequate answer to the person contacting us. We listen and understand. Ideas come to birth and acquire depth. We see more clearly what we want to say and what others are trying to tell us. We can express ourselves with greater precision. We know what to expect from others and what they have a right to expect from us.”

With televisions flashing, radios blaring and the Internet overloading us with more information than even a genius can absorb, we have to learn to switch off.

Even in the best of cases, when the information is truly worthwhile, the endless stream of data becomes a river of mental sludge that drowns our spirit in noise. Sometimes we have to turn off all the gadgets. Literally turn them off.

Did you ever notice how Jesus would go out to a lonely place early in the morning so he could spend time with his Father in silence? Perhaps you need something similar—refuge from the hustle and bustle, a place where you can rediscover the value of silence and learn to listen to God. It will help you when it comes time to listen to friends and relatives.

It will help in other ways, too, for instance when you need to “connect” with the digital world. You’ll have the interior peace needed to answer the crucial question: Is this going to bring me closer to God?